Mountain Top Designs

Ordering Guide for Embroidered Apparel

Ordering from Mountain Top Designs is simple. Our specialists will help you select the right product for your budget and needs. We can bring you samples to look at, and we can even create a logo for your name or event. To help you understand the process better, we’ve outlined the steps you will be going through to receive your apparel.

Steps to Ordering

Select a garment
Select sizes
Select the embroidery design and placement.
Receive a formal estimate.
Sign the estimate to begin the order.

Step 1: Select a Garment.

Garment Types – Polo, Woven, Fleece, other

The most popular shirt that is embroidered is the polo style, also called a sport shirt. They are made of a knit fabric, either pique knit, which a looser knit, or a jersey knit, which is similar to the fabric t-shirts are made from. They come in various weights, which indicates the thickness of the fabric.

Our top sellers:
Port Authority K500/L500 – The Silk Touch pique knit is a lightweight shirt with exceptional value. Used a lot for staff shirts in men’s and women’s styles.

The Gildan 8800 offers a value shirt in a jersey knit that stands up to the wear of our students, and great for field personnel or sport teams.

Other popular styles are the Ash City Extreme Jersey Knit with pencil stripe trim, the Upper Limit Sport (not shown on our site), and selections from Port Authority, Outer Banks, Devon & Jones, and Perry Ellis.

Woven shirts include twills, denim shirts, and dress shirts. They are typically made of cotton or a cotton/polyester blend and are offered in long or short sleeve. Twills are more casual and come in a variety of colors. Dress shirts come in colors appropriate for business.

Fleece includes sweatshirts, sweatpants and outerwear made from cotton, polyester or blended fleece in various weights and types.

Other items include items for toddlers and babies, jackets and other outerwear, blankets, and even pet apparel. Give us a call to review specialty catalogs for these items and other items like scrubs, lab coats, and other uniforms. We can also research specialty prints or custom jobs. Read our separate ordering guide for caps and bags.

If you would like help making a selection, one of our specialists can review choices with you that are in your budget.

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Step 2: Select sizes.

Sizes range from brand to brand and are usually available in Youth Small, Medium, and Large, and Adult Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large (XL), XX- Large, and sometimes XS, 3X, 4X. Some brands even have 5X and 6X. Ask us if you need Men’s Tall sizes.

Sizes above XL typically cost more.

If a shirt is available in Unisex sizing, it usually is sized a little smaller than men’s, and a little larger than women’s. The buttons on Unisex shirts are on the right, the same as for men.

Women’s shirts are typically sized so a Small is approximately a 4-6, Medium is 8-10, Large is 12-14, and XL is 16 -18. Some brands have 1X and some only have 2X for women.

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Step 3: Select the embroidery design, thread, color(s), and placement

Once your logo or design is decided, the placement of the design will dictate the size the design needs to be. The typical placement of a design is the left chest or over the pocket if there is one.

Other locations that are sometimes used are the upper back of the garment (shoulder area) for a secondary logo or website address; the sleeve, the right chest for a secondary logo or name, and the cuff of long sleeve shirts.

Mountain Top Designs can help you with a design if you don’t have one. Besides a library of stock designs to choose from, we also have a variety of text fonts. Stock designs and fonts can be put together simply and quickly to create a logo. Or, we can design a logo for you from scratch. See some samples of designs we have created.

Thread colors can be matched to your logo colors, and to the garment that is selected. Most designs are 2 to 3 colors, but can go higher. Remember that embroidery is priced by the number of stitches.

Once the design, number of designs, design size, colors, and placement(s) are determined, you would then submit the design(s) for a stitch count estimate.

If we did not create your design, you may submit your design to us as a computer file in these formats: .pdf, .jpg, .bmp, .cdr (v11) .ai (v9), or .eps (v9). See our Art and Design page for more information.

Your file will then have to be converted to a stitch pattern file for the embroidery machines to read. This process is called digitizing, and is priced by the number of stitches. Most logos are 4000 to 5000 stitches.

Mountain Top Designs will embroider on goods that you provide. Call us for a quote.

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Step 4: Receive a formal estimate.

Your estimate will include style, color and sizes of the garments you have chosen Mountain Top Designs is able to offer case pack pricing for quantities as low as one in most cases. Our minimum order is 6 pieces, which can be a combination of colors, styles and sizes.

Once we know how many stitches are in your design, we will provide a cost quote for the digitizing (conversion to an embroidery file). Average cost for digitizing is $50.

The formal quote will provide a cost per garment that includes the embroidery. Embroidery prices per garment are reduced at higher quantities.

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Step 5: Sign the estimate to begin the order.

We will agree to a delivery date, and you will receive your order in that time. Our standard production time is 10 to 12 business days.

We charge 10% of the production cost for rush jobs in 6 to 8 days, 15% for rush jobs in 3 to 5 days, and 20% for rush jobs in 1 to 2 days.