“If I purchase my patches directly from China myself, I will get them faster and cheaper, right?”

This is a common misconception. If you order from an embroidered patch supplier located in the United States, you will have the assurance of getting what you asked for with the guarantee that if there are factory defects or your order was produced incorrectly that it will be replaced.

When buying from a supplier located outside of the U.S., sometimes a telephone number is not even supplied, and when it is, it is a very expensive, long distance call, which usually needs to be made several times during the course of the patch order process. Not only that, but whether the person on the other end will be able to speak fluent English will be it will be “hit-and-miss” at best. This can lead to a multitude of misunderstandings regarding your order, and your patch design requests. Who has time to have their patches redone two and three times when they have an important event coming up, in which the patches will play a crucial part?

You can take some comfort in the fact that when you order embroidered patches from a US company, this company must abide by certain laws of the federal government, such as types of dyes and metals used in the production of embroidered patches and lapel pins. The U.S. Government regulates products that contain lead, asbestos and other harmful materials. There have been many reported cases of lapel pins that have been shipped from China, getting held up in US Customs because of their lead content.

You also have the assurance that your credit card company can back you up if there is a problem. In many non-US countries, government as well as most companies are not as conscious of security as we are in the U.S. about your credit card information.

If none of this bothers you because your only concern is the cheapest price possible, consider this: All fabric items that are imported into the U.S. have an 11% duty fee, which includes many items, such as apparel, labels and patches. Also, think of how much more shipping will cost when it is being shipped from the other side of the world versus the other side of the country-if that. Shipping as a whole is much less expensive for the professional fabric importer than it is for individuals by sometimes as much as 50%.

At Custom Patches®, we guarantee all our products to be free from defects and hazardous materials, and can assure you that when dealing with our company, you will always receive the best customer service available, from trained and dedicated Account Executives, with years of experience in the embroidery industry.