The price of a custom patch is not an absolute value. The same three-inch embroidered patch could be sold for above twelve dollars each if ordered in quantities of ten and below one dollar each if ordered in quantities of five hundred pieces.
This difference is not a discount, given out by chance. It is the product of a patch manufacturing process, and any buyer familiar with its workings always ends up paying less for the identical finished product through orders of bulk custom patches.
The following guide is meant for all uniform providers, sports leagues and clubs, event organizers, corporate branding groups, scout troops, and anybody else ordering patches by the case rather than by the single piece.
By the time you finish reading it, you will know which factors affect your quote’s bottom line, where the price per unit ceases falling, and how to order in such a way that you pay for the setup twice.
What Actually Drives Bulk Custom Patch Pricing
Six variables account for almost the entire cost of a patch. Understanding them in order of impact is the fastest way to control the custom patches pricing.
Quantity
The quantity is by far the biggest factor, and by a long way. Each order of patches has fixed costs that will not vary according to the size of the order; it costs the same amount to digitize the artwork, set up the machine, thread the appropriate colours, and run a test patch. These costs will be averaged out by the total number of patches ordered.
Patch Size
Size pricing is done based on average size rather than area. The average industry pricing formula for size is the sum of height and width divided by two.
In case a patch is 3 inches in height and 5 inches in width, it will be considered as a patch that is 4 inches due to the fact that 3 + 5 = 8 and 8/2 = 4. This is important since both a long and narrow name tape and a small square badge may end up falling into the same category.
Here is how size alone moves the price at a fixed quantity of five hundred pieces, for an embroidered patch with fifty percent thread coverage:
| Patch size | Price per patch at 500 units |
| 2-inch | $0.56 |
| 2.5-inch | $0.74 |
| 3-inch | $0.92 |
| 4-inch | $1.33 |
| 5-inch | $1.65 |
| 6-inch | $2.63 |
Reducing patch size from four inches to three inches can help save nearly thirty percent on orders totaling five hundred pieces, and in most cases, the logo remains clearly visible. Size is the simplest element to change when the quote turns out to be higher than anticipated.
Patch Type
As embroidered, woven, printed, and moulded custom patches are manufactured using entirely different machinery, hence, they fall in different price ranges. The fourth section of this essay discusses the trade-off in complete detail.
Number of Thread Colours and Design Complexity
Embroidered patch pricing is normally quoted in terms of thread usage. An example of such a design is a patch that features an open twill background and a logo. Such a design has a coverage rate of fifty percent.
When a design is done using one hundred percent coverage, then the price is higher due to the use of extra threads and more machine time. The difference between the prices of embroidery for fifty percent and one hundred percent coverage is visible in a three-inch patch at five hundred pieces.
Backing Type
The backing is responsible for how the patch adheres to fabric. Sew-on and plain heat-seal backings are the cheapest options.
Iron-on adhesives rank second to last in price. Hook-and-loop, better known as Velcro, along with peel-and-stick adhesives, costs the most, as both need extra material and an additional manufacturing process.
Border Style
The merrowed border is the thick, rolled border that is common in round and oval badges. This is the most commonly selected option and comes as the default. The hot cut and laser cut borders come in where there is an irregular shape to the badge, and there might be a little extra cost for this.
How Order Quantity Changes Your Price Per Unit
This is the point at which custom patches pricing becomes clear. Below is an actual price list for a three-inch embroidery patch with fifty percent thread cover across standard quantity tiers.
| Quantity | Price per patch | Total order value |
| 10 | $12.42 | $124.20 |
| 20 | $6.42 | $128.40 |
| 50 | $2.81 | $140.50 |
| 100 | $1.87 | $187.00 |
| 200 | $1.21 | $242.00 |
| 300 | $1.14 | $342.00 |
| 500 | $0.92 | $460.00 |
| 1000 | $0.62 | $620.00 |
| 2000 | $0.59 | $1,180.00 |
Figures are indicative for one common configuration. Your final rate depends on size, type, backing, and border. Request a quote to confirm current pricing.
Two things stand out in that table.
First, observe the column with the value of the order total. Ten patches cost $124.20, while twenty patches cost $128.40.
The next ten pieces cost four dollars more altogether. It is the setup cost being passed on here. The cost of virtually the whole order is a fixed cost, so adding units at this level is virtually free.
Second, observe when the curve levels out. For ten to one hundred pieces, the price per patch decreases by approximately eighty-five percent.
From one hundred to five hundred, it decreases by fifty percent. From one thousand to two thousand pieces, the price decreases by about five percent. The steeper part of the curve is long finished by two thousand units.
For most customers, the ideal range is between three hundred and one thousand pieces. Lower than three hundred, you are still paying for too much of the setup cost.
Higher than one thousand, the decrease in cost per extra piece is too small, and you have to start thinking about the cost of storage and of the time value of money as well as of the possibility that your logo will be obsolete by the time you use the inventory.
Not sure which tier fits your needs? Send your artwork and your target quantity, and we will price two or three tiers side by side so you can see exactly where your break point sits. Request a free bulk patch quote by contacting us.
Patch Type: Which Style Gives You the Most Value at Scale
The right patch type depends on where the patch will live and how hard it will be used.
Custom embroidered patches represent the traditional approach and fall in the mid-price range category. They work great with uniforms, club badges, scout badges, and corporate apparel.
The coverage by the thread offers an easy way to control the cost, as the design with a twill background will be cheaper than the fully covered design, and in many cases the appearance difference comes down to the design choice.
Custom woven patches are manufactured using a finer thread and a tighter weave. This allows retaining the small text and fine linework, which would be impossible to achieve through embroidery. In case your logo contains taglines, website addresses, or small linework of two inches or less, then you should definitely opt for weaving.
It will cost you more than fifty percent coverage embroidery. Woven patches at three inches and five hundred pieces will cost you one dollar thirty-five cents each, while the embroidery will cost ninety-two cents.
Custom PVC patches, which are moulded polyvinyl chloride rubber, are the longest-lasting material. They resist water, wear and tear, mud, and multiple washings, making them ideal for tactical wear, outdoor gear, maritime use, and industrial uniforms.
Pricing is done on a per-unit basis for PVC patches, not from a standard price list, as it is determined by the mould, number of colours, and dimensionality of the design. For large-scale uniform and gear programs, the longevity of PVC patches justifies the expense, as they last longer than the garment they are sewn to.
Custom printed patches are able to reproduce full colour and photorealistic effects, as well as gradients, which cannot be achieved with any other thread-based process. They are the most expensive type of standard patch per unit, so they should be limited to designs that absolutely require photographic reproduction.
Custom name patches are the most inexpensive type, due to their small size, simplicity, and high production volumes. If you are outfitting a fifty-person crew with individual names, this is the line item to budget generously against, since every name is a separate setup.
If you are weighing durability against appearance for a uniform program, our comparison of embroidered vs. PVC patches walks through the trade-offs in more detail.
Design Choices That Quietly Increase Cost
Some cost increases arrive without any warning, because they are baked into the artwork before anyone requests a quote.
Too many thread colours. Each extra colour results in an additional thread change when making the product. A four-colour logo and a twelve-colour logo are not equally difficult tasks. All logos can usually be simplified to five or six colours without affecting their recognizability.
Metallic and specialty threads. Threads of gold, silver, glow-in-the-dark, and neon types have higher prices per spool and work slower on the sewing machine. If used as accents on borders or in elements, they will make your design much more striking for a reasonable surcharge, but if they are used throughout the design, they can significantly increase per-piece cost.
Oversized dimensions. Pricing being based on a formula of height plus half of width, each additional half an inch in either dimension gives you an extra quarter of an inch on your billed size. A quarter inch on a large order is added very quickly.
Fine detail at small sizes. Requesting that embroidery reproduce six-point text on a two-inch patch is not only unappealing in terms of the result but will definitely necessitate moving to woven patches and, hence, completely alter your pricing range.
The practical tip: simplify before quoting, not after. Strip out the tagline if readability is compromised. Replace a gradient with two solid colours. Narrow down the border by one-quarter of an inch.
None of these choices weaken brand recognition at arm’s length, and together they routinely take fifteen to twenty-five percent off a bulk order.
Smart Ways to Cut Cost Without Cutting Quality
Consolidate your orders. This represents the best value increase possible for most customers, and section seven proves the math. Scheduling one order per year instead of four per quarter means paying one setup charge instead of four.
Standardize sizing across teams and departments. When three departments each request a unique size, you have three distinct orders going out. Choosing one size and one type of backing makes everyone qualify for the next quantity level with one order.
Choose simpler backing when you reorder often. Hook and loop patch backing is wonderful if your patches will be moved from clothing item to clothing item. However, if your patches are permanently attached, then plain or heat-seal backing will serve the same purpose at lower cost.
Plan around production time. Fees charged for expedited orders happen due to the disruption caused by the rush order on the schedule. Adding three to four weeks of lead time to your planning eliminates the cost altogether.
Combine artwork into one production run. If you have multiple designs that you require, sending all of them at once often qualifies the order for a higher tier pricing level than the individual orders would have qualified for. Check for this special pricing, as not all companies offer this automatically.
A Worked Example: What Consolidation Actually Saves
Below is an example that is only intended to illustrate using the indicated pricing provided above. It is not a particular customer account.
A single supplier uniforms crews for a medium-size facility management firm requiring five hundred three-inch embroidered patches within the year.
Approach one: reorder as needed. The supplier places five separate orders of one hundred patches, roughly once every ten weeks. At $1.87 per patch, each order costs $187.00. Across the year the total is $935.00.
Approach two: order once. The supplier forecasts the year, orders all five hundred patches in a single run, and stores them. At $0.92 per patch, the total is $460.00.
The difference in cost is $475.00 for the exact same patches. This translates to a savings of over fifty percent. Everything was exactly the same except that the number of times setup costs were incurred was different. The same principle applies in all cases.
When a league orders two hundred patches in a single order instead of making four orders of fifty patches each, the cost will be $242.00 instead of $562.00. This saves more in terms of percentage, because small batches sit on the steepest part of the pricing curve.
How to Get an Accurate Bulk Quote
A quote is only as good as the information that supports it. With these five points in hand, you will have a concrete quote in your first response rather than an estimate and three more follow-up emails.
- Artwork. A vector file is ideal. A high-resolution image works. A photograph of an existing patch is usually enough to start.
- Quantity. If you are not certain, name two or three quantities and ask for them to be priced side by side. Seeing the tiers is more useful than guessing at one.
- Size. Give height and width in inches. If you are unsure, say where the patch will be worn and ask for a recommendation.
- Backing. Sew-on, iron-on, hook-and-loop, or peel-and-stick. If the patch goes on a uniform that will be washed frequently, say so.
- Deadline. The date you need patches in hand, not the date you would like to place the order.
Before any production starts, your design is first scanned into our system, turning it into a digitized stitch file that is read by our embroidery machine. During this step, you will be shown a visual preview of the completed patch for your approval.
No production takes place until your approval has been obtained, giving you time to make any adjustments. If you have not ordered custom patches before, our complete guide to custom patches covers the full process from artwork to delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum order for bulk pricing?
Volume pricing with any meaning starts at one hundred pieces, and even more savings start after three hundred pieces. Orders under fifty pieces are also possible, but the cost per piece will still be high, as the setup cost is spread over a few pieces only.
How long does bulk production take?
Production time for standard orders is usually between two and three weeks from the artwork approval phase, inclusive of transportation. However, some situations, such as very high order quantities and moulded PVC patches, require more time. It is important to note this when requesting your quote.
Can I mix patch types in one bulk order?
Yes. You are able to order embroidered, woven, and PVC patches together. However, keep in mind that each design and each manufacturing technique will have their own setup charges, and thus the total order may not cost according to a single quantity discount. Have your order quoted using both methods to compare.
Do you offer reorder discounts?
A repeat order of a previously approved design does not require digitizing and artwork set up because this eliminates a legitimate expense for the job. When you get in touch, remember to state that you will be ordering an existing design for the quotation.
Do you ship across Canada?
Yes. Patch Makers CA delivers to all provinces and territories. Provide your postal code in order to have an estimate of delivery time and cost as well as the cost of the patches.
Order Once, Order Right
The lowest cost per unit is not the result of negotiations. It is a purchasing decision. While quantity does most of the work, size and patch type contribute the rest, and several design decisions are made behind the scenes to ensure that your purchase falls into a better rather than worse category.
Purchasing bulk custom patches, making one run out of all the required sizes, agreeing on one size within all of your teams, keeping the number of colours reasonable, and giving yourself enough time to place the order without rush fees.
These five strategies help buyers cut costs in half compared to the cost they would pay ordering their patches one by one throughout the year.
Order your custom patches with Patch Makers CA (Canada’s most reliable patch manufacturer) to avoid cost troubles altogether. Just contact us and upload your design to receive a free bulk quote for your order.
