VistaPrint, Lexington, Mass., announced an embroidery service that capitalizes on advanced visualization and computer-aided design software to eliminate typical setup and design costs while providing access to high-quality, custom-branded apparel with no minimum order amount.
“Embroidery is a centuries-old art form,” said Robert Keane, VistaPrint’s president and CEO. “The time and skill it takes to decorate a garment with an intricate, multicolored pattern is one reason that this kind of image promotion was out of reach unless you could afford to buy large amounts of branded gear.”
“Technology now allows us to eliminate traditional costs and constraints. We can provide a level of customization that gives small businesses an affordable way to access the same quality in embroidered products that was far more expensive in the past,” Keane said.
VistaPrint signaled its entry into the growing embroidery market (topping $8.5 billion annually in North America alone) with its 2010 acquisition of SoftSight Inc. VistaPrint holds or has pending over 15 patents around its embroidery process, including capturing, optimizing and managing visual objects. Its software automates a number of steps previously done manually, such as analyzing color or expressing an image’s smallest visual elements as a thread design in order to render accurate stitching patterns in more efficient and cost-effective way.
Providing access to this system through its website, VistaPrint allows customers to turn the promotional messages they select into custom-embroidered apparel for production runs with minimum orders of a single item. There are no setup fees, no stitching charges and, as with all VistaPrint orders, a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.
Customers can order embroidered apparel on http://www.vistaprint.com/embroiderysale from a line of polo shirts, hooded sweatshirts and baseball caps. Prior to completing any purchase, they obtain dynamic previews of their design to ensure satisfaction with the quality of the work. The site’s technology dynamically computes thousands of attributes for each thread and stitch in a design. A patent pending algorithm then generates a richly detailed image of the finished article, displaying major characteristics such as the embroidery’s texture and corresponding three-dimensionality, as well as the subtle light-reflection differences between two identical threads stitched adjacent to one another.
VistaPrint offers a multitude of products and services for both micro businesses and the home. Products include printed options such as business folders, graduation invitations, save the date magnets, and vinyl banners; promotional apparel like hats and T-shirts; and marketing services such as websites and email marketing.
About VistaPrint
Vistaprint N.V. empowers more than 9 million micro businesses and consumers annually with affordable, professional options to make an impression. VistaPrint’s broad range of products and services are easy to access online, 24 hours a day at www.vistaprint.com.
