Print Placement on Towels
By The Velocity Wear Team
On a towel the branding goes in one of four places: the woven dobby border at one or both short ends, a corner, the centre of the flat face, or a small tab sewn into the hem. The border is the default, because it is the only flat panel on the towel and it is the part on show when the towel is folded or hung.
Where does branding sit on a towel?
The dobby border is a flat woven strip near each short end, and it exists precisely so something can sit there. A logo in the border is legible, sits square, and survives because there is no pile fighting it. Put it on one end if the towel hangs from a rail, on both ends if it is going to be folded and stacked either way round.
A corner mark is the discreet option, and it suits a retail towel where the brand should whisper. A centre print is the loud option and belongs on a giveaway or a merchandise piece where the towel is effectively a billboard. The wholesale towels page sets out which methods reach which of those positions, and the glossary covers dobby and the other construction terms.
How big should the logo be?
Bigger than you think on a centre print, smaller than you think on a border. The border sets a hard ceiling on height, so the artwork has to be redrawn to run wide and short rather than dropped in and scaled. A stacked logo with three lines of small type will not work in a border at any size that remains readable.
Send a vector file and let the artwork be adapted rather than squeezed. Thin strokes and small serifs are the first casualties on terry, because the pile breaks up anything under about two millimetres of line weight. Simplify the mark for the towel and keep the detailed version for print.
Give the artwork a margin too. A mark that runs right to the edge of the border looks tight once the towel is hemmed, and hemming carries a tolerance, so a design drawn to the exact panel width can sit a few millimetres off centre across a run. Pulling the artwork in slightly costs nothing and removes an entire category of complaint about towels that look crooked on the shelf.
Does placement change with towel size?
It does. A long narrow gym towel is usually branded at one end so the logo shows when the towel is draped over a shoulder. A bath sheet has enough face for a centre mark without it looking stranded. A hand towel is mostly border, so the border is really the only option that reads.
Think about the towel in use rather than flat on a table. Photograph a blank towel in the position it will be seen in and put the logo on the photograph before you commit. The trade-off between a large all-over design and a single placed mark is worked through in all-over print versus placement print.
What placement problems show up after washing?
Printed branding placed directly on deep pile is the one that ages worst. The pile moves in the wash, so the edges of the print soften and the mark looks fuzzy long before it fades. A print on the flat border stays sharp because there is nothing underneath it to shift.
The other recurring problem is a logo placed where the towel folds. Any crease that falls through artwork will wear along that line, and a folded stack on a shelf creates the same crease a thousand times. Take the £150 sample, wash it half a dozen times, and look at it again; the fee is credited against the bulk order. Order a sample early, and if you are weighing printing against stitching, towels for gyms: print or embroidery sets out the comparison.
