How to choose the right print method for your logo
Silkscreen, heat transfer, sublimation or embroidery? The method you pick decides whether your logo still looks right after twenty washes. Here is how to choose without overpaying.
Most first-time buyers choose a print method by price. That is how you end up with a logo that cracks after two washes, or a three-colour logo that had to be simplified into a single flat blob to keep the cost down.
The correct order is the other way round: pick the method that suits the blank and the artwork, then look at what it costs. The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive option is usually a few cents per unit — and it decides whether your brand looks competent or cheap.
Start with the product, not the logo
The surface dictates the method far more than the artwork does.
Non-woven and canvas bags take silkscreen or heat transfer. Silkscreen lays down a solid, opaque ink that sits on top of the weave. Heat transfer presses a printed film into the fabric.
Polyester drawstring bags take sublimation. The dye is absorbed into the fibre rather than sitting on top of it, so the print cannot peel or crack — and it can cover the entire panel, edge to edge.
PU leather notebooks and planners take foil stamping or debossing. Both are cover techniques, not print techniques, and both read as premium. Foil gives you metallic gold, silver or rose gold. Debossing gives a recessed impression with no ink at all — understated, and popular with finance and luxury clients.
Metal and aluminium takes laser engraving. It is permanent, it cannot wear off, and it produces a subtle tone-on-tone mark that looks deliberate rather than promotional.
Curved or awkward surfaces — pen barrels, bottle caps, small rigid items — take pad print, where a silicone pad picks up the ink and transfers it onto the curve.
Then look at the artwork
Once you know which methods the blank supports, the artwork narrows it down further.
- One or two flat colours — silkscreen is the cheapest option and will look crisp.
- Gradients, photographs, or fine detail — you need heat transfer or sublimation. Silkscreen cannot reproduce them; the screens cost more per colour and fine lines fill in.
- A logo with more than four colours — heat transfer is usually cheaper than silkscreen, because silkscreen charges per colour and heat transfer is priced per unit regardless of colour count.
- A logo with small text — check it at actual size before approving. Anything below about 3 mm cap height will fill in on silkscreen and become unreadable on embroidery.
The artwork file matters more than people expect
Send vector: AI, EPS, PDF with outlined fonts, or SVG. Vector scales to any size without losing edges, which matters when the same logo goes on a 5 cm pen and a 40 cm tote in the same order.
If you only have a JPG or a screenshot, say so. A supplier who redraws it will usually do it at no extra cost — but it adds a day, and it is the single most common cause of a slow first quotation. Do not send a low-resolution file and hope.
Three questions to ask before approving
- What does the print look like on the actual material? Ask for a physical pre-production sample, not a digital mock-up, before any volume order.
- Where exactly is the print positioned, and how large is it? Print area is a specification, not a suggestion. Get it in writing in centimetres.
- How does the print behave after washing? Sublimation and embroidery survive repeated washing. Heat transfer on a low-melt fabric may not. If the item is a garment or a bag that gets cleaned, this decides the method.
What this means for your quote
Tell us the product, the artwork and the intended use — and we will recommend the cheapest method that still looks right on that blank. If your artwork needs simplifying to hit a price point, we will say so before you commit, not after the samples arrive.