The pursuit of quality does not begin and end with the garment manufacturer and the need for well made clothing and fabrics. To really make sure that your customers return again and again it is important that you are able to produce the best quality decoration.

One company who have instilled this into their way of working and production is Bedfordshire-based decorator Essential Embroidery Design (EED), who has worked hard to establish a reputation for quality decorations and perfection in its finish.

Director George Georgiou insists that everything produced in-house is of the best possible quality and if there are any doubts before the finished garment is sent to the customer, then it is not sent at all. George said, ‘We want to be sure that no matter how many garments are decorated, each one leaves here in a perfect state.’

The company has had to make investment to ensure that it is able to compete with other decorators, specifically overseas operations who are able to work on larger orders and produce higher quantities at a lower cost. While this option is available to buyers and end users, many will still prefer to support UK businesses and buy direct from a reputable source from this country.

George explained, ‘We have put a lot of investment into this operation and as a result we need to ensure that the results that we produce are of the best quality so we can get repeat orders and returning customers.

We do all of our digitising in-house as we have an experienced digitiser working for us. He came from another company where cost and spend was the most important factor for the Managers, I don’t care how long it takes him to do one design just as long as the end result is perfect in his and my eyes and looks impeccable when it is decorated.’

While the company will endeavour to do all the decoration orders in-house on its various embroidery machines, there is instances where much larger orders are needed to be redeployed to an overseas decorator, though the quality aspect is checked before, during and after the order has been placed and completed.

George gave an example from Christmas 2004 when a customer made an order for 30,000 3-in-1 jackets that needed to be decorated on both the inner and outer layers. While the customer could have gone direct to an overseas decorator and made a saving, they decided to use EED’s expertise and placed the order with them, knowing that the finished item would be of the utmost quality.

The machines at EED are all bought new and constantly maintained to ensure that as little time as possible is lost to breakdowns and problems that can be solved by simple maintenance. Every Friday the company has a process of finishing work half an hour early to oil and clean each machine and ensure that is working and will continue to be productive for another week when it is cleaned and maintained again.

It was the need to keep ahead in machinery that led EED to purchase a brand new Kornit 931 digital printer, and become the first European owners of the new machine.

The 931 has a far advanced decoration capability compared to other models on the market. Whilst others will print a 1-2mm strip per print, limiting speed of output, the Kornit machine can print from any of the 256 nozzles on each of its spectra print heads which are highly regarded among printers in various high speed industrial digital markets. This gives the Kornit a unique advantage in speed, ink deposit and resolution as well as the ability to profile different fabrics for the best print quality.

As well as being an efficient printer, distributors Adelco recently introduced the capability to print on dark garments. Currently the machine has four CMYK print heads, each with 256 print nozzles, but with spaces for two more print heads, a double layer of white can be added as either a base for overprinting bright colours, or for a white colour in the finished design.

In fitting with the need for perfectly finished decorations, the 931 can produced a sample print out to ensure that the image is produced in the best quality and that pantone references match if necessary. George said, ‘When it comes to getting the image right on the on the finished garment, it is a case of the better the artwork the better the final image.

‘When it is running in production it’s perfect, I believe this is the future and I believe in the long term it will replace screen printing. One customer called me at 4pm on Friday and asked me to produce a sample for him, and by 10am on the following Monday it had been produced - the quality and detail could not be reproduced on a screen.’

Adelco’s Mark Smith knew that EED’s needs for perfection would be met by the 931, he said, ‘The attention to detail and strive for perfection is a plus for Adelco as we knew we would have to work very hard to meet EED’s demands on quality. They have been impressed with this machine and more than satisfied with the output so I know it is more than good enough for this industry.’

George said, ‘Digital print seemed to be the answer to what I was looking for, and I can now offer something that other decorators cannot. The biggest problem for us is getting over to people just how unique how this is, and really the only way is for people to see it in action, either at Adelco at trade shows or here at our premises in Luton.’

The need for quality is therefore evidently prevalent at EED, and the rigorous process that the company enforces just goes to show that if you are prepared to make that extra effort, your final decorations will have that added factor of quality that will ensure customer satisfaction and more importantly – repeat business.

EED

T: 01582 568470

F: 01582 561100

W: www.eed-uk.com

Adelco

T: 01420 488388

F: 01420 476445

E: sales@adelco.co.uk

W: www.adelco.co.uk

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