Notes from the factory floor.

Jacquard, embroidery, print or grip — which one holds your design?

Jacquard knits the colour into the fabric. It is the only one of the four that cannot crack, peel or wash off, because there is no layer sitting on top of the yarn. The trade-off is colour count: each additional colour in the same row needs another feeder, so knit-in artwork normally stays around six colours per row. Stripes, geometric repeats, club colours and knit-in lettering are all ideal.

Embroidery adds a raised thread on top of a finished sock. It is the most expensive of the four per logo, and it is the one buyers choose when the sock has to read as retail rather than giveaway — a crest, a wordmark, a small badge on the cuff.

Printing and sublimation carry unlimited colour, gradients and photographic detail wrapped around the whole sock. Sublimation dyes polyester fibre itself, so it does not sit on the surface; on cotton the same artwork goes through heat transfer or screen print instead.

Grip is applied after knitting — silicone, PVC or flocked — as a full sole, heel-to-toe strips or a repeating dot pattern. It is what turns a training sock into a pilates, barre or trampoline product.

Send the artwork and we will tell you which of the four holds the detail you need. The answer is often a combination: knit-in body, embroidered logo, grip sole.

What 100 pairs actually covers

The minimum is 100 pairs per style, per colourway. Within that 100 you split the sizes however you need them — 25/25/25/25 across four sizes is a normal first order, and so is a single size for a team.

Below 100 the cost per pair climbs quickly, and not because of the yarn. Programming the machine, winding the colours and knitting the first pair are fixed costs that get divided by the order quantity. At 100 pairs they are noticeable; at 1,000 they are almost invisible.

That is why a first range is usually tested at 100 pairs in one or two colourways rather than 400 pairs in eight. Sell through the first drop, then reorder the winners — reorders skip programming entirely and are faster and cheaper than the first run.

If you are unsure which sizes to split, send your market and channel and we will suggest a ratio from previous orders.

A brief that gets the first sample right

Four things decide whether the first sample lands close or needs three rounds: artwork resolution, colour reference, size range, and construction notes.

Artwork should be vector, or raster at 300 dpi at final print size. A screenshot of a sock you liked is a fine starting point for a mock-up but not for production. Colour should be given as Pantone numbers; a photo of a sock introduces camera white balance and screen calibration into the conversation, and the argument that follows costs more time than the Pantone book.

Size range and target height decide the needle and the yarn count. A crew at 12 cm and a knee-high at 45 cm are different machines, different yarns and different prices.

Construction notes cover toe (hand-linked or flat-lock), heel (standard, Y-heel, terry), cushioning, cuff depth and packaging. Anything missing we will ask about before programming, because changing it after the sample means starting the sample again.