Stock Exchange Embroidery Project

When I opened my shop in 1986, stock designs did not exist. With the exception of basic text, all designs had to be digitized and the prices were quite high. A left chest logo with 5000 stitches could easily cost $300.00 or more to have it punched. As a result, many customers chose not to have their logo digitized and opted for simple keyboard lettering instead. (The first keyboard lettering systems were developed as part of the machine, rather than a software program installed on a computer and the number of fonts was quite limited.)

But then came stock designs and the whole industry changed forever. Suddenly embroiderers could create a small library of usable designs, ready to sew, at a reasonable price. Rather than $300.00 for a single design, punchers realized that the same design could be sold to lots of people, thus they were willing to drop the price to a much lower level. In the long run, they made more money by mass producing the design, rather than just selling it once. This opened the doors for embroiderers as many of their customers didn’t have a true logo to begin with. By merging an image with keyboard lettering, the embroiderer could create a simple design for the customer at a fraction of the cost for custom digitizing. In addition it could be done while the customer waited, rather having to wait several days for the design to be digitized. This allowed for instant stitch counts and price quotes.

In the beginning, there were only a few stock design companies and their offerings were limited, but usually top quality. Over the past 20 years, many new companies have entered the stock design trade and now there are literally hundreds of thousands of designs available for embroiderers to choose from.

Stock designs provide a very useful sales tool. Whenever you approach a potential new customer, you can easily create something interesting and unique to show them. For example, if you were going to try and sell tourist or souvenir designs to a gift shop, you could create some potential design ideas (and sew them out) to show the shop owner. This is a great way to impress the customer and move nearer to making a sale. Even if you can digitize, you will find that in many cases the ideal design is already available as stock image that can be downloaded cheaply and quickly. Why spend a couple of hours digitizing something, if you can pay $25.00 or less and download it in minutes? Though stock designs offer lots of exciting possibilities for embroiderers, especially those who don’t digitize, there are some things to be aware of. First of all, the quality of a design can be affected by the fabric upon which it is sewn. In the case of custom digitizing, the puncher creates the design for a specific fabric, thereby ensuring that it sews properly for the given application. But in the case of a stock design, it is not possible for the digitizer to know what fabric the design will be sewn on. Thus, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee that it will sew well on all fabrics. Another problem is that embroiderers tend to resize stock designs any way they see fit. Once again, a design is digitized with a certain size in mind. Resizing it may cause a loss of sewing quality. Regardless, embroiderers actively seek designs in an outline file format such as .cnd, so that they can easily resize the design as needed. It should be noted that although most modern commercial software systems can read a .cnd file, they typically change it over to an outline file that is compatible with the internal format code. For example, the Pulse Software system can read a .cnd file, but it automatically converts the file into a .pof or .pxf file which is the internal Pulse outline file format. Much like translating languages (such as Spanish to English) converting embroidery file formats sometimes results in minor problems, such as missing stitches. Another limitation with stock designs is that there is no guarantee the digitizer is qualified. Anyone can create a website and/or catalog and start selling stock designs. The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of inexperienced digitizers who are selling inferior designs. Thus, the embroiderer needs to be cautious in their choices. Find out if the stock design company offers any free designs for testing purposes. An additional area of concern with stock designs is that they are many times used illegally. Stock designs are governed by the copyright laws of the United States and many other countries. When you purchase a stock design you don’t actually own it, rather you are buying a license to use it. As per most licensing agreements, you can reproduce the design via embroidery as much as you want, during your normal course of business operations. However, you are not entitled to sell, trade, swap, loan or give the electronic design file to any other person. Doing so is illegal! There is one exception to this. If you are selling your business as a complete unit, most stock design companies will allow you to include the designs that you legally purchased, provided the new owner registers the change in ownership. Bottom line, be sure to read the licensing agreement that comes with every stock design you purchase.

Overall, stock designs are a wonderful asset for an embroiderer, especially one who cannot digitize. By carefully selecting the right design and understanding sewing basics such as fabric compensation techniques, most stock designs can be applied quite successfully. The result is a happy customer and increased profits for the embroidery shop owner.

There is also a flip-side to making money with stock designs. Instead of just buying the creations of other people, you might be in a position where you can sell your own designs to other embroiderers. Provided that you have unique, original designs that sew well and look great, there is a very real opportunity to make some additional revenues. The key is to get those designs out in front of potential customers.

At first, the marketing and promotional aspects may appear to be quite daunting and expensive: a catalog, a website, an order processing system, etc., etc., etc. But unless you are starting a full-time venture focused solely on the sale and delivery of stock designs this isn’t a practical approach. But have no fear; there is an alternative method that is probably much more to your liking (and budget). You can list your designs on someone else’s website, where they do all the work and you simply collect a monthly check. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not.

There are several existing websites that depend almost totally on outside digitizers to provide the inventory that is offered for sale. For example, www.embroiderydesigns.com has multiple companies who have posted their designs online for sale, yet the site appears to be one large catalog of designs and for the customer that’s just what it is. Though they can search by vendor, most people simply search by keyword and are automatically taken to the designs that match their search criteria, regardless of the vendor. They make their selections and checkout. Everything is automated and designs are processed without the interface of the vendor. At the end of the month you as a stock design supplier receive a check, based on the amount of sales minus a commission.

Are there any restrictions to becoming a stock design vendor? Well there are contracts that must be signed and of course you must have verification that you are the sole owner of the designs you are offering. Beyond that, it’s a matter of having top-quality designs and a willingness to stand behind your work. Obviously, if something doesn’t sew well, the owner of the website is going to get complaints, which will then be delivered to you. Too many complaints and you might be looking for another location to host your designs. So above all else, you need to test your designs and guarantee them before they go on the market for sale.

In addition, you will get a better understanding of the authorship-side of copyright issues. Most stock design websites already have standard copyright clauses that are posted online. But that doesn’t stop people from abusing them and there are no guarantees that people who buy your products don’t illegally copy and distribute them after the sale. This is virtually impossible for you to combat without the resources of an army of investigators, so it’s something you must be prepared to accept. However, one small ray of sunshine is that the stock design companies do have a record of every sale of your designs, so if you come across someone who you suspect of having an illegitimate copy of one of your designs, you can always check to see if they really did purchase it or not.

So there is money to be made with stock designs, either through increased embroidery sales, or through sale of your original works or BOTH. Explore the concepts and see what makes sense for your operation, as every dollar counts, no matter how small.