Embroidery vs. Screen Printing: Which Is Right for Your Order?
By The Apparel Team ·
Two of the most common ways to decorate apparel are embroidery and screen printing, and the right choice depends on your design, your garment, and how you want the finished piece to feel. Both are excellent — they just shine in different situations.
What embroidery does best
Embroidery stitches your design directly into the fabric with thread. It reads as premium, holds up to years of washing without fading, and gives a textured, dimensional finish that print can’t replicate. That makes it the natural fit for logos on polos, outerwear, and headwear — anywhere you want a professional, corporate look.
The trade-offs: embroidery works best for compact designs like left-chest logos and cap fronts. Very small text, fine detail, and large fill areas are harder to reproduce in thread, and stitch count (not colour count) drives the cost. Every colour in the design is simply a different thread, so a multi-colour logo doesn’t cost extra the way it would in print.
What screen printing does best
Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh screen, one screen per colour. It’s the workhorse for t-shirts and sweatshirts, and nothing beats it for bold graphics, large prints, and big runs. The more pieces you order, the lower the cost per shirt, because most of the setup happens once.
The main consideration is colour count. Each colour needs its own screen and setup, so a two-colour design is far more economical than a six-colour one. For photographic or heavily gradient artwork, other methods like direct-to-garment may serve you better — just ask and we’ll point you the right way.
A quick way to decide
- Choose embroidery for a premium, long-lasting look on collared shirts, jackets, and caps, and for compact logos.
- Choose screen printing for bold, colourful designs on tees and hoodies, especially at higher quantities.
- Think about the garment. Structured fabrics and heavier weights take embroidery beautifully; smooth cotton jersey is ideal for print.
- Think about the run size. Screen printing rewards volume; embroidery pricing is steadier across quantities.
Still not sure?
Plenty of orders use both — embroidered caps and polos for the team, screen-printed tees for an event or giveaway. There’s no single right answer, only the method that fits your design and budget.
If you tell us what you’re making and roughly how many you need, we’ll recommend the decoration method that gives you the best result. Request a quote and a real person will get back to you within one business day.