I have A small start up screen printing business and was looking into adding embroidery has anyone added embroidery to their screen printing business was it worth it and compared to screen printing was it easier or harder then screen printing and comparing the two which one would you say brings in more money . Thank you
Since I don't know anything about screen printing I can't compare but I have had my own Embroidery business for 5 yrs now and it is a good business. But you are not going to just buy a machine and jump in and start sewing and selling. There is a large learning curve. I would think the 2 areas would combine very well and embroidery is hot right now
There is a huge learning curve, but is worth it in the end.
The things I would consider prior to set-up is
1. Have a business plan- if you look at all the boards around the web, there are alot of single heads on there for sale. People think they just get a machine and you are making money.
2. Keep your printing set-up completely away from the embroidery set-up. You have to keep the spray tack and all the ink and heat away from the machine.
3. Go with a strong company that has a reputation( ie Hirsch, SWF, Barudan, Happy,ZSK) stay away from the new machines
4. Go see machines run and get an idea of the set-up and what it takes.
There is money is everything if you know what you doing.
We have both screen printing and embroidery machines. Since we have a brick and morter sporting goods store, we find embroidery better for us. We can work on embroidery orders while we have customers in the store. In fact, we have one of the machines on the floor and customers are amazed by it. It has brought in lots of jobs. Embroidery does require learning. We do the digitizing ourselves.
I would consider out-sourcing embroidery jobs to start, this way you can determine if you can generate enough revenue from it to justify purchasing a machine.
Of course, you will still need to educate yourself about embroidery even to outsource...you need to have some knowledge in order to bid the jobs.
You could start by doing a Yahoo search for contract embroiderers; look at their price lists and requirements.
Ultimately, you would probably be better off using a local person to do the embroidery (for several reasons).
There is a large learning curve for embroidery. It's as important to get as much information as you can about the process itself, as it is to get information about the machine and software before you take the plunge.
When I bought my business 4 years ago, it was more embroidery than screenprint. The operator that was working for the business stayed with me, and she runs the embroidery part of our business. She digitizes and runs the machines.....2 - 4 head Tajimas and 2 - single heads. If you price right and keep the designs simple, embroidery can be profitable. But....when the equipment breaks down, big $$$$'s for repair.
Our screenprinting carries us through the slow times.
I have embroidered for 13 plus years. I work with a few local screen shops doing their work . They still are able to make money and we are all happy. The screen shops don't have enoughh business to warrent buying a machine and paying a operator. If your embroidery orders will support the cost of the machine,a operator,and still profit then go for it. As others have stated it is a high learning curve and the machines need proper maint. to keep sewing. Good luck and beat wishes. .... JB
We started screen printing back in 1985, & added embroidery a year later. We still run both in house today. I've learned, however, to find a good contract embroidery house to handle larger orders, or just when you're overloaded with orders, so you don't have to pass up any orders. Start out with a 4 or 6 head; single heads are OK, but you really can't make much money with them. On a multi head, you can run multiple garments at one time, and still turn off the heads to run names & small 1 or 2 jobs. When you start making money, then add a single head to run your smaller orders, leaving the multi head free for the larger orders. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll start getting embroidery orders once customers find out you now have embroidery services, and you can get more for embroidered items.
Thank you for your information the other thing I wanted to know is if you do both screen printing and embroidery what one took less time to learn I am just trying to base it off of screen printing because that is what I know and is it worth adding it I am willing to learn all I can to better my buisness as I am a small shop that wants to be bigger
Is embroidery a good business to add 
