All physical goods like decals or screenprinting fail eventually, but whether that happens in a matter of days or years is often up to the expertise of the people who create and install them.
The Ironjet Standard
Every once and a while we hear someone ask, “why does it cost more for Ironjet to make ‘X’ than their competitor? I can’t tell the difference.”
Most people know that you get what you pay for, but with products like apparel, decals, and signs, the difference is not always immediately noticeable.
Sometimes it only takes a couple weeks for a product to fail. Or maybe a couple months. But when things finally do go wrong, the print shop or promo company who made the product suddenly isn’t picking up the phone. They’ve already snapped a photo of it for their social media, so it’s not their problem any more, right?
At Ironjet, we stand behind our work… our owners look at the work that goes out, and odds are they’re pickier than you.
Sometimes it takes a while for a product to fail — but sometimes the difference is immediately evident…
Embroidery
Willcraft is a Lloydminster-based IT company that has been around for over 25 years and serves a diverse clientele across Alberta and Saskatchewan. They demand high quality from their hardware, software, and technicians, and know what quality looks like.
So when they picked up a batch of hats with some of the worst embroidery we’ve ever seen, they had to turn to Ironjet.
Why does our embroidery look so much better?
- Our salespeople have the experience to know where a logo can and can’t be embroidered
- Our designer knows how to make a logo look good for embroidery
- Our embroiderer digitizes by hand
Yes, Ironjet sometimes costs a bit more, initially, but it pays off in the long run. And once you’ve had embroidery like ours, you’ll never go back.
Bad embroidery (competitor)
Good embroidery (Ironjet)
Logo Design & Vectorization
Industry-standard logos are created as vector files, but not all vector files are created equal.
At Ironjet, we pride ourselves in making sure our vector shapes are precise, well-planned, and, where symmetry is involved, they are truly symmetrical.
Often, an inexperienced designer will run a logo through an auto-trace program or just place vector nodes haphazardly. The problem is, when it comes time to vinyl cut or CNC router the logo, the final product has rough or uneven edges. In some cases, a bad vector file can actually make the machine chew up the vinyl.
The catch is that bad vectorization is often difficult to see in the logo files you’re supplied with (like JPG’s), which look fine on screen. The issues only come up when a bad vector file is sent to your decal, substrate, or embroidery vendor.
It only takes a couple of extra minutes for an expert designer to ensure a vector file is clean, crisp, and the nodes are well-placed. A hundred small details can add up quickly.
These problems often arise from selecting beginner or cheap designers who don’t undstand how to properly place vector nodes. Or sloppy designers who don’t care as long as it “looks good” from a distance.
Don’t get stuck with a bad vector file. Let Ironjet do it right the first time!
Bad vectorization (competitor)
Good vectorization (Ironjet)
Expertise matters, but so do integrity and commitment.
We’re not trying to say that Ironjet is perfect.
We’ve had products fail for one reason or another but, if they do, we’re quick to identify and fix the issue. And we have very high standards when it comes to what we’ll hand our clients.
There’s a scary idea out there that it’s better to just get it done, even if the quality suffers. “It’s passible” or “good enough”, they say. We prefer to do it right the first time, even if it takes a little longer or costs a bit more.
We’ve spent decades proving our commitment to making our customers look great. We’ve spent decades fixing our own mistakes and learning from them and you know what they say: experience is the best teacher.
It’s time for you to benefit from that expertise.
Like what you see?
We’ve got the experience, tools, and drive to make your vision a reality.