Custom
Woven Patches
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Crisp details on duty gear
People order a woven patch when the emblem marks a long affiliation and every letter in it counts. Flight test squadrons, agency security services, wildland firefighter associations, and small companies order it for seals packed with writing. The yarns that draw the picture are the cloth itself. A hand across it feels smooth. On a uniform or a pack, a ring of tiny print beside a row of numbers is easy to make out. The artwork remains on file after an order, and a later class can repeat it without a new sketch.
Woven cloth suits detailed art. Sizes run from 2 inches to 7 inches, in round, square, rectangle, or an outline cut to the art, and the thread colors cover a wide range. Duty jackets and work bags that travel between sites carry it well. A commercial space company and a launch booster club use it when the mark is mostly drawing. Outdoor gear is a closer match for PVC patches. A printed photo or a gradient belongs on heat transfer patches.
Made on a loom
The loom builds each patch with thread thinner than embroidery uses, and the yarns sit closer together. As the textile forms, the machine weaves the lines in, so the picture ends up as the fabric. Each pass of the loom carries color and line at once. When the patch comes off the loom, you hold woven cloth with the design already in it. People pick weaving when lettering has to hold up close, including type set in a curve around a seal. The art picks its colors before weaving starts. The finished piece weighs less than a raised stitch and takes less room on a sleeve.
Weave or embroidery
An embroidered patch is thread stitched onto a fabric base. The stitching stands up, and you can feel the texture with a fingertip. Bold shapes and short names suit the raised texture. 100% embroidered covers the whole face in thread, and 75% embroidered lets some of the fabric background show. Military uniform patches are usually embroidered. A short name in a wide field of color has room there. Choose weaving for small text, hairline rules, separate shapes, and lettering a stitch cannot split. Hold the artwork at arm's length. If every word is still clear while the lines remain narrow, weaving is the match. A few strong forms and a brief title point back to embroidery.
Edges and backings
A merrowed edge is the usual border. The stitch is thick and wraps the patch. For a custom shape, a hot cut edge seals flush with the design. Iron-on uses heat to bond the patch to outerwear. Sew-on with no backing leaves the back open for a needle, and thread holds it there. Hook and loop comes with one half sewn on, so the patch can shift from coat to luggage, then to a cap or other gear. The outline decides the edge. The backing should match how the patch is worn.
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Jackets
and bags
A company adds its name and logo to work jackets and to the bags the team takes on a job. The woven face keeps the logo easy to read up close. Hook and loop lets one patch move from a jacket to a bag.
Agency
seals
An agency or a department wears its seal on duty coats, where the words are very small. The weave holds that ring of lettering and the inner marks so a reader can tell them apart. Other departments order the seal in colors they already use.
Unit
emblems
A squadron issues its own emblem so the whole unit wears one mark. A training class orders the class name and a line of numbers woven for each person, and those members wear it through the course.
Ready to create your Patches?
We've got answers
These answers cover the weave, the backings, the order minimum, and the schedule.
They are patches whose picture is woven in, with thinner thread and a tighter weave than embroidery allows. Fingers meet a smooth texture, and the finish lies flat. It is lighter and thinner than a stitched patch. People reach for them when minute detail matters, as with a busy seal.
Each patch is woven on a loom. Slim yarns interlace until the drawing and the yarns become one textile. Color sits in the yarns, and the close weave keeps each mark distinct. Weaving ends with each color locked into place.
Stitched patches build the image by sewing thread onto cloth underneath, which gives a lifted face. Weaving forms the artwork while the piece is made, so the face stays even and thin enough to keep crowded writing readable. Simple forms belong with the stitching. Dense artwork, where each character must remain separate, calls for weaving.
Iron-on suits a coat that can take heat, and the patch then holds one spot. Sew-on with no backing fits when you will stitch into a uniform and want the reverse left plain. Hook and loop is for people who move a single patch between outerwear and a daypack.
The minimum order is 100 patches per design. Larger quantities bring the price per patch down. A reorder of a custom woven patch uses the saved art, so nobody draws it a second time.
Production takes 3-4 weeks after the proof is approved, plus about 2 business days in transit. There is no rush service. A buyer with an event date should tell their rep the date up front.