Summary
A crest is not one product. On a full-color team kit it can be printed into the fabric, stitched flat to the cloth, sewn on as a woven patch, applied as twill, heat-pressed as a TPU badge, or built up in silicone. Each option changes the artwork you send, the proof you approve, the line on your quotation, and how the badge behaves after a season of washing. This guide is about that decision alone.
Start with what the badge has to do
Buyers usually arrive with a picture of a crest and a question about price. The more useful first question is what the badge has to survive and what it has to match.
A school crest with a motto and four colors is a detail problem. A sponsor mark on a sleeve is a flatness problem. A club badge that has to feel substantial in the hand is a build problem. The same artwork file can end up in four different processes, and the file rarely decides which one is right.
Two housekeeping points before anything else. Check whether your league, school or federation dictates crest size and placement, and decide early whether the crest must match an existing embroidered badge on last season's kit, since matching stitches to print is a different exercise from matching print to print.
The processes we actually run
Worth knowing the full menu before narrowing it, because most buyers are shown two options when seven exist. Our own product page puts it plainly: logo processes run in-house, covering 3D silicone, embroidery, TPU badges, flocking and more, and any of them can be combined with sublimation printing on one order.
The list, in the words of that page:
- 3D thick silicone — raised, multi-color logo plate
- Thin silicone — 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm profiles
- Embroidery patch — pre-made woven-and-stitched crests
- Flat embroidery — stitched directly on the garment
- TPU badge — heat-pressed, glossy or matte
- Flocking — multi-color composite velour transfer
- Magic color — iridescent color-shift finish
Read that as a menu of constructions, not a price ladder: two are stitched or woven, four are pressed or molded, and one is an iridescent finish. None of them is the body print.
Printed crests: the default on a full-color kit
If the crest lives inside the sublimation artwork, it is dyed into the fabric along with everything else. There is no separate badge, no stitching, and no additional process line: the crest is part of the shirt.
A printed crest suits a multi-color badge with gradients, fine type or a photographic element: a stitch does not hold a gradient well, and a woven patch struggles with a hairline rule. Print holds all three.
The trade-off is tactile. A printed crest is flat, because it is the cloth. On the product pages we describe the durability of that print the same way every time: the inks are bonded into the fibers, so graphics resist peeling and fading with normal care, which means machine wash cold and no bleach. Buyers who judge a kit by feel rather than by look will read print as the minimal option, even when the artwork is more accurate.
Flat embroidery and patches: one word apart, different products
These two get used interchangeably in conversation and they are not the same thing. The page separates them clearly: flat embroidery is stitched directly on the garment, while an embroidery patch is a pre-made woven-and-stitched crest.
Flat embroidery puts the stitches into the cloth, so the base fabric sits underneath the stitching and the badge takes on the drape of the garment. A patch is made as its own object and then applied, which means the badge has an edge and a body of its own, and the stitching sits on a woven ground rather than on the jersey.
Simple shapes, bold type and a limited thread count suit flat embroidery. Dense, small-scale detail with several colors inside a small area is usually better served by a woven ground.
Twill appliqué, TPU, silicone and flocking
Twill is the classic American lettering method and the site describes its role precisely on the baseball page: the crest and lettering are applied on top of the garment as embroidery or as twill appliqué. On hockey, the same idea covers a whole style, where crests, lettering and numbers are stitched or applied as twill instead of printed. Twill gives a flat, crisp edge and reads as a varsity build.
TPU is the modern flat option: heat-pressed, and available glossy or matte. It holds a clean edge and a solid color field, which makes it a natural fit for a sponsor mark or a simple geometric badge.
Silicone is the build-up option, and the page splits it in two: 3D thick silicone as a raised, multi-color logo plate, and thin silicone at 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm profiles. If the brief is that the badge must be felt before it is seen, this is the process that answers it.
Flocking is a multi-color composite velour transfer with a soft, matte surface rather than a gloss, and Magic color adds an iridescent, color-shifting finish.
Numbers, letters and captain marks
Numbers get argued about after delivery, so know what is available before the roster is finalized. Our page lists nine number and font styles for match-day digits and lettering, and the sport pages show how far the treatment varies: soccer offers any font with front and back numbering, hockey carries back numbers, names and captain marks, and marathon kits run bib-style names and numbers with race-day lettering.
Nine styles covers the standard sets. If your school or club uses a specific athletic font, send the file: the typeface becomes yours rather than a house style; the artwork guide explains what a usable font file looks like. Numbers can also be printed with the body or stitched with the crest, and the two are not interchangeable in look. If the crest is embroidered and the numbers are printed, that mix is visible at close range, which is either a deliberate hierarchy or an accident, depending on whether anyone decided it.
What to send, and what the proof has to show
Crest artwork follows the same rule as any other file: vector is better, because AI, EPS, PDF or SVG keeps a logo, numbers and names crisp at any size. If all you hold is a JPG, a PNG or a photograph of last season's badge, send it anyway. We will check it and say whether it will work before you commit.
What comes back is a full digital mockup, front and back, showing the logo, colors, numbers, names and placement. It is free at that stage, usually ready within three to five days, with up to five rounds of revisions included. For crests this proof matters more than for body print, because placement is the thing most often wrong: chest height, distance from the placket, sleeve position, and whether the badge clears the panel seam.
If you would rather not lay it out yourself, the tracksuit and marathon pages make the offer directly: send your crest and lettering, or brief us and we prepare the layout on the digital proof.
How the order changes when the crest is not printed
Two structural facts catch buyers out. The first is that a non-printed crest is usually quoted as its own line. The baseball page states it without decoration: embroidery for team crests and chest logos is quoted separately from the sublimation printing. Hockey says the same in fewer words, with crest embroidery available separately.
The second is scheduling. The minimum order stays at 10 pieces per design, with mixed sizes accepted within one design, and bulk production runs 10 to 15 working days after the deposit is received and the design or sample is approved. Whether a stitched crest adds a step to that schedule depends on the process and the artwork, so ask the question at quoting stage rather than after the deposit.
If you are still deciding how the body of the kit should be decorated, that comparison belongs in sublimation versus screen printing rather than here.
The short version
Decide the crest as a physical object, not as a picture. Multi-color detail with gradients points to print. A felt, substantial badge points to silicone. A crisp varsity edge points to twill. A woven ground with dense small detail points to a patch, and simple bold shapes point to flat embroidery. Send vector art if you have it, settle placement on the proof, and expect a separate line on the quotation whenever the crest leaves the printer.
Our process list and fabric options page shows each construction, the artwork requirements guide covers file formats, and the fastest way to price a crest against your own artwork is to send it with your brief.