Embroidered or woven patch: which one suits your logo?
An embroidered patch gives relief and the sheen of thread, the look of a club badge. A woven patch stays flat and keeps small lettering and fine details sharp, like a brand label. A badge-style design without small text: embroidered. Fine lettering or a precise design: woven.
What to know before you choose:
- The finish: on the tknp.io technique pages, an embroidered patch brings the relief and sheen of thread; a woven patch offers a flat, even surface with no relief.
- The logo: small lettering and fine details stay legible on a woven patch, while they get lost in the thread of an embroidered patch. For a photo or a gradient, the sublimated patch is the one to aim for.
- Attaching it: embroidered or woven, a custom patch is sewn or heat-applied onto the garment, and sits where direct embroidery cannot go.
- Ordering: at tknp.io, a patch is priced on quotation, based on how many you need, their size and the colours of the logo, and the answer arrives within one working day.
A club's crest on the volunteers' jackets, a company logo on the building crew's cap, a sailing school's badge at the top of the instructors' sleeves: a custom patch gives merch a club look, an object in its own right sewn onto the garment. Then you have to choose between embroidered and woven, two methods that do not render the same logo in the same way. This guide draws on our technique pages and our inspirations, read on 27 October 2026, to help you decide according to your logo, your garment and your quantity.
What is the difference between an embroidered patch and a woven patch?
An embroidered patch and a woven patch differ first in how they are made: the first is embroidered with thread on a separate fabric backing, the second is woven thread by thread on a loom, its colours forming the weave itself. In both cases, the patch is made separately, then sewn or heat-applied onto the garment.
The French word for it, écusson, is defined by the Office québécois de la langue française as fabric sewn onto a garment and carrying distinctive signs, such as a logo, a coat of arms or the name of a sports team; its English equivalent is patch (the "écusson" entry of the Grand dictionnaire terminologique).
The edge finish follows the method. On an embroidered patch, the outline is overlocked with a merrow stitch that seals and protects the edges. A woven patch is cut to shape, then given a merrow border or a heat-cut edge. A custom products company quoted by the trade outlet FashionUnited sums up the gap in one sentence: weaving excels in detail, while embroidery adds a dimension you can feel (FashionUnited's article).
Relief or detail: what does each patch look like?
An embroidered patch is recognisable by its relief and the sheen of its thread: it is the finish of the classic club badge. A woven patch stays flat, with no relief at all and an even surface; our technique page compares its finish to that of a label.
That finish sets the style of the garment. Embroidered, the patch speaks of clubs and heritage, as on the trucker cap imagined for a roofing company. Woven, it comes close to the label of a clothing brand: on the quarter-zip sweatshirt of our tone-on-tone inspiration, a small woven patch, barely lighter than the fabric, is something you "discover up close". That play on close shades, which makes a logo discreet, is explained in our article on tone-on-tone embroidery.
Which logo suits an embroidered patch, and which suits a woven patch?
The logo often decides on its own: a badge-style design without small lettering suits an embroidered patch; a logo made of fine letters, small text or precise details suits a woven patch. Our technique pages say it plainly: on an embroidered patch, fine details and small text get lost in the thread, whereas a woven patch renders "the detail and small text embroidery cannot render".
| Your logo | The patch that suits it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A badge-style design, a few colours, no small text | embroidered | relief and sheen of thread; three colours on our trucker cap inspiration |
| Fine letters, small text, a precise design | woven | fine detail and legible small text, flat surface |
| A gradient or a photo | sublimated | woven patches do no gradients, their colours are threads; a sublimated patch prints photos and gradients on a flat badge |
| A logo you want thick and soft, varsity style | chenille | the soft relief of chenille embroidery, as a sew-on badge |
On colours, our inspirations give some markers: the embroidered patch on the trucker cap carries three, and the woven patch on the sailing school polo keeps "three colours at most". The number of colours also counts in the price, along with quantity and size. A logo going onto a patch is prepared as for any decoration: our guide on the logo format to supply says which file to send.
Embroidered or woven patch: which one holds up better in the wash?
Neither comes out ahead: our technique pages rate the wash resistance of the embroidered patch and of the woven patch alike as "excellent". The woven patch also keeps its colours stable through washing.
On the polo of our sailing school inspiration, a woven patch sewn onto the sleeve, you also read that "a sewn patch holds up to salt and repeated washing". One question remains without a sourced answer: how a sewn patch holds up compared with a heat-applied one. Ask it with your quotation request.
Sewn or heat-applied: how is a patch fixed onto a garment?
An embroidered or woven patch goes on in two ways: sewn or heat-applied onto the garment. The five patch inspirations quoted in this guide, from the cap to the beanie, all show a sewn patch.
Made separately, a patch goes where direct embroidery cannot reach. The textbook case is the foam front of a trucker cap, which our guide to cap styles explains in detail. The trade-off shows at the edge: overlocked or heat-cut, it remains noticeable, and the patch reads as an added element, whereas embroidery on a garment is stitched straight into the fabric.
What size should an embroidered or woven patch be?
On our inspirations, a patch most often measures 5 to 7 cm, on the chest of a quarter-zip sweatshirt as on the front of the Flexfit Retro Trucker Cap; the one on a roofer's trucker cap goes up to 7 to 9 cm. On the sleeve, the sailing school polo places it below the shoulder seam, 6 to 7 cm high.
| Placement | Size on our inspirations | What they advise against |
|---|---|---|
| Left chest of a quarter-zip sweatshirt | woven patch of 5 to 7 cm | a large woven patch on a soft knit, which stiffens the garment |
| Top of a polo sleeve | woven patch 6 to 7 cm high, below the shoulder seam | a patch wider than 8 cm, which folds as the arm moves |
| Front panel of a trucker cap | patch of 5 to 7 cm, or embroidered patch of 7 to 9 cm, overlocked edge | a rectangular patch that is too wide, which does not follow the curve of the panel |
| Cuff of a beanie | woven label of 5 to 6 cm, centred | a label that is too big, which folds and puckers |
Bear in mind too that very large formats are expensive. To choose between the chest, the sleeve or the back, our pointers for placing a logo on a t-shirt work for a patch too.
Which garments can take an embroidered or woven patch?
Embroidered and woven patches go on the same garment families at tknp.io: sweatshirts and hoodies, shirts, jackets, caps and hats, bags, with 986 compatible references for each according to our technique pages. The embroidered patch is listed there for jackets, caps, workwear and bags, the woven patch for jackets, polo shirts, caps and bags.
Our inspirations give concrete examples:
- a chocolate trucker cap with a three-colour embroidered patch, for a roofing company's crew (trucker cap with an embroidered patch);
- a charcoal quarter-zip sweatshirt with a tone-on-tone woven patch on the chest;
- a navy polo shirt with a woven patch at the top of the sleeve, for a sailing school's instructors (polo shirt with a sleeve patch);
- a mustard beanie with a woven label sewn onto the cuff, sold as a souvenir at a mountain hut's front desk.
On the quarter-zip sweatshirt, our inspiration places the patch on the chest or on the sleeve.
How is an embroidered or woven patch priced?
At tknp.io, embroidered and woven patches are both priced on quotation, according to the quantity, the size and the number of colours in the logo: you describe the project, and the answer comes within one working day. To compare the two, ask for the same logo, at the same size and in the same quantity, embroidered and woven.
If you would rather order online without waiting for a quotation, direct embroidery can be ordered on the product pages that offer it, from 10 units per reference.
Trying the patch's position on a blank garment before the quotation
Before launching a run of patches, order the blank garment: at tknp.io, a garment without any marking can be bought as one single unit, and our FAQ sees it as a way to check the size, the fabric and the colour ahead of any run. The Flexfit Retro Trucker Cap, for example, can be ordered blank from its product page, in 17 colours, and offers patches on quotation.
Cap in hand, cut out a square of paper at the planned size, 6 cm for instance, and place it on the front: you see straight away whether your logo stays legible at that size and whether the patch follows the curve of the panel. You will then know whether you need an embroidered or a woven patch, and at what size to ask for it, when you describe your project in the quotation request from the custom patch page.
Frequently asked questions
Can a woven patch have relief?
No: a woven patch stays flat, with the finish of a label. For a raised logo, an embroidered patch brings the relief of thread, and our patch page also presents chenille, 3D PVC and 3D silicone patches.
Woven patch and woven label: are they the same thing?
Almost: it is the same method, fine threads woven flat. On our inspiration for a mountain hut's beanie, the 60 × 30 mm woven label sewn onto the cuff is made as a woven patch, flat like a brand label.
Can you move a patch from one garment to another?
Yes, it is one of its strengths: made separately, a patch can be moved and replaced from one garment to another. On our inspiration for a roofer's trucker cap, the same patch is then sewn back onto a sweatshirt or a bag.
Embroidered or woven patch: which one costs less?
There is no single rule at tknp.io: both are priced on quotation, and their price comes down to the number of patches, their format and the logo's colours. The simplest way is to ask for both versions of the same logo in the same request.
Your project, quoted within 24 hours.
Describe your garments, your decoration and your quantities: you receive a detailed quote, decoration included, within one business day.
