5 Reasons Why You Should Start an Embroidery Business | Apparel Academy (Ep. 1)

Hey guys, welcome to the

embroidery

podcast. I'm your host, Henry Ma, and in this episode we're going to talk about why you

should

start

an

embroidery

business

, so let me tell you what you can expect from this podcast, what you can expect from the experts. strategies and advice from me that we have given to embroiderers over the years and you will also see episodes where we will invite guest speakers and experts in their relative fields within embroidery to come and give you their knowledge and advice so that you can learn from the community of embroiderers out there, so before we get

start

ed, I just wanted to set the tone for what we're going to cover today in this episode.

We will talk about the fundamentals and basics of why you

should

get started in an embroidery

business

, this is something that people wonder about a lot. Well, is the embroidery business the right business for me and is it going to be profitable? So I want to give you five

reasons

why embroidery is so popular and why people are getting into it and whether it might be a good fit for you and how you should think about getting into the embroidery business in the future. First of all, if you look at the businesses out there, there is always a cost associated with starting a business correctly and upfront. investment, but with embroidery it's actually quite cheap and affordable to get started and what I mean by this is the variable cost.

If you look at other industries, you may have to know rents, rent a commercial space, you may have to get expensive supplies. to start your business, but with embroidery the supplies are actually very inexpensive, we are talking about the backing and the thread and the essential elements like the bobbin to make an embroidery product and we have actually done the calculations and those numbers turn out to be approximately you know 15 to 16 cents on average per item if you look at the relative percentage of something like that over the cost of the item, which is a very, very insignificant part of your variable cost compared to other industries where the cost of goods is the input that you have to invest to make a product, it will be much higher, sometimes you know that between thirty and forty percent of your total income, that is one of the

reasons

why it is so easy for people to start embroidering because the relative cost is minimal and Speaking of commercial spaces, a lot of employers start in their homes, right in the garage, and a lot of businesses start that way, so it's not necessary.

I don't want people to think that you have to invest in a commercial space in To get started in this business, many successful embroiderers started from their garage from their homes and have outgrown it and you can decide at the right time to move to a commercial space if it is right for you, so that's point number one. Now that we're talking about the supply side, let's talk about the demand. If you look around you, this is reason number two. If you look around you, you will see embroidered items and embroidered products practically everywhere you go. from your local restaurant to your local Starbucks where the staff have embroidered aprons and caps, your local gym or any business that needs embroidered clothing for their staff, the demand is everywhere and it's really interesting that on one of our Facebook Live episodes We did a While someone asked me if you think the embroidery business is saturated and I told them flat out no, and the reason is because the demand is so high and the margins are so high that it allows there to be room and capacity for people to You can get into this business because whether it's your local business, your friends and family, it's for an event for example, there are always people who need embroidered products and that's where the gap is so expert embroiderers can fill that gap and satisfy that need.

So if you are skilled and have a niche, for example caps, or do something that the other local embroiderers cannot do, then you can satisfy that niche and there is more than enough room in the industry for different niches to coexist and therefore , I really think that the demand for embroidery will always be there because every company wants to show their logo and, in a way, spark the style of the company and be able to build that culture and that. brand in the business and if you can position yourself to perform well in that space, you have more than enough room to expand your business in your local area.

Now, the third reason why an embroidery business is a good business to start is because there are so many good resources and platforms for you to get clients and spread the word, from free resources like Facebook pages and social media where You can get followers and many of our clients have done it. an Instagram account or a Facebook page and post work that you make that is your own and word of mouth can travel and generate business in your local area in your local network and that satisfies clients who also recommend other clients. For you in the future, that's just a free and easy way to get started, but also on other platforms like Etsy, for example, a lot of embroidered and personalized products are made there and it's very easy to get started.

It's very easy to post your custom products there. for and Etsy has a large enough platform that it attracts a lot of users looking for embroidered products there, whether it's embroidered jackets, towels, maybe even wedding and baby shower gifts, so that type of platform also allows you to get started without Me wonder where your business will come from and we have also created a platform called Garmeo, which is essentially a platform that links companies and individuals who need embroidery with those who can fulfill that order, so that companies that have embroidery machines that are looking to fulfill with orders they can join a platform like Garmeo where orders are sent to them like a kind of uber to the embroidery space so they can take the orders and not worry about knowing where the orders are.

There will be more focus on how to fulfill those orders and do them well so that those resources are always available and it is very easy to get started without having to invest a lot in a retail space or wonder how it is done. Let's advertise to grow your business now. The fourth reason why it is so easy to get started in the embroidery business is because the cost of equipment has gone down over all these years, if you look at the cost of equipment from twenty years ago. for embroidery machines they're probably easily in the six figures, we're talking about a single head machine or a two to four head machine, ranging from sixty to a hundred thousand dollars, so those costs have come down to Over the years, technology has evolved and made it more affordable and easier for people to purchase this equipment to get started in this industry.

We're talking about single-head machines that now range from eight to ten thousand dollars per type. on the initial machine side and then maybe twelve to fifteen thousand dollars on the commercial side, so the rise of technology and the development of technology has really helped make embroidery machines and embroidery equipment more affordable for people to take advantage of and get started and get started. produce things right away without any kind of big hurdle or cost of entry into this industry and last but not least, I mentioned a little bit about the kind of platforms where you can get business, but again customers and business, but also the unparalleled support that is.

In this industry, a lot of other industries have a lot of competition and there isn't a lot of community of people who are willing to help each other, but I think what's special about customer

apparel

and embroidery in particular is that people are willing to help each other. help each other and there are a lot of resources available that are free and easy to access for anyone who wants to learn and as long as you put the time and effort into learning those things you can definitely be successful in your businesses, this is not rocket science, so some of the resources available, I mean, since YouTube is a platform that has a lot of how-tos, we've actually also, as a manufacturer, developed a series of videos where we teach people how to make certain projects, whether it's towels , hats, caps, shirts, patches, those videos, you know, free content that we provide not only to our clients, but also to anyone who wants to learn about embroidery in general and give them the tools and tips on how to carry out an embroidery project. beginning to end.

There are also groups on Facebook that are very active. We have a group called embroidery and custom garment mastery where there are over 10,000 members ranging from people who focus on embroidery to direct people. from garment printing to screen printing and those people are very active and ask questions about how to price things, where to get the best wholesale blanks and that community of people is something you don't really see elsewhere industries. So you can access that level of resources for free if you just want to learn about things properly, there's no commitment to joining the group you just joined and if you want to hang around and read about what other people are asking, that It's also a great way to educate yourself about this industry and along with the resources that we provide on the YouTube channels with our embroidery center episodes with podcasts like this one where you get these business tips and how to choose detection on the technical side. in video format that helps prepare you so that when you are ready to take that leap and jump into the embroidery business, you will already have enough knowledge and really get a leg up on everyone else and the ongoing support that you will get.

These groups and communities of people are very willing to help each other, so we also have a private Facebook group for our MERS eco maçussa, where we focus more on the technical techniques and details of our products so that we too are building a community of people who have our product and can get the support and resources they need to be successful in their business, so in general, all the resources that are out there for you to learn and take advantage of, but it's up to you really capturing that information, learning it, implementing it and then actually executing it in your business to make a difference, so I hope that helps.

Those are the five reasons I have summarized on why you should start an embroidery business. and why it might be a good option for you, so to summarize, first of all, the setup costs are very, very low, the variable costs are very low, number two, there are a ton of resources and I'm sorry, There are a lot of There is a demand for embroidery in every business, in every local business or anyone who wants to brand their business, there is a need for embroidery so the demand exists and continues to grow as people want each more and more personalized products.

There are many platforms available to help you do business so you don't have to get frustrated about how, for example, how can I get those orders to come in numbers? The cost of machinery has decreased due to the increase in technology and last not least is the unmatched support of the industry and the resources and community of people who are out there who have your success in mind, whether they be others embroiderers, from other embroiderers to manufacturers like us, where we give you the help and the resources to make sure you are successful in your business, so I hope that helps you somewhere in the description of this episode, there will be links to other resources like the embroidery center episodes that I mentioned as well as the Facebook group that I mentioned mastering embroidery and custom clothing where you can join for free over 10,000 people in that group and then last but not least if You want to learn more about why embroidery is the perfect side business.

I encourage you to check out a blog post that our team has written on that topic if you guys want to learn more, so I hope you found this episode helpful. Be sure to rate this episode and subscribe to our podcasts for more in-depth information like this. I hope to see you next time.