While embroidery remains the premiere apparel-embellishment technique, it has lately taken a back seat to more recent entries into the field. Laser engraving, sublimation, foiling, rhinestones, direct-to-substrate printing and other disciplines have all taken turns stealing the limelight from this industry staple.

Embroidery, however, is now poised to regain its position and earn its higher price tag while, at the same time, justifying its time-intensiveness. Embroidery is getting exciting all over again.

There’s little argument that direct computer-to-screen (CtS) stencil production is the way to go for those with the resources and production requirements to justify such sophistication. There are several choices in the technology, but making a selection among them can be a daunting task. Presented here are the major technologies currently used, how they operate and additional specifications. Research and development into new technologies is growing as screen printing continues to compete with alternative imaging technologies. As the technologies continue to advance and payback times become shorter, many screen printers are integrating some type of digital device to generate films and/or image screens.

Computer-to-screen

If the custom-clothing industry held Olympic Games, screen printing and embroidery would represent track and swimming for their foundational functionality. Pad printing, then, would correspond to the lesser-known synchronized diving for its precision and minutia. While no gold medals were awarded to the latest pad-printing sensation this past summer, the decorated-apparel game and the Olympic Games may very well have intertwined in a different way. With, no doubt, all kinds of patriotic product for sale, and some tagless-labeled uniforms to ensure Michael Phelps didn’t slip into someone else’s Speedo, pad-printing most likely made its mark behind the scenes in Beijing. And swimwear is just one wearable in many now being labeled, sans tag, according to Annette Sharon, Pad Print Machinery of Vermont.

We all know what they say about something that ain’t broke. Well, the embroidery industry needs no fixing. Tried and true old craft as it may be, plunging a needle, picking up bobbin and laying down top thread remains laden with creativity as the reshaped embroidery wheel keeps rolling toward new and interesting possibilities. After all, no one ever said if it ain’t broke, don’t mix it.

Stirring things accordingly, the greatest thing since sliced fabric, according to Hirsch’s laser expert Henry Bernstein, is an embroidery add-on technology that’s bridging the gap between science and apparel embellishment, with a few possibilities and a lot of potential.

Burnin’ time on the cutting edge