In the Loop

Adding chenille as a niche decoration technique can set your shop apart and increase margins.
May 1, 2008

While schools are the most popular accounts for chenille work, licensed designs such as this one for JEGS, a manufacturer of high-performance auto parts, present opportunities for chenille decorators to offer something "different" to their clients.

By Jimmy Lamb

For many years, the decorated apparel industry was composed of specialists. The typical shop did one thing and one thing only, with the majority focusing on either embroidery or screen printing. There were some other small players as well, including chenille embroiderers and heat-applied graphics people, but — again — everyone pretty much stuck with one thing. In recent years, there has been a significant shift toward one-stop shops that offer multiple forms of embellishment. And as this trend continues to develop, diversification is quickly becoming a necessity for survival, rather than an option for growth.

With this in mind, shop owners need to give careful consideration to the concept of enhancing their operation with alternative forms of apparel decoration that ideally complement their current production processes while expanding their market focus. One such form of embellishment that has seen steady growth and warrants review is chenille.

Chenille embroidery is produced using a special machine that feeds yarns up through the bottom in such a way as to create a raised textured surface that resembles carpet. Though it's called chenille embroidery, the sewing process bears little resemblance to the traditional embroidery sewing process.

One reason for this is that chenille sewing is rarely done directly on the garment. Instead, the design is applied to a fabric background called scrim felt, which is cut out and sewn to the garment like a patch.

CREATE A NICHE
Saundra Rodgers, owner, Works Of Art Embroidery, Branson, Mo., added chenille to her embroidery shop in 2005. "I had always been fascinated by the chenille machines and approached the local schools to see if there was any interest in buying chenille products," she says. "It turns out that each of the high schools had its own custom logos, but no one had ever been able to offer anything but generic stuff in terms of chenille. I told them I could produce custom work, including their own mascots, and they jumped at the opportunity. So I went out and bought a singlehead chenille machine."

Though there was a significant learning curve, Rodgers fell in love with the chenille sewing process. "[My software and machines] let me set up all of the parameters, such as color and loop height at the computer, so that when I load a design into the machine it's ready to go without any need for programming," she says. "And once the machine starts sewing, it doesn't stop. Rarely is there a thread break, and since there is no bobbin to run out, the machine can run for extended periods of time unsupervised. Keep in mind that with chenille, you usually run multiple designs within a large border frame, so the time between so-called hoopings can be extensive. This gives me time to focus my energies on other things."

But while she found the sewing process to be efficient, Rodgers quickly discovered that the overall production process was not. "I found that the traditional method used by many shops was to mount a large piece of scrim felt (not an easy task) in a border frame, do the sewing directly on the felt, then cut out the individual chenille patches by hand," she says. "That was a nightmare and I figured there must be a better way — especially if I was going to make money with chenille."

After consulting with another chenille shop, Rodgers began using a sort of reverse production process:

• The chenille design file is created with an extra line of stitching (cut-line) along the outside edge, which denotes where the edge of the scrim felt will be on the finished piece.

• The scrim felt is cut first (using an automated textile cutter) in the desired shape as denoted by the cut-line. Textile cutters can work from embroidery art files, so it's a fairly simple conversion process.

• At the chenille machine, a piece of backing is mounted in a border frame and placed on the machine.

• The cut-line portion of the design is run initially with no yarn, so that it makes only a series of perforations in the backing. These perforations create a template in the shape of the scrim felt, which was just cut out in Step 2 (think appliqué).

• Using spray adhesive, the scrim felt is attached to the backing, using the template as a guide.

• Chenille sewing begins.

"This method is so much better," says Rodgers. "Yes, I had to go out and invest in a cutter, but it paid for itself in just a couple of months."

Once the chenille patch is completed, it's then attached to the garment via an industrial sewing machine, though some shops use a standard embroidery machine and treat the chenille patch like appliqué.

LESS STITCHES = MORE PROFITS
Another appeal of chenille is that it lends itself to making high-stitch-count designs more cost-effective. Though the sewing speed for chenille is much slower than with an embroidery machine (an average of 500 to 700 stitches per minute), the sheer bulk of the yarn makes it easier to cover a large area with fewer stitches than traditional embroidery. Typically, it costs about 25% less per square inch of coverage for chenille than for embroidery, which creates more options for customers who want large jacket-back designs. But on the flip side, chenille doesn't lend itself to small or fine-detailed designs.

Of course, when you can do both methods of decoration in-house, it makes your shop more versatile. Chenille can be combined with direct embroidery to allow a higher level of creativity. By using chenille to fill in large backgrounds and embroidery to do detail and lettering, exciting designs with lower stitch counts can be created that command a higher price point due to perceived uniqueness.

In spite of all it has to offer, chenille has been slow to break out of the school sports realm, which accounts for about 75% to 80% of all chenille production. "The majority of my chenille is definitely school-oriented," notes Rodgers. "I can see a lot of other applications, such as tourist shops here in the Branson area, but realistically I just haven't had the time to go out and pitch any ideas to them. I really believe that most of the other chenille companies find themselves in the same boat. They are doing so well with schools that there is no compelling reason to go outside the market, though there are plenty of potential applications."

Other chenille shop owners have echoed this sentiment, agreeing that the majority of their work is generated by the school market, though some are reporting an increase in orders coming in from other less traditional areas, such as restaurants, clubs and special events. And with the ever-increasing need to be "different from all the rest," the corporate powers-that-be have already started to turn their attention toward the innovative, eye-catching presentation of chenille.

For savvy entrepreneurs looking to grow their operation and one-up the competition, chenille deserves a closer look. The demand has been steadily increasing over the past few years and the future looks bright. Though it is still considered to be a small player in the overall scheme of the decorated apparel industry, there are indications that chenille may take a huge leap forward over the next few years.

Award-winning author and international speaker Jimmy Lamb, the director of training and education for Tajima USA Sales & Support by Hirsch, has more than 15 years embroidery experience. For more information or to comment on this article, email Jimmy at jlamb@tajima-hirsch.com.

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