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2004 industry survey

Stitches Magazine - October 1, 2004

Byline: Ken Parsons

Every year at this time, we conduct a survey of our readers to see how both they and the industry are doing. Over the last few years, the industry has closely mirrored the economy, but for 2005, as the economy shows mere hints of improvement, the embroidery industry shows clear signs of growth and optimism.

While a bit guarded, the results to this year's survey look positive and, hopefully, bode a positive 2005 for us all.

Our survey was conducted between June 22 and August 5, 2004. The objective of the survey was to both examine the state of the industry and compile some key demographics.

We e-mailed 2,963 embroiderers, and 533 embroiderers responded, giving us an effective response rate of 21.4 percent.

Time In Business

Of those surveyed, 11.4 percent had been in the industry for less than one year; 16.7 percent had been in the industry between one and two years; 17.6 percent were in business between three and four years; 29 percent had been in the industry for between five and 10 years; and the remaining 24.6 percent has been in the industry for over 11 years. We often think about this as being an industry largely populated by beginners, but with almost a quarter of the embroiderers in the industry for over a decade, it is actually very diversified.

Of the group surveyed, 81.4 percent described their primary business as embroidery. The remainder either chose retail sales or screenprinting as their primary business. While we all know there is crossover between embroidery and screenprinting, in the majority of the cases where companies serve both markets, it seems that most of the income is derived from embroidery.

Business Size

When we looked at the size of the embroidery shops in our survey, we found that 34.3 percent had one employee; 39.4 percent had between two and four employees; 16 percent had between five and 10 employees; and 10.1 percent had over 11 employees, with half of this last group employing more than 50 workers.

Amount Of Embroidery Heads

The survey indicated that the largest segment, 39.6 percent, reported owning singlehead machines. The next largest group, 35.3 percent, said they had 2- to 4-head machines. An interesting note is that every company that admitted to having over 50 heads had been in business over 11 years. We often think of the U.S. embroidery market as consisting mainly of shops with singlehead machines, but this survey seems to indicate that, while this is the largest segment, there is a fairly even distribution, in terms of size, between small, medium and large shops.

Primary Business

Embroiderers describing their business as "retail" totaled 59.7 percent, while those providing wholesale embroidery came to 16.6 percent. Respondents providing contract embroidery services came in at 22.8 percent.

Digitizing

When polled on their in-house digitizing capabilities, 72 percent replied that they did digitize. Of that number, 15.1 percent admitted to having more than one digitizing station.

What Do You Sell?

Well over half of the embroiderers we polled, 66.2 percent, offer blank products such as shirts, caps and jackets. This number is very much in line with the number of embroiderers who define their businesses as retail (59.7 percent).

How Does 2004 Look?

When we compare the respondents' actual net profits in 2003 to their expected net profits in 2004, the overall feeling is very positive. The amount of embroiderers who expect to net under $30,000 is down 11.5 percent, while the amount of embroiderers who plan to net over $100,000 for 2004 is up by 1.6 percent over 2003.

We also asked what percent of their overall net profit comes for embroidery and 46 percent said that it was over 80 percent.

When asked pointedly if they felt their embroidery business would increase in 2005, a full 74.3 percent answered emphatically, "Yes." When we asked for the details of potential growth, we found that 51 percent saw modest growth of below 20 percent; on the other hand, 33.3 percent thought their numbers would rise between 21 and 40 percent for 2005.

Equipment Purchases

Of those polled, 21.9 percent of the embroiderers plan to purchase at least one singlehead machine before the end of 2004; 3.6 percent plan to purchase a 2-head machine; 4.3 percent plan to purchase a 4-head machine; 3.6 percent plan to purchase at least one 6-head machine; and 1.9 percent plan to purchase a 12-head machine.

Because of the very high number of respondents who already own digitizing equipment, the number of those planning to purchase digitizing equipment for the remainder of 2004 was relatively low at 5.3 percent.

Who Makes Up The Industry

Almost three-quarters of the industry is female at 74.3 percent. The majority of the respondents were either owner/partner or president/vice-president at 91.2 percent. Only 1.1 percent identified themselves as digitizers. When asked about their level of education 78.3 percent had college degrees. Of those, 12.4 percent had gone beyond the undergraduate level.

How Do You Get The Word Out?

The largest group of respondents, 88.2 percent, rely on word-of-mouth to bring in new business. The next most popular method, at 32.6 percent, is to place ads in the Yellow Pages. The third group, 15.9 percent, use direct mail campaigns. A very low 6.4 percent list the Internet as their major source of new business.

Conclusion

The bottom line seems to be that our industry is on the upswing, and it is being led by the embroiderers themselves. This community of creative people has sidestepped the economic woes by offering more creative and diverse solutions to consumer needs. This pioneer spirit of self-reliance and adventuresome risk-taking is what has always kept us out of the direct influence of the U.S. economy, and if we keep up the good work, it always will.

Byline: Ken Parsons

Every year at this time, we conduct a survey of our readers to see how both they and the industry are doing. Over the last few years, the industry has closely mirrored the economy, but for 2005, as the economy shows mere hints of improvement, the embroidery industry shows clear signs of growth and optimism.

While a bit guarded, the results to this year's survey look positive and, hopefully, bode a positive 2005 for us all.

Our survey was conducted between June 22 and August 5, 2004. The objective of the survey was to both examine the state of the industry and compile some key demographics.

We e-mailed 2,963 embroiderers, and 533 embroiderers responded, giving us an effective response rate of 21.4 percent.

Time In Business

Of those surveyed, 11.4 percent had been in the industry for less than one year; 16.7 percent had been in the industry between one and two years; 17.6 percent were in business between three and four years; 29 percent had been in the industry for between five and 10 years; and the remaining 24.6 percent has been in the industry for over 11 years. We often think about this as being an industry largely populated by beginners, but with almost a quarter of the embroiderers in the industry for over a decade, it is actually very diversified.

Of the group surveyed, 81.4 percent described their primary business as embroidery. The remainder either chose retail sales or screenprinting as their primary business. While we all know there is crossover between embroidery and screenprinting, in the majority of the cases where companies serve both markets, it seems that most of the income is derived from embroidery.

Business Size

When we looked at the size of the embroidery shops in our survey, we found that 34.3 percent had one employee; 39.4 percent had between two and four employees; 16 percent had between five and 10 employees; and 10.1 percent had over 11 employees, with half of this last group employing more than 50 workers.

Amount Of Embroidery Heads

The survey indicated that the largest segment, 39.6 percent, reported owning singlehead machines. The next largest group, 35.3 percent, said they had 2- to 4-head machines. An interesting note is that every company that admitted to having over 50 heads had been in business over 11 years. We often think of the U.S. embroidery market as consisting mainly of shops with singlehead machines, but this survey seems to indicate that, while this is the largest segment, there is a fairly even distribution, in terms of size, between small, medium and large shops.

Primary Business

Embroiderers describing their business as "retail" totaled 59.7 percent, while those providing wholesale embroidery came to 16.6 percent. Respondents providing contract embroidery services came in at 22.8 percent.

Digitizing

When polled on their in-house digitizing capabilities, 72 percent replied that they did digitize. Of that number, 15.1 percent admitted to having more than one digitizing station.

What Do You Sell?

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