Let’s take a look into the differences between vinyl imprint and thread embroidery when making a graduation sash or stole. Both will give you a quality, long lasting product, and in most cases either option will work just as well as the other. It will all come down to your time, budget and complexity of design work.
Vinyl Imprint
With the vinyl heat transfer process, a computerized machine is used to accurately cut out designs and letters on pieces vinyl to be printed on. A heat press is then used to transfer each vinyl color of the design onto the fabric of the stole being printed through a process that uses a combination of heat and pressure.
Simple graphics, letters, numbers and basic shapes works work best with vinyl. Some good examples would be basic graphics such as Greek symbols, scale of justice, crosses, medical and occupational symbols. A multi color logo or school crest with fine details just won’t work. There isn’t a way for us to create gradients (blending of colors) and any fine details would get lost with vinyl.
In terms of longevity, vinyl heat transfers applied to graduation stoles or fabrics should last years under normal use especially considering its limited use on graduation day and occasional class reunions or alumni events, Some may even put it away by framing it in a shadow box.
Vinyl imprinted stoles will be the better choice for personalized stoles or sashes, when limited delivery time and budget are factors in your decision making process. The set up and production time is much quicker than that of embroidery and lower in cost.
Thread Embroidery
In the embroidery process, your personalization text or graphic is changed to a digital image and then assigned color threads. Your stoles are placed in the embroidery machine, the needles go to work to give you a great look and vibrant stitching. However, it takes longer to set up and a little more expensive than vinyl imprint.
In Summary
- Embroidery is the better choice for personalized graduation stoles with multi- color, complex logos and/graphics. Please allow 14 working day for production during the peak busy months of March – end of May. Rush service available.
- Pressed for time and little budget? Screen printing is best for personalized stoles with simple designs and needed quickly and at a lower price. Allow 7 working days for production. Rush service available.
