F.A.Q.

Answer: Imagination started business in 1992 and has remained in the same easy to reach San Jose, California location ever since.

Answer: We specialize in Custom Embroidery, but are equally proud of our Screen Printing Services, Heat Transfer and the latest in Thermal Inkjet Printing.

Answer: Embroidery stitches are actually sewn into the garment, usually with a backing that adds support to keep the stitches tight and to prevent bunching and wrinkles. The beauty of Embroidery lies in the richness of the thread colors and the way it stands out from the underlying garment. When properly cared for Embroidery will last as long, or longer, than the original garment. Embroidery presents a very professional look and is ideal on polo shirts, dress shirts, uniforms, jackets, caps, beanies, team apparel, canvas and leather bags, backpacks, blankets, towels, robes and a wide assortment of sports accessories.

Screen Printing can be used on most garments but is ideally suited to large orders of inexpensive goods such as tee shirts, sweatshirts and light weight jackets. It does not last as long, or remain as vibrant, as embroidery but is less expensive for large orders. Screen Printing is usually not available for small orders due to the complexity of preparing and setting up the multiple screens for the various colors.

Heat Transfer is used primarily for Team jerseys and athletic wear. It involves taking pre-cut letters and numbers, arranging them as names or numbers and applying them to a garment using a special heat press that melts and seals the characters into the garment.

Thermal Inkjet Printing is relatively new to imprinted garment industry. Imagination Embroidery uses the latest Thermal Inkjet Printing technology which allows us to print full color, highly detailed graphics on any color garment or other cotton accessory. Thermal Inkjet Printing utilizes a large industrial printer that resembles a business inkjet printer. Using advanced print heads and special inks, detailed images, including photographs, can be realistically printed on a wide variety of items. On white 100% cotton garments, Thermal Inkjet prints can be expected to last indefinitely. For designs printed on black or dark colored garments the image life is comparable to Screen Printing. One of the advantages to Thermal Printing over Screen Printing is that it can be done inexpensively on orders as small as one.

Answer: All clothing items to include Tee-shirts, Polo Shirts, Sweatshirts, Athletic Clothing, Fleece, Pants, Shorts, Undergarments, etc.
Accessories to include Hats, Caps, Beanies, Socks, Gloves, Handkerchiefs, Martial Arts Gi’s and Belts, Safety Garments and Vests, Chef Uniforms, etc.
Luggage including Briefcases, Attaches, Computer Bags, Golf Bags, etc.
Special Occasion items including Blankets, Umbrellas, Family Trees, Banners, Signs, Flags, etc.
Other items to include almost any fabric, leather, soft plastic, vinyl or woven item imaginable.

Answer: We carry the following ever expanding list of uniforms.
• School Uniforms
• Safety Uniform Garments and Vests
• Athletic Team Uniforms
• Chef Uniforms
• We carry an Internationally Recognized Line of Exclusive Esthetician and Cosmetology Uniforms to include a full line of accessories including Blankets, Robes, Wraps, Aprons, Headbands, Bolsters, etc.

Answer: We carry and apply
• Patches
• Nametags
• Garment Logo and Care Labels
• Heat Transfer Letters and Numbers.

Answer: On the average orders are completed within 5-7 days of your approval.

Answer: For an additional nominal fee we accept “Rush Orders”.

Answer:
• Bring in or email a “tape” previously “digitized” for embroidery.
• Bring in an embroidered garment that you would like us to duplicate.
• Bring, fax or email a photograph, business card, stationary or even a rough sketch and we will have our digitizers do the rest’
• Email a computer file. Although we can open nearly every image format we prefer “jpeg, jpg” images whenever possible’

Answer: We will sit down with you and help make that idea a reality. You may find your design elements amongst our extensive Stock Designs, or we can take your image from a business card, photograph or simple drawing or arrange an appointment between you and one of our affiliated graphic artists to come up with the ideal design you’ve always wanted. We then have one of our “digitizers” convert your image to a format our sophisticated equipment can utilize.

Digitizing is the process whereby we take your artwork or lettering and convert it into a language that can be read by our embroidery machines. There are numerous embroidery languages (DST, ESD, EXP, CND, ZSK, KSM, INP, PCH, STC, SEW, PCS, etc.) and fortunately we are able to read and write to almost all of them. Unlike image files (jpeg, gif, pdd, bmp, tif, eps, pct, etc.) embroidery files actually designate each individual stitch, it’s length, direction and any color changes needed to make up your embroidered design.

Answer: The logo or artwork and any disk or printed design you provide belongs to you and will be cheerfully given to you at any time without question. Stock Designs purchased from us and any digitized files that you purchase from us also belong to you and will be provided to you upon request. Digitizing services and the files they produce that we may provide “free of charge” belong to Imagination Embroidery.

Answer: Never! Your designs are your designs and Imagination Embroidery will never provide them to anybody else at any time.

Answer: Imagination Embroidery is totally responsible for any garment or accessory you leave with us. If you leave an item with us and it is lost or damaged we will replace it with an identical quality item at no additional charge. If we cannot locate a comparable item we will reimburse to you the reasonable cost of that item.

Answer: We currently have “on-hand” well over 21,000 stock designs to choose from with immediate access to at least 100,000 additional designs from numerous leading design catalogs.

Answer: Our officail hours are Monday trough Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm (Pacific Standard Time).