Custom embroidery cost is driven mainly by one-off preparation. In bulk embroidery, drawing and digitising are spread across the whole run. For an individual pet portrait, that work lands on one item every time. That, rather than thread or machine time, is why personalised embroidery costs more than personalised print.
Which four parts make up the price?
The blank garment is the cap, t-shirt, or hoodie before personalisation. Its material, construction, and shape create the base on which the design is placed.
The drawing work turns one uploaded pet photograph into a portrait that can work in thread. The price also has to cover the approval process: the design is emailed, usually within two working days, and revisions are free and unlimited until the customer is satisfied.
Digitising converts that drawing into stitch commands. An embroidery machine needs needle positions, stitch types, direction, density, sequence, underlay, and colour changes. This is manual production planning, not a file export.
The stitch position covers setting up and producing the design at one location on the garment. A position must be prepared, aligned, and completed as its own machine pass.
Why is each placement charged separately?
Embroidery pricing follows placements, not just garments. A portrait on the chest is one placement. Adding a name on the sleeve creates a second placement, with a second setup and a second machine pass. The garment may still be one item, but the production process has two distinct operations.
That is why “portrait plus name” costs meaningfully more than “portrait.” The extra price is not explained by the few grams of thread used for the letters. It comes from handling and running another position.
Why does a one-off portrait cost more than a bulk logo?
A company logo embroidered 500 times needs one digitised stitch plan. The one-time preparation is divided across 500 products, while the same machine-ready design is used again and again.
A pet portrait does not have that repetition. Each animal has a different head shape, ear outline, eye position, muzzle, markings, and colour balance. Every order needs its own drawing and digitising work, and that preparation may be used for only one garment.
| Cost factor | Logo run of 500 | One custom pet portrait |
|---|---|---|
| Drawing or artwork | Prepared once for the shared design | Prepared for the individual pet |
| Digitising | One stitch file reused 500 times | One stitch file prepared for one design |
| Preparation per item | Spread across the run | Carried by the individual order |
| Approval | One shared design approval | Individual approval with free revisions |
What does not drive most of the price?
Thread is negligible. A small portrait uses physical material, but the thread is the smallest line item in the process. Explaining a one-off price mainly through material cost misses where the work happens.
Machine time is measured in minutes. The machine pass matters, but the machine begins only after the portrait has been drawn, simplified, checked, and converted into instructions it can follow.
The number of colours is secondary. More colours can add changes and sequence decisions, but colour count does not remove the need to build a new design. A simple-looking two-colour face can still require careful drawing and digitising.
Why is personalised print usually cheaper?
Print removes the digitising stage. The image is already close to the information the printing process needs: colour at a position on the fabric. It may need editing or preparation, but it does not have to be rebuilt as a sequence of needle movements.
Printing also preserves much finer detail. It can reproduce photographic shading, a wider range of colours, and individual hairs without translating them into shapes wide enough to stitch. If low one-off price or photorealism is the main priority, print is a legitimate choice — the durability trade-off is here.
What do eragoya’s current prices include?
Eragoya lists a custom embroidered cap at EUR 39.90, a t-shirt at EUR 44.90, and a hoodie at EUR 59.90. Each price combines the garment with the work needed to turn one pet photograph into an approved embroidery design for the included position.
The design is emailed for approval, usually within two working days. Nothing is stitched until it is approved, and revisions are free and unlimited. The custom embroidery cost therefore includes human work that happens before production as well as the physical garment and stitching.
How can you recognise a price that seems unusually low?
First check what is actually being sold. A low-priced “embroidered” portrait may be an embroidered patch attached to the garment or a printed image with a stitch texture. It may use a stock breed silhouette with a name added rather than draw the animal in the uploaded photograph.
Another possibility is automated digitising. Software can create a stitch-like result quickly, and simple shapes may work, but an image that looks convincing on screen rarely resolves all the density, direction, sequence, and fabric problems required for a clean sewn portrait.
None of these options is automatically a scam. They are different production methods, and they explain both the price gap and the likely result. Compare the finished sewn work, the degree of personal drawing, and what is included in approval rather than comparing the product name alone.
What else should you know about the price?
Is it cheaper to order several items?
The preparation can be reused only when the same embroidery design and production conditions are repeated. If several items carry the same design, the preparation is done once and reused. Different pets mean different designs, so each one carries its own drawing and digitising. Ask us before ordering and we will tell you exactly what your combination costs.
Why does a sleeve name cost extra?
A sleeve name is a second placement. It requires its own setup, alignment, and machine pass, even when it is added to the same garment as the portrait.
Is embroidery worth the premium?
It is worth paying more when you want a small, tactile portrait made from thread that cannot fade or flake. It is not worth the premium when your priority is photorealistic detail, a very large image, the lightest possible feel, or the lowest one-off price.
Is digitising charged separately?
No. Drawing, digitising, approval and the first stitch position are all included in the price — EUR 39.90 for a cap, EUR 44.90 for a t-shirt, EUR 59.90 for a hoodie. There is no separate digitising fee, and revisions are not billed either.
Sophie Mill writes eragoya’s guides to embroidery and production. Everything here is based on how the work is actually done — what a 5 cm stitched area can hold, what digitising involves, and what can honestly be promised before a design exists. Unsure whether your own photo will work? Send it to us before you order.