Finding and Keeping Good Digitizers

How do you find good digitizers?   You can use the services of your embroiderer, but then who owns the design if on a repeat order you want to use a different shop?  By contracting your own digitizing you have greater control of pricing, lead time, and if your digitizer works with your embroiderer like they should then you also have another way to control quality.  Beware though, all digitizers are not created equal, in fact, most are not “created” at all, but become digitizers by default.  There are no schools to “create” digitizers.  There are no certification processes or levels of digitizing to lend credibility and alert you to special qualifications.  Digitizers usually start out as employees in a shop where they learn on the job either by themselves or are trained by an existing digitizer who probably is not going to share too much out of fear of making their jobs less secure. 

If they worked for a hat company they probably wouldn’t have much experience on shirt digitizing and, likewise, if they worked for a shirt manufacturer they might not be well versed in hat embroidery.   If they spent their time in a small embroidery shop in a warm part of the Country they probably have spent less time on designs for sweaters, sweatshirts, and jacket backs, etc.  They know what they know.  This is why it is important to think about the types of items you frequently sell that would be embroidered and match your digitizers to those needs.

A simple list of questions will help you make your matches.  Ask about their history and what they like to digitize.  Normally if they like something they tend to be better at it or at least care more about making it the best they can.  Have they won any competitions or awards?  Winning doesn’t necessarily mean they can digitize anything other than the design that they won with, but it does show a willingness to let others critique their work.  Use the interviewing time to communicate exactly what you expect in your designs and see if these requirements are acceptable to them from the start.   (trims between every letter or can they place the letters a little closer together, how much discretion do you allow in your designs?)

Even with great communication up front it can still take a few designs for them to get the digitizing the way you want it for your embroidery style.  Letting them learn your style is critical for a successful match.  Don’t believe me?  Take a design you have that has embroidered great in the past and send it to five embroidery shops to run you a sample on the same material.  The design already is proven to work on your order, so the digitizing is good, but if the five samples do not match what happened?    The embroidery style, machine speeds, thread tensions, backings used, etc, is different from embroiderer to embroiderer, machine to machine, operator to operator, etc.   The digitizing did not change, but any of the other variables can and the design may need modifying.  Give them a few designs to learn your style otherwise if the relationship does not work and you find yourself going from one digitizer to another, then you are probably the one at fault.   

How long have they been digitizing?  Time served does not equal knowledge gained, but at least it is a start.   If you are wanting your car painted would you let someone who has been painting cars for 3 months do the job, 1 year, 3 years, etc?  The answer depends on the car in question.  If it is an old farm truck then a painter with 3 months experience may be just fine, but if it is classic that you spent years and a small fortune restoring then even a painter with 3 years experience probably would not get the job.  What type of distributorship is your company?  Is the goal to provide quality products that you and your clients are proud of and because of that referrals are naturally coming in, because your embroidery is getting noticed?  Or is the goal to simply get the embroidery on the item and ship it off as long as the client will pay for it then who cares?

How long have they been in business?  They may have been digitizing for 10 years at XYZ embroidery but have only been out on their own for 6 months.  Being a good digitizer does not mean they are a good business owner.  Running all aspects of a business is a lot harder than just working as a digitizer for another company.  Businesses go under all the time, you cannot control that, but you can at least hedge your bet and try to pick based on whatever criteria you determine to prove they are a reputable and successful operation in it for the long haul.  Unless, of course, you wouldn’t have a problem with your digitizer suddenly disappearing with whatever work you have in process lost, not to mention original outline files of all previous work.

Once you have found the matches you need for the type of embroidery you sell, then you should trust them because they are now partners in your company.  Every job should not be a battle of wills of what is achievable in thread and what is not.  If you have chosen correctly then let them do the best they can for you.  If you are trying to match something previously done then let them know that.  Remember that they are human and as such design consistency may change depending on what is going on in their lives and when in the week they produce your design. A design punched first thing Monday morning may not be the same as one done in the middle of the week or another completed right before closing time on Friday evening, especially if they are a one person shop.  Nevertheless they want your business and should always try to do the best they can and will not tell you something cannot be done unless they believe it cannot or that quality will suffer if they do. 

 Yes, this may mean that in order to provide your clients with quality digitizing you may need to have two or more digitizers at your disposal, each with different abilities.  This does make your job more complicated, but if your goal is to provide the best possible product and services to your clients then it is simply something you have to do to stay competitive.