How to Start an Embroidery Business: Name, License, and Supplies

Choosing the Perfect Business Name

If you’re serious about turning machine embroidery into income, your first “production step” isn’t threading the needle—it’s making sure customers instantly understand what you sell. Most beginners treat naming like a creative art project, but seasoned business owners treat it like a label on a control panel: it must be functional, clear, and readable in milliseconds.

In the video, Reva explains that before you begin, you should decide what kind of embroidery you want to offer (business logos vs. creative custom items), but that there are a few key administrative steps to handle first. One of the biggest early wins is choosing a name that does marketing for you.

Why 'Embroidery' Must Be in the Name

Reva strongly encourages including the word “embroidery” in your business name so potential customers know exactly what you do. She contrasts a generic name (like “Reva’s Things”) with a clearer option that signals the service (like “Reva’s Embroidery Things”).

This is not just branding—it’s conversion logic. When someone sees your name on a business card, a Facebook post, or an Etsy listing, you have about 1.5 seconds to answer their internal question: "Can this person put my logo on a shirt?"

To keep your launch clean, pick a name that:

• Signals the method: Clearly uses “Embroidery” or “Stitches” (avoid vague terms like “Creations” or “Designs”).
• Signals the Niche: If you do corporate polos, “Elite Logo Embroidery” works better than “Grandma’s Stitch Corner.”
• Passes the "Radio Test": If you say it out loud, can people spell it? (Avoid creative misspellings like "Kustom Stychz").

Checking Name Availability

Reva notes that when applying for a state license, you can search whether your desired name is already in use. That means name selection and licensing are linked: you don’t want to fall in love with a name that you can’t legally register.

Expert Reality Check: Name availability operates on three levels. You must check all three:

1. State/Local Level: Is the LLC or DBA available? (Legal requirement).
2. Domain Level: Is the .com taken? (Digital requirement).
3. Social Handle Level: Is the Instagram handle clean? (Marketing requirement).

Preparing Backup Options

Reva’s most practical “avoid the fee” tip: bring backups. She recommends having three or four name options ready, because if your first choice is taken you’ll want a second choice immediately to avoid extra search fees at the clerk’s office.

Pro Tip (The "Name Stack" Method): Don't just think of names in your head. Write down a prioritized list (A, B, C, D) before you log into any government portal.

• Option A: The Dream Name.
• Option B: The Geographic Variant (e.g., "Seattle Custom Embroidery").
• Option C: The Niche Variant (e.g., "Fast Commercial Embroidery").

This prevents the panic-induced decision making that leads to regrettable business names.

Navigating Licenses and Legalities

Licensing is where many embroidery startups either (1) get stuck and procrastinate due to fear, or (2) rush and make expensive mistakes. The video keeps it simple: rules differ by state and city, but getting licensed can unlock real financial advantages.

State and City Requirements

Reva advises getting a business license and notes that requirements differ by state and city. In practice, that means you may need:

• A state business license (The Entity).
• A city permit (The permission to operate, especially for home-based businesses).

Cognitive Chunking: Do not guess. Go to your city's ".gov" website and search "Home Occupation Permit." This is the specific term most councils use for home businesses.

Manufacturing Tax Exemptions

Reva explains that some states (like hers) may offer a manufacturing tax exemption. Since you are manufacturing items for sale (transforming a blank shirt into a decorated shirt), you might qualify for tax benefits on equipment purchases.

Expert Financial Lens: This is critical for your hardware upgrade path. High-end embroidery equipment (like multi-needle machines) is an investment. If your state waives sales tax on manufacturing equipment, you could save 6% to 10% on your machine purchase just by having the correct paperwork. That savings often covers the cost of your initial thread and stabilizer stock.

Cost Benefits of Licensing

Reva also points out a second major benefit: a license can grant access to wholesale goods and blanks.

This matters because embroidery profit is calculated as: (Selling Price) - (Cost of Goods + Labor). If you buy blanks at retail prices, your "Cost of Goods" is too high to make a profit without overcharging the customer. Licensing moves you from "retail consumer" to "wholesale buyer."

Warning: Licensing and tax laws are strictly location-dependent. A "manufacturing exemption" in one state may not exist in another. Always consult a local CPA or the Small Business Administration (SBA) to verify your specific eligibility.

Sourcing Wholesale Inventory

If you want consistent results and consistent profit, you need consistent blanks. Reva explains that with a license you can buy items like t-shirts or tote bags at significantly discounted wholesale prices.

Accessing Wholesale Accounts

Reva’s workflow is straightforward:

1. Get licensed.
2. Use that license (reseller certificate) to open accounts with major distributors (e.g., SanMar, AlphaBroder, S&S Activewear).
3. Buy blanks at wholesale pricing.

Retail vs. Wholesale Pricing

Reva gives a clear example: why pay retail prices of five or six dollars when you can get items for two dollars?

The "Invisible" Production Benefit: Beyond price, wholesale blanks offer consistency. When you buy retail production shirts (like generic craft store tees), the fabric weight and stretch vary batch by batch. This forces you to constantly adjust your tension and stabilizer. Wholesale blanks (like a Port Authority K500 or Gildan 2000) are industry standards—they stitch the same way every time.

Choosing Quality Blanks

Reva demonstrates the type of blanks you can buy wholesale by holding up a green t-shirt.

She also shows inspecting blanks to ensure quality before embroidery.

Sensory Inspection Checklist for Blanks: Before you ever hoop a shirt, perform this 10-second physical check:

1. The Stretch Test: Pull the fabric horizontally. If it stretches like a rubber band, it is unstable. You must use a Cut-Away stabilizer and potentially a magnetic hoop to hold it without distortion.
2. The Grain Check: Look at the weave. Is it straight? If the extensive weave twists around the torso, your design will look crooked after the first wash.
3. The Texture Rub: Close your eyes and feel the surface. Is it rough (pique) or smooth (interlock)? Textured surfaces need a "topping" (water-soluble stabilizer) to keep stitches from sinking in.

Tool-Upgrade Path (Dealing with Difficult Blanks): Cheap or slippery wholesale blanks are notoriously hard to hoop correctly with standard plastic rings. You have to tighten the screw aggressively, which causes "hoop burn" (permanent ring marks) or hand strain.

• The Symptom: Your hands hurt from tightening screws, or you see white rings on dark shirts.
• The Solution: Many production shops switch to magnetic embroidery hoops. Because they clamp down magnetically rather than using friction/screws, they virtually eliminate hoop burn and allow you to hoop slippery performance wear faster and more securely.

Warning: Magnetic hoops contain powerful neodymium magnets. They present a pinch hazard for fingers and are dangerous for anyone with a pacemaker or implanted medical device. Store them separately and handle with care.

Marketing and Niche Selection

Reva’s marketing advice is refreshing: you don’t need to start with paid ads. You need clarity, consistency, and a niche you can explain to a stranger in an elevator.

Business Cards and Word of Mouth

Once your name is set, Reva suggests printing affordable business cards. She emphasizes that business cards are effective advertising and that word of mouth works well.

Operational Tip: Hand your card out with a sample. When you give a business card, wearing your own embroidered logo is the ultimate proof of competence. It provides immediate visual validation of your quality.

Leveraging Social Media

Reva calls out free platforms like Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram as great ways to reach customers.

The "Production-First" Social Strategy: Don't post just to post. Post to sell.

• Bad Post: A blurry photo of a machine running.
• Good Post: A clean, bright photo of a finished polo shirt with the caption: "Now accepting orders for Company Logos. Minimum 6 pieces. DM for quote."

Finding Your Specialty

Reva advises considering your niche: creative one-offs or business logos.

Decision Tree: Choosing Your Workflow Niche Your niche determines your equipment needs. Use this logic to decide:

1. The "Creative/Gift" Niche:
   • Orders: Towels, baby blankets, one-off custom names.
   • Fabrics: Highly variable (terry cloth, plush, denim).
   • Challenge: You are constantly changing stabilizer and hoop types.
   • Requirement: You need mastery of stabilization techniques (Solvy toppings, heavy cut-aways).
2. The "Corporate/Logo" Niche:
   • Orders: Left-chest logos on polos/caps, batches of 10-100.
   • Fabrics: Consistent (Pique, Performance Knits).
   • Challenge: repetitiveness and placement accuracy. Every logo must be in the exact same spot.
   • Requirement: You need speed and consistency tools.

Production Reality Check: If you choose the "Logo" niche, you will be hooping the same shirt 50 times in a row. This is where standard plastic hoops fail—they are slow and physically exhausting. Growing businesses in this niche almost exclusively use a hooping station for machine embroidery combined with standardized fixtures. This ensures that the logo on Shirt #1 and Shirt #50 are in the exact same location without measuring every single time.

Building Business Confidence

Reva’s most important point is not a supply list—it’s mindset: give yourself the confidence that you can do this.

Overcoming 'New Business' Anxiety

Confidence comes from predictability. Anxiety comes from variables you can't control.

• Variable: Will the needle break?
• Variable: Will the thread shred?
• Variable: Will the design pucker?

The Cure: Reduce variables.

• Use ONE brand of thread (Isacord/Madeira/Simthread).
• Use ONE type of needle (75/11 Ballpoint for knits).
• Master ONE blank before trying others.

The Appearance of Establishment

Even if the business is in your spare bedroom, your output should look industrial.

• Use professional invoicing.
• Deliver goods in clean packaging (poly bags), not loose.
• Quote realistic turnaround times (under-promise, over-deliver).

Scaling Decision Point: If you are confident and the orders are flowing, you will eventually hit the "Single Needle Limit." If you are changing thread colors by hand 12 times per shirt on a brother embroidery machine, you are losing money on labor.

• The Pivot: This is when confident owners upgrade to Multi-Needle Machines (6 to 15 needles). These machines run unattended, handle automatic color changes, and drastically increase your profit per hour.

Warning: Embroidery machines involve high-speed moving parts and sharp needles. Always power down or lock the machine when changing needles or threading near the needle bar to prevent puncture injuries.

Free Resources for Success

Reva mentions a brochure about starting a business that covers supplies, pricing, and finding customers, and she invites viewers to request a digital copy on their website.

Starter Brochures and Guides

Resources like these are excellent for creating your initial Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Don't reinvent the wheel. If the guide suggests a pricing formula (e.g., $1 per 1,000 stitches + garment cost x 2), try that first. Adjust only after you have real data.

Primer (What you’ll learn and why it matters)

This video serves as a fundamental roadmap for the transition from "Hobbyist" to "Professional." The distinction is rarely about artistic talent—it is about operational discipline. You will learn reliability in naming, legality in licensing, consistency in sourcing, and clarity in marketing.

Why does this matter? Because beautiful stitches on a shirt you bought at retail price, sold under a name nobody remembers, is a hobby. Consistent stitches on a wholesale shirt, sold at a margin, is a business.

Prep

Before you file your first form or stitch your first commission, you must prepare your environment. A business cannot function if you are hunting for scissors every five minutes.

Hidden Consumables & Physical Setup

Complete this inventory check. These are the items beginners forget until 10 PM on a deadline night:

• Stabilizer Library: A roll of Tear-Away (for woven/stable fabrics) and a roll of Cut-Away (for knits/stretchy fabrics). Do not try to use one for everything.
• Adhesives: Temporary spray adhesive (like 505) to hold fabric to stabilizer.
• Needles: A bulk pack of 75/11 Ballpoint needles (for tees) and 90/14 Sharps (for canvas/denim).
• Hoop Maintenance: Check your current hoops. Are the screws stripped? Is the plastic cracked? If hooping is a struggle, investigate machine embroidery hoops that offer better grip or magnetic closure to reduce prep fatigue.

Prep Checklist (end-of-Prep)

• Brainstorm 3 distinct business names and check local availability.
• Define your primary niche (Corporate vs. Custom).
• Identify 2 wholesale suppliers you intend to apply to.
• Stock backup consumables (Needles, Bobbins, Thread).
• Designate a specific physical workspace for "Clean" work (hooping/packing) separate from "Dirty" work (trimming/lint).

Setup

This phase bridges the gap between your plan and your execution. This is the administrative "spine" of your company.

Setup Checklist (end-of-Setup)

• File for State Business License (and Local/City permits).
• File for Manufacturing Tax Exemption (if eligible in your area).
• Open a separate business bank account (keep finances clean).
• Submit license documents to secure Wholesale Accounts.
• Create a "Tech Pack" for your main product: Determine the exact needle, stabilizer, and tension settings for your standard blank shirt.

Operation

Now, we move to the daily reality of running the shop. This is where efficiency equals income.

Step-by-step (with checkpoints and expected outcomes)

Step 1 — Standardized Sourcing

• Actions: Order a "sample run" of blanks from your new wholesale account. Do not sell these. Test stitch them.
• Checkpoint: Wash the test shirt. Does the embroidery pucker? If yes, switch to a heavier Cut-Away stabilizer.
• Expected outcome: A verified "recipe" for your core product.

Step 2 — Marketing Launch

• Actions: Photograph your successful test samples. Post them to your chosen channel. Hand out cards.
• Checkpoint: Do your photos clearly show the texture of the embroidery? (Good lighting is key).
• Expected outcome: Your first inquire/order.

Step 3 — Order Fulfillment Workflow

• Actions: Receive order -> Order Blank -> Digitize/Setup Design -> Hoop -> Stitch -> Trim -> Pack.
• Checkpoint: The Hooping Check. Hooping should take less than 2 minutes per shirt. If it takes longer, or if you are constantly re-hooping to get it straight, your workstation is the bottleneck.
• Expected outcome: A finished product delivered on time.

Operational Checklist (end-of-Operation)

• Confirm wholesale blanks are in stock for the current job.
• Verify thread colors match the customer's logo (use a physical thread chart, not a screen).
• Perform a "Test Sew" on scraps before touching the customer's garment.
• Inspect the final product for "Jump Stitches" (trim them close).

Quality Checks

Amateur embroidery is defined by what is left behind: loose threads, puckering fabric, and hoop marks. Professional embroidery is invisible except for the design itself.

Critical Quality Controls:

1. The Tension Test: Look at the back of the embroidery. You should see 1/3 bobbin thread (white) running down the center of the satin column. If you see only top thread, your tension is too loose.
2. The Hoop Burn Check: Use a steamer or a spray of water to remove the ring mark left by the hoop. If the mark doesn't vanish, you squeezed the fabric fibers too hard. Solution: Loosen the hoop slightly or switch to magnetic frames to avoid fiber crush.
3. The Compatibility Check: Before buying accessories, ensure fit. Many users search for hoops for brother embroidery machines or brother embroidery hoops without checking the millimeter limit of their specific arm. Always verify your machine's max embroidery area.

Troubleshooting

When things go wrong (and they will), use this logic flow. Do not panic; diagnose.

Symptom: "I can't get the shirt straight."

• Likely Cause: Human error and lack of visual guides.
• Quick Fix: Mark your shirt with a water-soluble pen or chalk using a T-square ruler.
• Pro Solution: If volume is high, invest in a hoop master embroidery hooping station / hoopmaster. These fixtures hold the hoop and shirt in a locked position, guaranteeing that every chest logo is exactly 7-9 inches down from the shoulder seam.

Symptom: "The outline doesn't line up with the fill (Registration Error)."

• Likely Cause: The fabric shifted inside the hoop during stitching.
• Quick Fix: Tighten the hoop screw (use a screwdriver, not just fingers). Ensure you are using the correct backing (Cut-Away for knits).
• Tool Fix: Wrapped fabric creates "flagging" (bouncing). A magnetic hoop reduces this by holding the fabric firmly across the entire perimeter, not just at the screw point.

Symptom: "My thread keeps breaking."

• Likely Cause: Old needle, burred needle, or incorrect threading path.
• Quick Fix: Change the needle first. It is the cheapest fix. Re-thread the machine with the presser foot up (to engage tension disks).
• Deep Fix: Check for adhesive buildup on the needle if using sprays. Clean with alcohol.

Results

By following Reva’s advice and adding these operational safeguards, you are building a system, not just a craft corner.

Your Graduation Metrics:

1. Legal: A registered business name with a distinct bank account.
2. Supply: A connection to wholesale blanks (saving ~50% on costs).
3. Process: A standard operating procedure where you know exactly which stabilizer pairs with which fabric.
4. Growth: A plan to upgrade tools (from software to magnetic hoops to multi-needle machines) when revenue justifies the speed.

Embroidery is a tactile business. Success comes to those who respect the physics of the fabric and the economics of the workflow. Start small, standardize early, and stitch with confidence.