3D custom embroidery is a growing trend in the sportswear industry, and it’s making custom headwear and other apparel look incredible!
3D custom embroidery, also known as puff embroidery, is a growing embroidery technique that hat and apparel brands have utilized in recent years with glowing reviews. The general idea is that the embroidered design will be raised up from the hat or clothing’s fabric as to create a design that appears to be three-dimensional.
There’s no denying that 3D embroidery provides a very eye-catching design, but one thing that a lot of schools and athletic programs love is that this technique doesn’t overpower an apparel product’s aesthetics. Many people often will puff out simple team logos and letters, and it’s important to note that complex logos typically aren’t the best options for this type of intricate sewing technique.
Below we’re going over everything you need to know about 3D custom embroidery!
How Exactly Is 3D Custom Embroidery Created?
The trick to 3D custom embroidery is utilizing a very small piece of foam that’s securely tacked down to the apparel garment or hat.
Our embroidery experts will then develop your embroidered logo/design on top of this tiny piece of foam, which then creates that puffy appearance that looks so great on hats and garments.
As easy as this process sounds, it’s actually very intricate. It takes an incredible attention to detail to develop these foam pieces in the precise shapes of a team’s logo or design theme, but you can always count on the ARES team to get your 3D embroidery perfect every time!
Can Any Apparel Company Develop 3D Embroidery?
No, and this is largely because many embroidery machines aren’t quite capable of developing high-quality 3D embroidery.
The trick for professional-looking, 3D embroidery is to be able to adjust an embroidery machine’s tensions. 3D embroidery typically requires very loose tension, at least as compared to standard embroidery techniques.
It’s also likely that an apparel design may look best with both 3D and standard embroidery, and in these scenarios we make sure to do the puffy sections at the very end.
There certainly are a ton of details that go into this cutting-edge type of embroidery, but when it comes to custom hats and apparel, nothing quite looks better than making embroidered designs literally stand out!
What Are Some of The Differences Between Standard & 3D Embroidery?
Below are three main differences between standard and 3D embroidery that you should know about:
- Certain letter shapes can get altered with 3D embroidery. This is why we typically suggest block letter shapes for 3D embroidery as opposed to serifs and other letter shapes that entail intricate script details. Our design team will help you hone in on your best options to ensure that your 3D embroidery maintains a high-quality, clean appearance.
- Certain design areas may need to be brown down into multiple stitches. It’s important to remember that 3D/puff stitching can’t be too wide, because this could potentially lead to the foam showing through or even threads prematurely breaking. So although 3D embroidery is all about extenuating a logo/design off a garment’s fabric, there are certain limitations in terms of the width of each stitch.
- Smaller design details may need to be changed/removed. As we mentioned above, intricately detailed designs might not be best for 3D embroidery. But our design team will always let you know when certain, smaller elements need to be changed or removed in order to ensure a clean sewing.
Reach Out To The ARES Team To Learn More About 3D Custom Embroidery!
ARES Sportswear has supported many schools, businesses, club sports programs and groups of all types when it comes to high-quality, custom embroidery. We understand why people love embroidered hats and apparel, and why 3D embroidery has become one of the top trends within this niche of the sportswear industry.
Contact us online to get in touch with our design team today and begin the initial stages of your next custom embroidery order today!
