Placement, sizing, colour and artwork — the four things that decide whether branded kit looks sharp or homemade.
Left chest is the default and the safest choice: it reads as a badge and looks professional in any setting. Right chest is used when the left is taken by a name or an accreditation. A back logo, usually with a phone number, turns every job into a small billboard — worth it for trades who take passing work, unnecessary for anyone whose customers are all referred.
Sleeve logos suit garments with sleeves, obviously, but also suit secondary marks such as an accreditation badge. They never work on vests, gilets or tabards, which is worth checking before a quote includes them.
A chest logo should sit around 8–10cm wide. Below 6cm, fine detail and small text disappear into the fabric. Above 12cm, it stops looking like a badge and starts looking like a print. Back logos can run to roughly A3 on adult garments before they start crossing seams.
Vector files (AI, EPS, PDF, SVG) are ideal because they scale without loss. A large PNG usually works. What does not work is a small image lifted from a website: it has to be redrawn, which any competent supplier can do for you.
Ask your designer for three versions and keep them all: full colour, a single-colour version, and a reversed version for dark garments. That set covers almost every situation you will meet.
Take the garment colour from your brand palette, and let the logo carry the accent. Then apply practicality: navy and black hide marks and stay smart longest, while white and pale grey look sharp for about a fortnight in most trades. Thread cannot match a Pantone exactly, so expect the closest available shade rather than a perfect match.
Workwear sizing is not high street sizing. Garments are often cut generously for layering, so someone who wears a medium shirt may take a small polo. Always work from the to-fit chest measurement, and for any order above about fifteen people, run a size set round the team first. It costs a little time and saves a pile of unusable branded garments.
We will tell you honestly whether it will stitch well at chest size, and redraw it if it will not.