DIGITIZING In-House Vs. Outsourcing | Pros & Cons | Apparel Academy (Ep54)

Can’t decide whether to outsource your digitizing or do it in-house? Then check out this episode of Apparel Academy, where Henry will cover the pros and cons of digitizing in-house and outsourcing. He will also go over the cost of digitizing and what you should consider when making a final decision.
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Figuring out whether to digitize in-house or outsource to someone else can be a difficult decision.
Before going over the pros and cons of digitizing in house or outsourcing, let’s discuss what is digitizing.
Digitizing is converting artwork into a format that your embroidery machine can read and then stitch. Full digitizing software can cost over $2,000 with most embroidery companies. However, we offer our embroidery digitizing software, Chroma, for free with your purchase.
When it comes to cost, digitizers determine their price points in 3 ways: Flat Rate, Stitch Count, and Complexity.
Flat-rate pricing is simply because the price does not vary and is usually based on placement and size. The typical cost for a left chest logo is around $10.
With stitch count pricing, digitizers typically charge about $1.50 per thousand stitches. So, an average left-chest logo, which is about 7,000 stitches, costs about $10.
Complexity pricing requires the digitizer to use his or her knowledge of the industry to evaluate a design and price it based on its complexity.
Now let’s look at the pros and cons of digitizing in house vs. Outsourcing.
In-House Pros and Cons:
The great thing about digitizing in-house is that you don’t have to pay a digitizer to do the work. You also have control over the quality and turnaround time of the design. One downside is you’ll have to spend time learning how to use the digitizing software and how to make designs.
Outsourcing Pros and Cons:
When you outsource your digitizing, you won’t have to learn how to use the digitizing program and you won't have to spend money on buying or updating software. Another perk to outsourcing is that its relatively cheap, but the more complex the design, the more expensive it gets. Also, by outsourcing your designs, you lose a revenue stream you could have had by charging other companies for design services.
What to Consider When Digitizing In-House or Outsourcing
If you have prior design experience or are pretty confident in your ability to work with digitizing software, in-house digitizing may be a good choice. But make sure to learn embroidery before learning how to digitize, since you can always outsource your digitizing.
With outsourcing, try “testing” your digitizer before working with them to make sure they produce quality work and meet your deadlines and requirements. Also, be aware of the terms the digitizer sets when it comes to revisions to your design. You may want them to re-digitize the design if you don’t like it our it doesn’t meet your standards. Lastly, know how to price your items, so you build in the cost of outsourcing.
When deciding whether to outsource your digitizing or do it in-house, remember to make decisions based on the time that you have and focus on what you want to prioritize in your business.

[@thomasredding6526]

Currently, we outsource and then use our own software to do tweaks and revisions on the fly. Also it is helping me learn more intricate digitizing.

[@ricomatv]

That's great! Thanks for watching!

[@mrdinhobass]

Goodnight! I am a ricoma customer and I recently acquired a TC 1501 here in Brazil. I would like to know how can I purchase the CHROMA program?

[@ricomatv]

You can purchase it through here --->ricoma.com/US/software/chroma

[@Mrmagiktime]

What if we have the MT1501 and it came with the wilcom software? Do we get to switch for free?

[@elevated-apparel]

Wilcom is a better software once you upgrade to designing or decorating.

[@ricomatv]

Hi, our machines only began including Chroma a few years ago when we created it. Wilcom still works great, our machines will read any digitized file as long as it's exported in .DST format.

[@romeotheidiot]

Can anyone suggest who can help digitizing my design?

[@ricomatv]

Hi there, thanks so much for watching. This is a great question to ask in our Facebook support group, Embroidery and Custom Apparel Mastery. This group is meant for all lovers of embroidery with lots of resources and more members discussing topics and helping each other out and learning about Ricoma machines and other brands! We recommend you join this group as we'd love to have you! facebook.com/groups/embroiderymastery

[@myemail1402]

I can help