Embroidered swag — especially hoodies — are an underappreciated wholesale offering. Whether they’re crewneck sweatshirts or full-zip hoodies, adding custom embroidery can take your corporate merch to the next level.

We’re pretty sure everyone in the world owns at least one pullover hoodie that they wear with some comfy sweats, even if loungewear and streetwear aren’t quite their everyday style. There’s no better feeling than hoodie weather, which is truly all the time. 

Before you make your wholesale order, it’s important to review what your options are. You could go with the classics, such as T-shirts or hats, or you could go with something that’s the epitome of cozy, like an embroidered hoodie sweatshirt

No matter the purpose of your order, embroidered swag pieces like long-sleeve sweatshirts and zip-up hoodies are the way to go. There’s nothing wrong with printed logos, but embroidery adds a unique flair and personal touch to any merchandise. 

Below, you’ll find an ultimate guide to ordering embroidered drawstringhoodies in bulk, including the difference between different types of printing and the specific uses of embroidered hoodies. 

Why Should I Buy Wholesale Hoodies?

Before we dive any further into embroidered hoodies, it’s essential that you understand the point of wholesale and why it does (or doesn’t) make sense for you and your small business or larger company. Thankfully, this (plus our FAQ) is here to help.

What Is Wholesale?

Wholesale is the process of buying merchandise in bulk directly from a supplier like Kotn Supply. This method is most commonly used by retail businesses. From short-sleeve tees to heavyweightfleece pullovers, wholesale clothing is a bestseller.

Basically, a business will checkout with an item in large quantities from the company that produces them and puts them on sale. Since buying a product in bulk reduces the overall cost, businesses will then turn around and sell the product at a higher sale price than the wholesaler’s regular price, making a profit. 

If you’re an individual shopper looking for only a few personalized items, wholesale probably won’t make a ton of sense for you. You likely don’t need hundreds of dry-fit T-shirts all to yourself.

Wholesale is perfect for companies supplying their employees with branded swag, sports teams, concert and other big event vendors, retail businesses, and more. 

What Are the Most Common Types of Wholesale Custom Clothing?

Some of the most frequently used styles of custom clothing include:

  • Short-sleeve t-shirts
  • Long-sleeve t-shirts
  • Raglan shirts
  • Baseball caps
  • Basic hoodies
  • Quarter-zip sweatshirts
  • Club fleece pullovers

These items are often sold in different materials, including French terry, tri-blend cotton, and jersey. Additional materials are sometimes added in small quantities, such as Spandex/elastane, for extra flexibility. There are also countless color and pattern options available, including specialty patterns like tie-dye and camo.

Embroidery vs. Screen and Digital Print

custom-embroidered-sweatshirts

When you order anything custom in bulk, you’ll come across a few different options as to how your design will be made. 

Once you upload your design, the three most common methods for bringing your creation to life are screen printing, digital printing, and of course, embroidery. These methods are used across the globe by almost every custom design company, and you have access to each of them via the internet.

As we said before, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with screen or digital printing custom designs. They’re both used more than embroidery, and it’s extremely likely that you have something that has been screen or digitally printed in your closet right now. 

It’s also important to remember that all three methods will give off a different look and vibe. Again, none of these are bad options — the end result will all depend on the quality of your wholesale retailer and the design of the logo itself. 

If you’re confused about the actual difference between the three, allow us to explain more in-depth. 

Screen Print

Screen printing is the oldest and most common printing method, originating in the Song Dynasty in China (960 to 1279 AD). 

Screen printing has been used for centuries and still remains more or less the same process as it did that long ago, with a few modern tweaks along the way. It’s still one of the most popular ways to customize clothing, especially branded attire and merch. Screen printing is a simple process — a stencil, some sort of mesh (typically nylon), and a squeegee are all you need. 

Because of the production method, screen-printed designs will give off a more vibrant and colorful look than the other three and is the most cost-efficient way to transfer a design onto the desired item. 

Digital Print

Digitally printing designs is a much newer technique out of the three because it relies entirely on a computer rather than the handy work of a real person. This method is the fastest as all it takes is an upload of a design to a computer followed by a mass printing production onto the item. 

Many companies have started switching to the digital print method because of its efficiency and quickness. However, unlike screen printing and embroidery, there won’t be a human touch to the custom merchandise. 

The logo will look like it was digitally printed, which is something to be left up completely to preference. In some cases, this method can cost less too, but not always. 

Embroidery

Finally, we’ve gotten to the main point of the article: embroidery. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the term or process, you’ve definitely seen an embroidered design somewhere along the way. Embroidery is the art of stitching together colored threads in order to create a design.

Out of the three, embroidery will take the most time and, in some cases, will be slightly more expensive. However, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. 

The finished embroidered product will be unlike any design you can make. The human touch and time it takes to nearly hand-craft these designs will take any item from average to unique — from hats to hoodies

Embroidery is the best method for larger items with a thicker fabric, such as sweatshirts, bags, and, of course, hoodies

What Can Embroidered Hoodies Be Used For?

Embroidery shows people that you care — like you went the extra mile and spent a little more money to create something everyone is going to want to wear. Embroidery is classy, timeless, and takes any plain article of clothing from zero to hero. 

Take a simple unisex hoodie, for example. A plain, one-colored blank midweight hoodie or zip pullover can look too casual or sometimes even sloppy. Slap an embroidered logo on there, and you’ve got a unique design that nobody else can get — plus, it makes the hoodie itself look more meaningful. 

Here are some ideas of how you can incorporate an embroidered hoodie into your next wholesale order:

Company Swag and Merch

Custom Embroidered Hoodies: Ultimate Guide To Ordering Bulk Custom Hoodies — Embroidered

Wherever you work, company swag is essential. 

Gifting, selling, and wearing company-branded swag is an excellent morale booster and marketing tool. Everyone should be proud of where they work, and there’s no better way to show off your company pride than branded swag. 

Going back to our previous points, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a classic logo T-shirt. If you really want to incentivize people to wear something with your logo on it, something a little more unique and special should do the trick — like an embroidered unisex or women’s hoodie or pullover hooded sweatshirt!

Everyone wears or owns a hoodie, and with the weather cooling down soon, there will be no shortage of demand for warmer clothing. Your employees will adore almost any company swag, but an embroidered hoodie will truly hit the mark.

Swag Bags

When and if you’re customizing a swag bag, there always has to be that piece: Something that will sit above all else in the swag bag that will make people want to wear it.

Water bottles and keychains are cool and all, but again, there needs to be something unique that stands out and assists your brand growth efforts.

Try an embroidered sweatshirt on for size. This will truly be the one item out of the swag bag that everyone needs to have, not just something that will immediately sit at home untouched forever.

Before you finalize your swag bag, make sure you have that piece, and definitely consider making it an embroidered sweatshirt

Design Ideas

Now that you’ve got some excellent ideas for how you can use your newly embroidered hoodie, let’s talk about the design itself. 

Hoodies alone can look a little too dressed down sometimes. They certainly aren’t considered fancy attire, right? An embroidered logo won’t make a hoodie ready to wear out to a fancy dinner, but it will make it look more polished and unique. 

The most common design is a large embroidered custom logo on the front or back side of the hoodie. However, because this is a hoodie rather than a sweatshirt, we would caution against placing your logo too far up the back, as the hood can cover it up. 

If that isn’t your cup of tea, you can go another common route of a smaller embroidered patch on the front upper left or right side of the chest. Typically we suggest 2.5 to 3 inches in length. This is a minimalistic look that anyone can pull off without sacrificing that unique air embroidery gives off.

No matter what you do, the embroidered look will do wonders. 

KOTN Supply

If you aren’t ready to order a custom embroidered hoodie, we don’t know what else we can say. 

It’s absolutely one of your best options for company merchandise or any other type of swag. At KOTN Supply, we’re dedicated to ending the era of throwaway merch for good. 

We make T-shirts you can wear for any occasion and be proud to rock. 

You can look at our full product catalog, but we meant every word we said about embroidered hoodies

Time to usher in a new era for your company’s merch. Happy shopping! 

Sources:

What is Wholesale Clothing? | WiseGeek

An Introduction to Embroidery | Engraver's Journal

Screenprint | The Metropolitan Museum of Art