Custom embroidered badges and patches, made to your shape
Custom embroidered patches are embroidered designs stitched on a twill base and finished with your choice of backing. Most suppliers sell them from a fixed list of shapes. Super Label Store builds the patch around your artwork instead: any outline, anywhere from 4 to 23 cm, on a twill base with polyester embroidery threads.
Super Label Store produces custom embroidered badges from 10 pieces for £75. Choose your coverage, your backing and your border, upload your design, and we email you a digital proof. Nothing goes to the machines until you approve it.
Embroidered patches and embroidered badges are the same product. In the UK, badge is the usual word for school and club emblems, unit insignia and uniform identification, while patch is the usual word in fashion, streetwear and merchandise. Super Label Store produces both on the same twill base, from 10 pieces per design, in any shape between 4 and 23 cm.
Iron-on, sew-on and velcro badges
Every badge is made the same way; the backing decides how it goes on. Sew-on is the most durable and the standard for school blazers and uniforms. Iron-on bonds under a household iron with no stitching, on cotton, denim, canvas and smooth polyester. Velcro lets you swap badges on tactical kit and cadet uniforms.
Not sure which to pick? Our pages on iron-on patches and velcro patches go through the application, the fabrics each one works on and how to make them last.
School, club and scout badges
Embroidered badges are the standard for school blazers, club kit and uniformed youth groups in the UK, and the minimum of 10 per design means a single class, squad or section can order on its own.
- School and blazer badges. A school crest on a blazer pocket usually sits between 6 and 9 cm. Sew-on is the right backing, because blazers last several years and go through the wash regularly.
- Scouts, cubs and cadets. Section badges, camp badges and achievement badges, ordered per roster rather than per season.
- Sports clubs and teams. Club crests for kit bags, jackets and training tops, from 10 pieces for a single team.
- Societies and associations. Personalised badges for members, events and anniversaries.
Custom embroidered badge specifications
| Size range |
4 to 23 cm, custom sizing |
| Shapes |
Any shape. Choose a preset or build a custom outline |
| Base material |
Durable twill |
| Thread |
Polyester embroidery thread. Neon and metallic lurex available |
| Colours |
Up to 9 included in the price. Up to 15 for a surcharge |
| Coverage |
50%, 75% or 100% embroidery |
| Backings |
Sew-on, iron-on, 3M adhesive, single velcro, double velcro, plastic, keyring |
| Borders |
Merrow border or heat cut |
| Minimum text width |
3.5 to 4 mm for legible stitched lettering |
| Minimum order |
10 badges |
| Price |
From £75 per 10 badges |
| Standard production |
8 to 12 working days after proof approval, plus delivery |
| Rush production |
4 to 8 working days, £85 per design, available from 200 pieces |
| Proof |
Free digital proof, emailed within 1 to 2 working days |
| Free delivery |
On UK orders over £175 |
In short: Super Label Store makes custom embroidered badges and patches on a twill base, in any shape from 4 to 23 cm, with up to 9 thread colours, from 10 pieces at £75, produced in 8 to 12 working days after you approve the free proof.
Choosing your size
Super Label Store produces custom embroidered patches from 4 to 23 cm. Size drives both the look and the price, so it is worth deciding before you design. Larger badges carry more detail, but they also carry more stitches, which costs more and takes longer.
| Placement |
Typical size |
Notes |
| Cap front or side |
5 to 6 cm |
The curve of the panel limits how much detail reads |
| Chest logo or blazer pocket |
6 to 9 cm |
The most common order. Keep the design simple at this size |
| Sleeve or shoulder |
8 to 10 cm |
Standard for uniform and unit insignia |
| Bag, tote or accessory |
8 to 13 cm |
Flat surface, so almost any shape works |
| Jacket back panel |
15 to 23 cm |
Where intricate artwork and full coverage pay off |
Large embroidered badges start to make sense from about 13 cm up, on a jacket back panel or a bag, because there is finally enough surface for detail to read. Above 23 cm we quote as a custom run.
Small badges below 5 cm work best with a single mark: a monogram, an icon, a short word. At that size a merrow border alone takes around 5 mm of the surface, so either simplify the design or go a size up.
Big badges cost more than small ones for one reason: stitch count. Surface area rises faster than dimensions do, so a 15 cm patch carries roughly four times the stitches of an 8 cm patch, not twice.
Coverage: 50%, 75% or 100%
Coverage is how much of the badge surface is covered by embroidery thread rather than left as visible twill. It changes the appearance, the stitch count, the production time and the price.
| Coverage |
What it looks like |
Best for |
Price |
| 50% |
About half embroidered, with plenty of twill background showing |
Simple logos, text and bold shapes. A lighter, traditional look |
Lowest |
| 75% |
Mostly embroidered, with some background fabric still visible |
A richer finish that keeps some twill texture |
Mid-range |
| 100% |
Entire surface stitched, no twill visible |
Intricate artwork and the densest, highest-end appearance |
Highest |
Higher coverage means a higher stitch count, which means more thread and more machine time. That is the whole reason for the price difference, and it is also why a 100% coverage badge takes longer to produce than a 50% one.
A simple rule: pick 50% for the most economical option and a classic look, 75% when you want a premium finish without paying for full embroidery, and 100% when maximum visual impact is the point.
Backings
- Sew-on. The most durable option and the standard for school blazers, uniforms and anything washed repeatedly.
- Iron-on. Heat-activated backing, applied with a household iron. Convenient, but not for dry-clean-only garments or heavily textured fabric.
- 3M adhesive. Peel and stick. Best for hard surfaces, cases and short-term applications rather than garments.
- Single velcro (hook only). Pairs with a loop panel already fitted to the garment or kit.
- Double velcro. Hook and loop supplied together, so you can attach it to anything.
- Plastic backing. Stiffens the badge so it holds its shape rather than following the fabric.
- Keyring. Turns the patch into a standalone product for merchandise and giveaways.
Backing is chosen per order, so the same design can ship sew-on for one customer and velcro for another. Velcro is the usual choice for tactical, cadet and uniform work, where badges need to be swapped rather than committed to. Sew-on remains the right answer for school blazers, fashion and anything with a long service life.
Merrow border or heat cut
Super Label Store offers two edge finishes, and the choice follows from the shape of your artwork.
A merrow border is the classic embroidered edge, overlocked around the perimeter. It seals the edge completely and suits simple outlines: circles, ovals, rectangles and shields. It is what most school and club badges use.
The merrow border is around 5 mm wide, and that width is added around your design. On a small badge it takes up a meaningful share of the surface, so factor it in before you settle on a size. If your artwork already fills the patch, either go a size up or choose heat cut.
Heat cut is a clean, sharp finish that follows the exact outline of your artwork. It handles complex and irregular shapes that an overlock machine cannot follow, and it gives the most premium appearance.
In short: simple shape, merrow border. Complex shape or a design that fills the patch, heat cut.
You choose the border colour yourself in the design tool, alongside the background colour of the badge.
What embroidery can and cannot reproduce
Thread is not ink. The most common reason a proof comes back needing changes is artwork that was designed for print. Before you upload:
- Text needs 3.5 to 4 mm of width minimum. Below that, letters fill in and become unreadable. This is roughly twice what a woven label needs, because embroidery stitches are much thicker.
- Gradients and shadows do not exist in thread. They will be reduced to solid colour blocks. Design in flat colours from the start.
- Photographs cannot be embroidered. They have to be redrawn as a simplified illustration.
- Very fine lines disappear. Hairlines and thin outlines either vanish or thicken into blobs.
- Serif and thin fonts perform badly. Bold sans-serif reads best at badge scale.
- Small detail wants a bigger badge. If your design will not simplify, the answer is usually a larger size rather than finer stitching.
The digital proof exists to catch all of this before anything is stitched, which is why we do not start production until you approve it.
Embroidered or woven patches?
Custom embroidered patches use thick thread laid on top of a twill base, giving a raised, textured, tactile finish. It is the right choice when you want presence and a classic badge feel.
Woven patches use much finer threads worked into a flat surface, which holds far more detail in a smaller area and produces a thinner, smoother patch. Choose woven when your design has small lettering, fine linework or many colours in a tight space.
If your artwork is essentially a logo with text, and the badge is under 6 cm, woven will usually reproduce it better than embroidery will. The same weaving is used for our custom woven labels.
Do I need to digitise my logo first?
No. Digitising is included, and Super Label Store does it for you at no cost.
Digitising is the step between your artwork and the machine. An embroidery machine cannot read a JPG or a vector file; it needs a stitch file that tells it where every needle goes, in what order, at what angle and with which colour. Converting artwork into that file is digitising, and it is skilled work rather than a conversion you can automate.
That is why it matters who does it. The same logo digitised well and digitised badly produces two visibly different badges: one holds its shapes and its text, the other puckers, fills in the small letters and pulls at the edges.
Our design team digitises every order in house and shows you the result on a free proof before anything is stitched. If your artwork needs simplifying to survive in thread, we tell you what changed and why, rather than stitching it and hoping.
What you send us: JPG, PNG, AI, PSD, INDD or PDF are all accepted. A PNG with a transparent background if you want a custom outline rather than a rectangle. A rough sketch or a photo of an existing badge works too, and this is a normal route rather than an exception.
What you do not need: embroidery software, a DST or PES file, or a paid digitising service. Those are for people running their own machines.
Choosing colours
If exact brand colours matter, enter your Pantone or other colour codes in the comments field when you order. Without codes, the Super Label Store design team matches your artwork as closely as the thread range allows, and shows you the result on the proof.
Metallic gold and silver are available as a premium option at a surcharge. Because they are applied selectively rather than across the whole badge, note in the comments field exactly where you want them used.
The two proofs, and which one you need
Digital proof: check the size
Available immediately, underneath the order button. Download it, print it on A4, cut the badge out and lay it on the garment or product it is destined for. That is the fastest way to find out whether 8 cm is the right call before you commit to a run.
If your printer's scaling is slightly off, adjust the print percentage until the printed size matches the dimensions shown.
Photo proof: check the result, and it is free here
The photo proof is free on embroidered badges and can be ticked during ordering at no extra cost. We produce a single sample badge, photograph it, and send it to you. You then approve it or send feedback before the rest of the production run starts.
Strongly recommended on larger quantities and on designs that matter. Seeing one finished badge before another 500 are stitched is worth the wait. Note that it does extend the lead time, because production pauses until you respond. On our woven labels the photo proof is a paid option, so do not assume the same applies across the range.
Approve on the website, not by email
When you click Approve on the approval page, the approval goes straight to the production floor and the machines carry on immediately. Feedback sent by email has to be processed by a member of staff first, which adds a step and delays your order.
How the proof and production timing works
- You place your order and upload your artwork.
- We send a digital proof by email within 1 to 2 working days, showing colours and design specifications. You approve it or request changes through the portal linked in that email.
- Production starts after you approve the proof, not when you place the order.
- Standard production is 8 to 12 working days from approval, plus delivery. Rush is 4 to 8 working days for £85 per design, available from 200 pieces.
- Your confirmed dispatch date appears in your account once everything is approved.
If you are working to a deadline, build in the proof stage. A day spent approving artwork is a day production has not started.
Quantities and pricing
Custom embroidered badges at Super Label Store start at 10 pieces per design, at £75. The unit price drops automatically as the quantity rises, so a larger run costs meaningfully less per badge.
Ten pieces is a real order, not a sample allowance, and the minimum applies per design rather than per order. Ten badges of one artwork is a complete order; three different designs is three orders of ten.
From 100 pieces you can enter your own quantity rather than picking a preset, in increments of 10. So 110, 120, 170 and 250 are all valid. Useful when you are ordering to a roster or a production run rather than to a round number.
Who orders custom embroidered badges
- Schools and colleges ordering blazer badges, house badges and achievement badges against a roster
- Scouts, guides, cubs and cadet forces ordering section, camp and achievement badges
- Sports clubs and teams ordering club crests in small runs for a squad rather than a season's stock
- Fashion and streetwear brands adding embroidered patches to jackets, caps, denim and bags
- Military, tactical and airsoft units where velcro backing and durability matter more than anything else
- Fire and rescue, ambulance and security services needing consistent insignia across a roster
- Corporate and workwear programmes standardising branded uniform badges
- Makers, crafters and events ordering personalised patches where 10 pieces is the whole order
Design your custom embroidered badges
Set your shape, size, coverage, backing and border in our online patch maker, upload your artwork, and we will send your free digital proof within two working days. From 10 custom embroidered badges for £75, delivered free across the UK on orders over £175.
Finishing a garment rather than a jacket? Pair badges with woven brand labels for the neck, care labels for the seam and swing tags for retail.
