Premium Brands for Logo Embroidery: What We’ve Actually Stitched

A logo on a $150 shirt has to look like it belongs there. This guide covers the premium brands we have embroidered in our studio: how each fabric behaves under a needle, where the logo sits best, how long the garments take to reach us and what a finished piece costs. Everything here comes from our own orders and quotes, not from catalog descriptions.

We buy the garments, digitize your logo in-house, send a photo of a test stitch-out for approval and embroider the order ourselves. You get one invoice for the whole order, and we ship anywhere in the U.S.

Last updated: November 2026

Brands at a glance

Brand	What we’ve stitched	How it takes embroidery	Women’s styles
Peter Millar	Performance jersey polos	Smooth, stable knit, no trouble	Yes
johnnie-O	Rafael woven button-down, Regular and Big & Tall	Stable woven fabric; placement shifts with size	Ask us
Poncho Outdoors	Listo and Uno Mas performance shirts	Very thin nylon: the hardest fabric here	Mostly men’s cuts
BYLT	LUX Polo, Drop-Cut LUX Polo	Stitches cleanly; one of our favorites	Yes
adidas	A230 / A231 performance polos	Lightweight performance fabric, needs care	Yes (A231)
Varley	Hawley Half-Zip, Extra Wide Leg Pant	Soft knit; good for tonal thread	Women’s-first brand
Outdoor Research	Trail Mix XT Fleece Half Zip	Short-pile fleece: fill stitches, not satin	Ask us
AS Colour	Heavyweight tees, Access Cap	Heavy tees stitch without problems	Yes
L.L.Bean	Boat and Tote	Sturdy canvas	Unisex

Peter Millar

We have embroidered Peter Millar’s performance jersey polos for Austin-area companies. The jersey is smooth and stable and took a chest logo without any special handling. It is a well-made shirt, and the knit shows it.

Ordering: we source Peter Millar through corporate-apparel suppliers. Through one of them there is no minimum; through another it is 6 pieces per style and color.
Women’s styles: available.
Price: a men’s jersey polo is about $105, plus embroidery. On a 160-piece quote, the finished polo came to $120 with the logo.

johnnie-O

We embroidered johnnie-O’s Rafael, a woven button-down, for a client who needed Regular and Big & Tall sizes in the same style. That is the main reason to choose johnnie-O for a team: the same shirt in both size ranges, so nobody gets moved to a lower-tier shirt just to get the color.

Placement: it depends on the size. On smaller shirts we follow one rule relative to the placket and pocket; on larger sizes we move the logo, because the proportions of the shirt change.
Ordering: no minimum through our supplier, and garments usually arrive in 2–3 days.
Price: the Rafael retails at $148, plus embroidery.

Poncho Outdoors

Poncho’s Listo and Uno Mas are built from a very thin, slick performance nylon. It feels great and breathes well, and it is the most demanding fabric on this page.

How we stitch it:

Two layers of stabilizer.
Careful hooping, without stretching the fabric in the hoop.
A water-soluble topping on the surface when the design needs it.
A modest logo size: we recommend about 3 inches wide, 3.5 inches at most. The largest we have done was around 4 inches.

Even with all of that, some puckering can’t always be avoided on fabric this thin, so we always send a test stitch-out before the full run. Poncho runs mostly in men’s cuts; for a mixed team we pick a separate women’s style.

Price: we finished a 30-piece order of Listo shirts at $79.95 per shirt plus $22 embroidery.

BYLT

We have embroidered BYLT’s LUX Polo and Drop-Cut LUX Polo, and BYLT is one of our favorite brands to work with: the fabric takes a logo cleanly. The Drop-Cut LUX polo has a more modern, athletic fit than a traditional polo, and BYLT also makes a women’s polo, which makes it an easy pick for mixed teams.

Price: the LUX polo is $65 and the women’s Everyday Polo is $50. For four polos with a chest logo, a recent quote came to $90 per polo ($65 shirt + $25 embroidery), plus a one-time $50 digitizing fee.

adidas

We use the adidas A230 (men’s) and A231 (women’s) performance polos constantly. At 3.8 oz they are light and breathe better than heavier poly-cotton piqué polos, which matters in Texas heat. Like any performance fabric, they need the right stabilizer and stitch density, so we set each logo up for this fabric.

Price: about $35–40 per polo, plus embroidery. The women’s A231 comes in many colors.

Varley

Varley is our first choice when a client asks for premium women’s pieces. For a Florida firm’s women’s holiday set, we embroidered a Varley Hawley Half-Zip and the matching Extra Wide Leg Pant in Olive Marl with a subtle tonal olive logo, and added a cap and a canvas tote with pine-green thread. The whole set was sourced, embroidered and shipped by us under one invoice.

Ordering: we order from Varley directly. They ship from California, so standard delivery takes longer than our other brands; with expedited shipping it is about 2 days.
Price: the Hawley Half-Zip retails at $148 and the Extra Wide Leg Pant at $138, plus embroidery.

Outdoor Research

Outdoor Research’s Trail Mix XT Fleece Half Zip makes a good company fleece, and the quality is solid. We are stitching it now for an Austin company ahead of a larger order: a small white chest logo, 40 × 50 mm.

Fleece needs a different approach from polos. Even a short pile swallows satin stitches, so we fill the logo with tatami (fill) stitches, which press the pile down and sit on top. Long satin stitches also catch and snag over time, so on fleece we replace them with fill.

Outdoor Research has confirmed that we can buy their apparel directly for embroidery.

AS Colour

AS Colour’s heavyweight tees embroider beautifully. We have never had a problem with them, and for the price they are at the top of our list. We also embroidered their Access Cap, a light unstructured cap, for a client’s gift set.

Price: a heavyweight tee is around $32 and the Access Cap $20, plus embroidery.

L.L.Bean

For one-off pieces such as the classic canvas Boat and Tote, we buy at retail and embroider here. The tote retails at $39.95, plus embroidery.

Brands that keep their garments blank

Some brands do not allow third-party logos on their products, at least through the corporate channels we use:

Under Armour restricts third-party embroidery.

Vuori does not allow decoration of its garments.

Patagonia: when we asked for a client’s project in October 2026, Patagonia required the garments to stay blank.

If you want a similar feel, we suggest comparable styles from brands that allow embroidery: BYLT instead of Under Armour, Outdoor Research instead of Patagonia fleece.

How fabric changes the embroidery

Every garment is checked when it arrives from the supplier. Once in a while a piece comes with weak fabric, a crooked seam or loose threads, and we catch it before it goes under the needle.

Thin performance fabric
Poncho, lightweight polos: double stabilizer, careful hooping, a smaller and less dense logo. Some puckering is still possible, so we test first.
Fleece and pile
Fill stitches instead of satin, and topping when needed.
Woven shirts
Stable to stitch; placement has to follow the size.
Heavyweight cotton tees
The easiest of all.

On a recent order of lightweight performance polos for a physical therapy clinic, the new logo had dense custom lettering about 3 inches wide. We used two layers of stabilizer, sent a test stitch-out and told the client up front that some puckering was possible. From the client’s Google review:

“The embroidery is crisp, the colors look fantastic, and the overall quality exceeded my expectations.”

— Kwesi Coleman, Kinetic ATX

Lead times and minimums

Garments
Most brands reach us in about 5 business days, or about 2 with expedited shipping. Varley takes longer on standard shipping.
Embroidery
5–7 business days after you approve the test stitch-out.
Minimums
None for most brands through our suppliers. A few styles require 6 pieces per style and color; we will tell you before you order.
Your own garments
You can also bring garments you already bought. There is a $5 handling fee per piece, and supplied garments are embroidered at the owner’s risk.

What it costs

Garment prices follow each brand’s published retail price, and embroidery is added on top. Embroidery is $15–25 per piece for a logo up to 8,000 stitches, depending on quantity, and digitizing is $30–50 one-time per logo version, included on orders of 24 pieces or more. Every order is quoted individually, because the final price depends on quantity, sizes and the logo itself.

Example from our orders	Garment	Embroidery	Per piece
Peter Millar jersey polo, 160 pcs	about $105	$15	about $120
Poncho Listo, 30 pcs	$79.95	$22	$101.95
BYLT LUX polo, 4 pcs	$65	$25	$90 + $50 digitizing once
johnnie-O Rafael	$148	quoted	from $163
Varley Hawley Half-Zip	$148	quoted	from $163

See our pricing · Request a quote

Questions

Short answers from our own orders.

Can you embroider our logo on Peter Millar polos?

Yes. We have embroidered Peter Millar performance polos for Austin-area companies. Through one of our suppliers there is no minimum order.

Can you put a logo on Patagonia?

In our experience, no: in October 2026 Patagonia required garments for a client’s project to stay blank. For a similar fleece we use Outdoor Research.

What are the best premium polos for embroidery?

From our orders: Peter Millar’s jersey polo and BYLT stitch cleanly. adidas A230 is the lighter, lower-cost performance option. Poncho leans more outdoor and casual, and its thin fabric needs a smaller logo.

Is there a minimum order?

For most brands, no. A few styles require 6 pieces per style and color.

Can I see the embroidery before you stitch the whole order?

Yes. We send a photo of a test stitch-out for your approval before production. For multi-brand sets, we can make one finished sample set first.

What do you recommend for women?

Varley first, with many women’s pieces, then BYLT, adidas A231 and Peter Millar’s women’s polos.

Want a premium brand with your logo?

Tell us who will wear it and roughly how many pieces. We suggest the garment, send a test stitch-out and a complete quote before anything goes into production.

Get a quote

Call or text: (214) 836-6006
Email: hello@neatko.com