Blog | Custom Embroidery • Salem/Keizer, OR

Embroidered accessories brand your business

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Joshua Bagby

At Creativity On we embroider more than apparel and hats. We do accessories like the garment bag pictured above. Whether it be a tote bag, back pack, briefcase, or duffel, no job is too small.

Embroidered accessory gear is a great way to brand and promote your business. Clients or customers can carry your logo around with them on vacation or around town. Promotional embroidery makes a great alternative to newspaper advertising because it doesn’t get tossed into the recycle bin in a few days.

We can embroider one-of-a-kind items like a recreation back pack or we can outfit your team or club with matching logo items like a shirt, jacket, and tote bag. Embroidery excels at providing a classy, professional look that attracts the right kind of attention. The best way to know what we can do for you is to call and ask. If there’s a way to do it, Jolene will find it.

Check out our catalog for different kinds of accessory products such as tote bags and back packs of all types, scarves, towels, fleece gloves, bandanas, fleece blankets, aprons, lab coats, and so on. If you don’t find what you are looking for, please give Jolene a call at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time. She will help you locate the right product for you.

Posted in Branding, Creativity On, Embroidery | Leave a comment

Embroidered jackets give your business a boost

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Joshua Bagby

One issue small businesses and contractors often have to face is the perception among potential clients and customers of the provider’s legitimacy. Is this a real business or a fly-by-night operation?

One subtle way to reassure people of your legitimacy is to have your logo embroidered on shirts, hats, and jackets. Embroidery makes it real. It conveys the message, “We are here for the long haul. We are a real, reputable business. We put it in writing on our apparel.”

A second factor is the quality of the embroidery. A shoddy job gives the impression that the business is shoddy, too. That’s why our motto is “When you shine, we shine.” We know that your reputation is at stake, and so is ours.

This client came to us with a jacket that had been done by another vendor. The word mobile had been spelled incorrectly on the jacket—mobil—and the business owner was reluctant to wear the jacket. In fixing the logo, Jolene made suggestions how to improve it.

“If I had done this jacket originally, the logo would have been done correctly the first time,” Jolene said. “Integrity, honesty and quality are my top priorities when it comes to producing the finished product.”

Contact Jolene at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.

Call Jolene today and let us help your business shine

Posted in Embroidered jackets, Embroidery | Leave a comment

We do small jobs that other companies won’t touch

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Joshua Bagby

Many of our customers began their relationship with us when they discovered that we do small-quantity orders. Quite often people who want to have a few shirts embroidered cannot find a company willing to do the work because the profit is too low. Many companies require minimums, often much higher than the customer needs or can afford.

Late last summer a client came to us wanting a small amount of shirts done for the Turner Police Department. He needed just five shirts and couldn’t find anyone to handle so few. Jolene was able to find the requested tactical polo shirts at an affordable price that perfectly met his needs.

Great customer service on large or small orders is our passion. Call Jolene for a price quote and find out how she can help you. Contact Jolene at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.

Posted in Client stories, Creativity On, Embroidered polo shirts, Embroidery | Leave a comment

Launch or promote your small business with a great look

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

Get your new small business off to a great start or spiffy up your your professional image with some fashionable logo attire from Creativity On! With top-notch embroidery along with our famed customer service, you’ll be good to go with clothing you’ll feel happy to wear. Your pocketbook will be happy with our great prices.

Chances are that if you have started a new business, you’ll already have invested in a logo design. You will have done this for your business cards, signs, stationery, and possibly a website. We can easily turn your art into embroidery. If you haven’t, we can assist you in creating a logo for embroidery.

While any small business person is very mindful of start-up costs, having a good uniform will do several things. First, it will give you more credibility. Showing up at someone’s house to perform a service like home cleaning, gardening, carpentry, plumbing, or pet care, wearing an “official” shirt will give off a better image of your dedication to your business. Clients like that.

It also helps you feel more official. We have watched our customer’s eyes light up when thy see what we have created for them. We know they’ll feel better in their jobs when they are dressed right.

Of course, your logo apparel also acts as advertising for your business when you are out and about. When you go to the bank, the grocery store, or anywhere else, people will see what you do when it’s embroidered on your clothing. They may need that service or know someone else who needs that service. People notice things that they have a need for, and you could find yourself attracting new clients that way.

Finally, our clothing is so reasonably priced that it’s often cheaper to buy embroidered garments from us than it is to by plain clothing from a store. We are experts at branding on a budget—we’re a small business, too!

We are very happy to discuss with you our services and how we can help you find the right apparel for your business or group.

FIND OUT MORE

Please explore our website via the navigation bar at the top of the page. Questions? Contact Jolene at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.

Posted in Branding, Creativity On, Embroidery, Small Business Strategies | Leave a comment

Branding on a budget—custom embroidered patches

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

Do you need just a few embroidered patches?

If you’ve ever shopped for embroidered patches online, you know that often to get the best prices, you need to order a huge amount of patches. This obstacle often keeps individuals and small teams or businesses from acquiring the goods they’d love to have.

At Creativity On, we can help you get what you need for your team, club, or business. We can help you brand with patches, shirts, jackets, sweats, hats, and more.

Branding your group doesn’t have to be wildly expensive. Jolene has extensive experience seeking and finding the best products for your money. Let her know what your budget is and she will work with you to get the best products for your money. She is also innovative with ideas to help you get your business recognized.

For more information, please call Jolene at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.

Posted in Branding, Embroidered hats, Embroidered jackets, Embroidered sweatshirts, Embroidery, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Show that you care with personalized embroidery

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

Treat that special someone in your life to a delightfully unique gift. If you’d really like to show that you care, give a gift of personalized custom embroidery. It could be a mate, a family member, a co-worker or group member being honored, or someone who has everything and you don’t have a clue what to give.

Whatever the occasion, specialized personal gifts from the heart are always a great way to go. For instance, you can have a few words of their favorite poetry embroidered on a fitting garment or as a work of art suitable for framing. You can have a favorite nickname, quote, custom logo, or meaningful graphic embroidered.

Personalized gifts are a great way to honor someone, and custom embroidery shows you spent the time and energy to make your gift special. Find out what Jolene at Creativity On can do for you. Please call her today with your ideas and see what kind of magical memories she can help you create for that special someone.

Call Jolene at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.

Posted in Creativity On, Customer Service, Embroidery | Leave a comment

How we re-purpose an existing embroidered logo

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

A significant benefit of working with Creativity On is that we think ahead to save you money and stress. In embroidery digitizing is a major concern. Your logo may serve multiple purposes. You may start out simply wanting embroidered polo shirts, but may down the road want hats as well. When we plan for that possibility at the start, it saves hassle and expense down the road.

A recent case is the City of Keizer. They are working on building city pride and are now hosting a series of events to involve the public in making Keizer a desirable place to live, work, and play. What better way to promote pride than to give the staff hosts a shirt that shows the official city logo and identifies them as a member of the Event Team?

We took their existing logo and added text to it. Voila! No new set-up fees were required to re-purpose the logo to create these event shirts.

THE RE-PURPOSE PROCESS

When Jolene first sets up a logo for one of her clients, she has a few questions for them, such as:

What size do you want the finished logo?
Do you want a pocket logo, a logo for hats, full back or front?
Do you want the logo used for multiple purposes?

The answers dictate how the logo will be digitized. It is less expensive to address all the potential uses for the logo up front to avoid having to re-do it later for a special need (and be charged again for re-digitizing.) It also adds versatility to how the logo is used, whether for patches, hats, jackets, etc.

The Creativity On motto is “When you shine, we shine.” Part of our superior customer service is to give added-value whenever possible. When you shop locally and have a one-on-one relationship with your trusted service provider, it pays off in extra benefits. We give our clients the best product and logo selections to make their dollars go farther.

Posted in Creativity On, Embroidered hats, Embroidered jackets, Embroidered polo shirts, Embroidery | Leave a comment

Promote your business or team even in cold weather

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

The chillier weather has arrived but it doesn’t mean you have to cease promoting your business, team, or group. Warm jackets, vests, fleece, and caps can all be emblazoned with your company logo, carrying the message of your organization for the world to see.

Embroidered branding is an important tool for small businesses and entrepreneurial pursuits. When people see an embroidered garment, they think that your business is here to stay, a fact which helps establish your credibility in the marketplace. Meanwhile, embroidery accentuates your sense of style because it’s so traditionally classy.

Embroidered branding also promotes your business or organization and invites inquiries while you are out and about. For example, maybe you are at the bank, grocery store, or lunch spot and happen to be wearing a company jacket. Someone sees you and becomes intrigued by the attractive logo. That could open the doorway for a conversation where you could give your quick speech on what you do. Before you know it, you may have attracted another new client or group membver. The extra-nice part about it is all you have to do is wear the garment, and people will approach you when they are interested!

If you own a business that has employees, consider the advantage of outfitting your staff with embroidered garments. It helps them feel that they are a valued part of your organization. Many companies reward staff members for great service by giving them embroidered jackets—a message of pride from the top that builds additional loyalty.

We have a variety of sweatshirts (hoodies, full, quarter-zip, full-zip) and jackets from which to chose. To see what we offer, visit our Catalogs page, choose a catalog to view, and start shopping.

Posted in Embroidered hats, Embroidered jackets, Embroidered sweatshirts, Embroidery | Leave a comment

We appreciate your referrals

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

When you shine, we shine—that’s our motto. And one of our favorite ways to experience it is to be recommended to someone by a satisfied customer.

“It is always nice to have another client say thank you for good customer service by referring me,” Jolene said.

Recently someone at the office of the Middle Fork Ranger District saw what Jolene had done for YCC at the McKenzie River Ranger District. That person asked McKenzie who did their embroidery. Armed with the referral, they called and asked for prices. They then sent Jolene the logo and a purchase order.

“In this case the referral turned into a great new client,” Jolene said.

Posted in Creativity On, Customer Service, Embroidery | Leave a comment

Embroidery from scratch — creating a logo

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Joshua Bagby

Would you like to have some embroidery made for your team, business, or group but aren’t sure how to proceed? Maybe you do not have art work or an official logo (this happens more than you might think) and that keeps you from taking the plunge.

We’ve helped people create embroidery-ready logos as part of our service of outfitting them with new clothes. When people do not have logos, or even artwork for logo designs, we can create them using clip art from a source like iclipart.com.

Logos usually have a combination of text and graphics. Sometimes they have just one or the other. We combine the desired elements in a desktop publishing or illustrating program depending on which software best suits the project. The end result will be a jpg file that we send off to the digitizers.

CREATING AN ORIGINAL LOGO FOR EMBROIDERY

As an example, we recently created a logo for a produce company. We found clip art of fruits and vegetables to use. It didn’t matter that each drawing was rendered in a different graphic style by different artists. That would be a no-go for print but for embroidery the styles will blend nicely as stitches.

Then we added text above and below set in an upper and lower arc so that the whole embroidered design would have an oval shape. We used Adobe Illustrator for this because of how it handles text so wonderfully.

When a digitizer gets the file, usually in a jpeg (jpg) format, he or she electronically traces over the artwork laying down where the threads will stitch and in what order. During this stage edits can be made, such as “leave the red background out.”

Besides using clipart, it is possible to create a logo based on some element of a photograph you have. Say you had a nice photo of a sailboat that you wanted to use but there was more in the photo. In that case the unwanted parts could either be Photoshopped out or the digitizer could ignore that portion of the photo.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The bottom line for you is don’t let lack of art stop you. We can take charge of helping you get the results you want. We’ll listen to your general idea of the art you’d like, consult with you about the options, and take it from there. You’ll see the art for your approval followed by a sample stitch-out before the final production of your order.

Questions? Call Jolene at (503) 991-5266 M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.

Posted in Customer Service, Embroidery, Event Shirts | Leave a comment

Custom Embroidery • Salem/Keizer, OR