Written for trade and business enquiries. Last reviewed October 2026.
Yes. One item is a normal order here, not a favour. Most commercial embroiderers set a minimum of 10 to 25 pieces because digitising the artwork and setting up the machine are fixed costs that do not shrink with the run, so a single piece carries all of them. Our Cambridge studio was built the other way round: 29 machines running a different design on almost every item, all day. A single piece is simply how we work.
Key takeaways
- There is no minimum order at our Cambridge studio. One item is a normal order.
- Minimums exist because digitising and setup are fixed costs, not because small runs are hard.
- We run 29 machines with a different design on almost every item, so one-offs are routine.
- Single-item embroidery suits new starters, pre-order samples, replacements and teams of three.
- A sample first is cheaper than discovering a mistake across fifty finished pieces.
- For 500 identical pieces at the lowest unit price, a volume contract embroiderer may win.
- Embroidery is not always right. Printing wins on gradients, photographs and very fine text.
- Send vector artwork where you can. It digitises cleanly and saves a round of corrections.
- We stitch in house in Cambridge. Nothing is outsourced and nothing is printed to imitate stitching.
- We have not published trade prices or trade lead times. Email and ask for both.
Can you get just one item embroidered?
Yes. We have no minimum order quantity. One jacket, one polo shirt, one apron, one bag. You do not need to make up a quantity, club together with another business, or buy five to get one.
This is the question we are asked most often by businesses, and it is usually asked apologetically, because the person asking has already been turned down once or twice. The standard answer in this trade is a minimum: ten pieces, twelve, twenty-five, sometimes fifty. So the expectation going in is that a single item is either impossible or will be quoted at a price designed to discourage you.
We want to be precise about what we are and are not confirming here. There is no minimum order. That is a firm commitment. What a single item costs, and how long it takes, are separate questions that we deal with honestly further down this page, including where we have not published a figure.
Why do most embroidery companies have a minimum order?
Fixed costs. Before a machine stitches anything, the artwork has to be digitised into a stitch file, threads have to be loaded and colour matched, and the item has to be hooped and test run. That work costs roughly the same whether you then stitch one piece or forty. Spread across forty it disappears into the unit price. Carried by one piece, it is most of the order.
It is worth being clear that a minimum order is not laziness or snobbery. For a workshop with two or three machines, it is sound arithmetic. The sequence of work on any embroidery job looks roughly like this, and only the last step scales with quantity:
- Digitising. The logo is rebuilt as a stitch file: which areas are filled, in which order, in which direction, with which thread colours. This is skilled screen work and it happens once per design, not once per piece.
- Thread and colour matching. Brand colours are matched to the nearest shades in the thread range and the machine is threaded accordingly.
- Setup and test. Backing is chosen for the fabric, the item is hooped, and a test run checks registration, density and how the fabric behaves.
- Stitching. Only this part repeats per item.
Three of those four steps are the same for one piece as for a hundred. If a workshop has a handful of machines and most of its revenue comes from repeat runs of identical items, stopping the line to set up for a single piece means the machines sit idle while someone does an hour of preparation. A minimum order is how that workshop protects its throughput. It is a rational answer to the way most embroidery businesses are built.
Why does a studio built for personalisation not need a minimum?
Because changing the design between items is not an interruption to our day, it is our day. We started in September 2021 making one-off personalised pieces, and that is still what the studio does: 29 machines, a different design on almost every item. The setup-and-change-over work that a volume workshop treats as an exception is our normal production rhythm, so a single-piece order does not disrupt anything.
This is the whole argument of this page, so it is worth stating plainly rather than dressing up. A business that stitches 200 identical caps is optimised for long runs and short change-overs. A business that stitches 200 different designs in a day is optimised for change-overs themselves. Those are genuinely different operations, built around different bottlenecks, and they fail at different things.
Ours is the second kind. The studio exists at Copley Hill Business Park in Cambridge because individual personalisation at volume is the product, not an accommodation. We have made work for more than 75,000 customers and hold a 4.9 average from more than 10,000 reviews, and we should be honest that those are consumer figures from our personalised retail side rather than a trade track record. What they do evidence is the operational point: a studio that has run that many individual designs is not going to be troubled by your one jacket.
Everything is stitched in house in Cambridge. We do not outsource embroidery to a third party, and we do not use printing or transfers to imitate stitching.
Who actually needs single-item embroidery?
This is not a niche. The reason the question gets asked so often is that ordinary business life keeps producing quantities of one, two and three. Here are the situations we see most.
| Situation | Quantity | Why a minimum order is a problem |
|---|---|---|
| A new starter joins and needs the same uniform as everyone else | 1 to 3 | You ordered 30 in January. You now need one, in a different size, and you do not want 10 |
| A sample before committing to a bulk run | 1 | You want to see the stitched logo on the actual fabric before you approve 200 of them |
| Replacing a damaged or lost item | 1 | One torn jacket should not trigger a minimum order |
| A small team or a sole trader | 1 to 5 | There are only three of you. A 25-piece minimum means 22 pieces in a cupboard |
| A single named item | 1 | One person's name or role on one item is, by definition, a run of one |
| A gift or long-service piece | 1 | The whole point is that there is only one of it |
| Testing two versions of a logo | 2 | You want to compare a simplified mark against the full one, stitched, before deciding |
The sample case deserves the most emphasis, because it is the one that saves businesses real money and is hardest to do when minimums apply. Stitched logos do not look exactly like their on-screen versions. Thread has height and direction, colours shift slightly when matched to a thread range, and fine detail behaves differently on a soft fleece than on a firm cotton twill. Seeing one piece finished, on the actual item you intend to buy, is a far cheaper way to find a problem than finding it on delivery of fifty. If a supplier's minimum is 25, you cannot test cheaply, so most businesses skip the test and hope.
Does a single item cost more per piece than fifty?
Almost certainly, yes, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not describing how embroidery works. The digitising and setup are the same work either way, so the fewer pieces that work is spread across, the more each piece carries. No minimum order means you are allowed to buy one. It does not mean one costs the same per unit as fifty.
We would rather set that expectation here than have you discover it in a quote. What matters commercially is usually not the unit price but the total: for a business that needs one item, paying a higher unit price once is cheaper than buying the ten pieces it does not need in order to clear somebody's minimum.
For a figure on your own job, email hello@lucyandlolashop.com with the item, the quantity, the logo file and where you want it positioned. Our logo embroidery for business page is the place to start.
What should you send to get a useful quote on one item?
Send these five things
- The artwork. Vector if you have it: .ai, .eps, .pdf or .svg. A high resolution .png with a transparent background is usually workable. A screenshot or a photo of a sign is the weakest starting point.
- The item. What you want it on: a polo shirt, a softshell jacket, a fleece, a cap, an apron, a bag. A product code from a supplier catalogue is ideal.
- The size and position. Left chest, back, cap front, sleeve. Give the width you want the logo to be in millimetres if you know it.
- The quantity. Including one. Say if a repeat run is likely later, because that changes how the job is best set up.
- The colours. Pantone references if your brand has them, or the hex codes from your brand guidelines.
If you are unsure what any of that means, or your logo only exists as a low resolution image, our guide to embroidery file formats and digitising covers what is usable, what needs rebuilding and why.
When is a minimum order actually in your interest?
If you need several hundred identical items at the lowest possible unit price, a high-volume contract embroiderer with a 50 or 100 piece minimum will often beat us, and you should get a quote from one. Their whole operation is tuned for long identical runs. Minimums are not a bad deal for buyers, they are a signal about what that supplier is good at.
Three more cases where we are honestly not the right answer:
- Your artwork is not suited to thread. A photographic image, a colour gradient, or text that has to be read at a few millimetres high will come out better printed. Our comparison of embroidery or printing for a logo sets out exactly where printing wins.
- You need it in days. Custom embroidery is made to order and digitising comes first. If your deadline is very short, say so in your first email rather than at the end of the conversation.
- You want one supplier to warehouse and reorder for a large staff roster. That is a stock management service, and a dedicated workwear contractor is set up for it in ways a made-to-order studio is not.
What have we not confirmed on this page?
This page is deliberately short on numbers. Embroidery buyers get quoted a lot of confident figures that turn out to be approximations, so we would rather name what we have not published than invent it. The firm commitment is the one in the title: there is no minimum order.
- Trade lead times. Not published. Our retail personalisation lead time is not the same operation and we will not pretend it transfers. Ask when you enquire.
- Digitising and setup charges. Not published. Ask when you enquire.
- Whether we hold your stitch file for reorders. Ask, and get the answer in writing, with any supplier.
- Customer-supplied items. Some embroiderers will stitch clothing you send in, some will not, and the risk position differs. Ask.
- Industrial laundering. If your items go through a commercial laundry at high temperature with chemical additives, that is a specific technical question about thread type and backing. Raise it explicitly.
One item, three items or three hundred. Send the logo, the item and the position, and we will tell you what is possible and what it costs.
Logo embroidery for businessFrequently asked questions
Is there a minimum order for custom embroidery at Lucy & Lola?
No. There is no minimum order quantity. One item is a normal order, whether that is a single polo shirt for a new starter, one jacket, or one sample before you commit to a bulk run. You do not need to make up a quantity or order extras you do not need.
Can you embroider just one polo shirt or jacket?
Yes. A run of one is something our studio does all day. We run 29 embroidery machines with a different design on almost every item, so changing between designs is our normal production rhythm rather than an interruption to it. Send the item, the logo and the position you want it in.
Why do most embroidery companies have a 25 piece minimum order?
Because digitising the artwork into a stitch file, colour matching the threads and setting up and test running the machine cost roughly the same whether one piece or forty follows. Spread over a long run those fixed costs vanish into the unit price. Carried by a single piece they dominate it. For a workshop built around repeat runs of identical items, a minimum protects machine throughput, so it is sound arithmetic rather than obstruction.
Does one embroidered item cost more per piece than a bulk order?
Yes, almost always, and that is true of any embroiderer. The digitising and setup are the same work either way, so the fewer pieces they are spread across, the more each piece carries. No minimum order means you are allowed to buy one, not that one costs the same per unit as fifty. For a business that only needs one item, a higher unit price once is still cheaper than buying nine it does not need.
Can I order one embroidered sample before placing a bulk order?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible order of events. Stitched logos do not look exactly like their on-screen versions: thread has height and direction, brand colours shift slightly when matched to a thread range, and fine detail behaves differently on a soft fleece than on firm cotton twill. Finding a problem on one piece is far cheaper than finding it on delivery of fifty.
What is your lead time for a trade embroidery order?
We have not published a trade lead time, and we are not going to quote our retail personalisation lead time at you, because trade volumes are a different operation. Email with your deadline and we will tell you whether we can meet it. If your deadline is tight, say so in the first message rather than at the end of the conversation.
How many pieces do I need for embroidery to be worthwhile?
One, if you only need one. The better question is whether embroidery is the right decoration for your artwork and your item at all. Thread suits solid shapes, bold lettering and logos that will be washed and worn hard. Printing suits gradients, photographic images and very fine text. Choose on those grounds rather than on quantity.
Do you keep the stitch file so a reorder is cheaper?
Ask us directly, because we have not published a position on file retention and we would rather say so than imply one. It is a question worth asking any embroiderer, and worth getting in writing: if a supplier keeps your digitised file and will reuse it, a repeat run skips the digitising stage. If they do not, or will not release it, a different supplier later has to start again.
Where is your embroidery done?
In our own studio at Copley Hill Business Park, Cambridge CB22 3GN, on 29 embroidery machines. The business was founded in September 2021. Nothing is outsourced to a third party embroiderer, and we do not use printing or heat applied transfers to imitate stitching.
When should I use a different embroidery supplier?
If you need several hundred identical items at the lowest possible unit price, get a quote from a high-volume contract embroiderer with a 50 or 100 piece minimum, because their operation is tuned for long identical runs. Also look elsewhere if your artwork is photographic or gradient based, which is a printing job, or if you want a supplier to warehouse stock and fulfil reorders for a large staff roster, which is a stock management service rather than made-to-order work.
Leave a comment