Embroidery vs Screen Print

If you're ordering logo apparel for your team, the first question isn't the color or the style — it's how the logo gets on the garment. Embroidery vs screen print is the choice that decides how your custom team apparel looks on day one, how it looks after fifty washes, and how much you pay per piece. This guide compares the two for company apparel specifically — sweatshirts, quarter zips, polos and tees that employees actually wear to work — plus a third option for full-color designs: sublimation.

The short answer:

• Screen print → large, one-time runs of t-shirts (event tees, giveaways, 5K shirts).
• Embroidery → anything a team of 20+ wears repeatedly as a uniform, especially sweatshirts, quarter zips, polos and jackets.
• Sublimation → full-color designs like basketball jerseys and all-over prints.

What Is Embroidery?

Embroidery stitches your logo directly into the fabric with thread. Your logo file is first "digitized" — converted into a stitch map that tells the machine where each stitch goes, in what direction and in what order. The result is a raised, textured logo that is part of the garment rather than sitting on top of it.

Because it's thread, embroidery doesn't crack, peel or fade the way ink can. It's the standard for corporate uniforms and clinic apparel for exactly that reason: it still looks sharp in year two.

What Is Screen Printing?

Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh screen onto the fabric, one color at a time. Each color in your logo needs its own screen, which is why screen printers usually charge a setup fee per color and set a minimum order. Once the screens are made, each additional shirt is fast and cheap to print.

Screen print gives flat, bright color and handles large designs well — think full-back prints on event tees. It's less suited to small, detailed logos on thick or textured fabric like fleece.

And Sublimation?

Sublimation turns ink into a gas that bonds with polyester fibers, so the design becomes part of the fabric instead of a layer on top. It has no screens and no per-color setup, so one piece costs the same to set up as fifty. It reproduces full color, gradients and photos, and it doesn't crack or peel. The trade-off: it's flat to the touch, without the raised, stitched look of embroidery.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Cost: Which Is Cheaper for Your Team?

Screen printing has a reputation for being cheap, and it is — at volume. For a team of 20 to 50 people, setup fees change the math.

A typical example: a 3-color logo on 24 sweatshirts. With screen print, you pay three screen setups plus the print cost, then divide by 24 — and ink on fleece is where cracking shows up first. With embroidery, you pay digitizing once (free on our team orders) and the same stitch price whether your logo has one color or six.

Two more things tip team orders toward embroidery:

• Reorders need no new setup. Your digitized logo is saved, so next year's order starts straight from the proof. A single new hire in March? We embroider one piece with the same design and names so they're not left out.
• Names cost almost nothing to add. Each employee's name or title on the sleeve is part of the order. With screen print, individual names usually mean switching to a different method entirely.

Screen print wins clearly when you need 100+ identical t-shirts for a single event and don't care whether they last past next summer.

Durability: What Happens After 50 Washes

Work apparel gets washed weekly. Over a year, that's 50+ cycles.

• Embroidery: thread is colorfast and stitched through the fabric. Washed inside out on cold, it looks essentially the same after a year. The garment usually wears out before the logo does.
• Screen print: quality plastisol ink holds up well on cotton tees, but on fleece and stretchy blends it can crack along the fold lines, and hot dryers speed up fading.
• Sublimation: the design is dyed into the fibers, so there's nothing to crack or peel. Colors stay bright if you skip bleach and high heat.

If the apparel represents your business in front of clients — at a front desk, a showing, an exam room — the logo needs to look good in month ten, not just week one.

Which Method for Which Garment

Quarter Zips and Sweatshirts → Embroidery

Fleece has a raised surface that makes ink sit unevenly. Embroidery sits on top of the nap and stays crisp. This is why nearly every corporate quarter zip you've seen has a stitched logo — like our custom logo quarter zip sweatshirt.

Polos → Embroidery

Piqué knit has a textured weave that prints poorly. Embroidery is the industry default — the same logic applies to the pullovers in our office team sweatshirts.

T-Shirts → Screen Print (usually)

For casual Fridays, events and volunteer days — common for church and nonprofit teams — screen-printed tees are the budget choice. If the tee is part of a daily uniform, a small embroidered chest logo still reads more professional, which is why real estate teams and salon and restaurant staff usually pick a stitched quarter zip over a printed tee.

Small Teams → Still Embroidery

A five-person clinic or a new office doesn't need to hit a minimum. We embroider from a single piece, with the same logo, colors and sleeve names as a big order.

Design Tips If You Go With Embroidery

• Keep small text above about 0.25 inch tall. Tiny taglines under a logo can blur in thread. We'll flag this on your proof and suggest a simplified version.
• Gradients become solid tones. Thread can't blend like ink, so gradient logos are simplified to 2–6 solid colors.
• Left chest is the sweet spot. Around 3.5 to 4 inches wide reads clearly across a room without looking oversized.
• Use the sleeve. Names, titles or credentials (LVT, RDH, Realtor®) on the sleeve make a team look coordinated without cluttering the chest — or go bold with the credential on the chest, like our LVT embroidered quarter zip. More ideas on our vet tech and veterinary sweatshirts page.
• Send a vector file if you have one (AI, EPS, PDF, SVG). A clean PNG 1000px or wider works too.

A Simple Rule for Choosing

1. Will people wear this more than a few times? → embroidery.
2. Need full color, gradients or a photo across the whole garment? → sublimation.
3. More than 100 identical tees for one day? → screen print.

How Team Orders Work at Battle SummitView

Send your logo, pick colors and sizes, and approve a free digital proof — it arrives within one business day. Every order is embroidered, from a single piece to the whole team. Production takes 1–2 business days (up to 3 for complex logos), then 6–8 business days U.S. shipping — about 7–10 business days in total. The full step-by-step is in how a team group order works.

Start with one custom logo quarter zip to check the fit, or request a team quote for the full group.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is embroidery more expensive than screen printing?

Per piece, embroidery is usually a bit more at large quantities. For team orders of 20–50 sweatshirts, it's often close or cheaper once screen fees are counted — and it lasts longer on fleece.

Does embroidery last longer than screen print?

Yes. Embroidered thread doesn't crack or peel and holds color through years of washing, while screen print can crack on fleece and fade in hot dryers.

Can you embroider a logo with many colors?

Yes. Most logos use 2–6 thread colors. Gradients are converted to solid tones.

What's the minimum order for embroidered company apparel?

There's no minimum — we embroider from a single piece. Group pricing starts at 5 pieces.

Can each employee have their own name?

Yes — names, titles or credentials can go on the sleeve of each piece, all in the same order, with either method.