The Embroidery Barn has installed a Roland VersaSTUDIO BT-12 to help it move into producing personalised clothing.
The company, founded in 1998 in Dorchester, was bought by Rosie Lees in 2018. ‘My background is in windsurfing and sailing,’ explained Ms Lees. ‘I had no experience of embroidery or printing at all! But after hearing about the opportunity I couldn’t forget about the idea.
‘I joined the business for two months before the sale, then the previous owners stayed on for our busiest period over Christmas. In total it was a long handover period and it worked really well.’
What worked less well, however, was the company’s existing equipment. A major embroidery machine broke down at a crucial time and needed replacing. This kicked off a series of investments designed to refresh The Embroidery Barn for the future.
Ms Lees visited the Printwear & Promotion exhibition to look for more eco-conscious alternatives and discovered the Roland VersaSTUDIO BT-12, a compact desktop direct-to-garment printer. It can print directly to cotton T-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags and other products without plastic waste.
‘When I saw the Roland BT-12 at the show I knew it was perfect,’ Ms Lees finished. ‘DTG is a more sustainable option as there’s no plastic, and it was at a great price point. Our older printing machines can be complicated and clunky but with the BT-12 you just press a button and it off it goes. It’s a smooth, lovely process that was very easy to learn. I love it.’
While The Embroidery Barn was a change in direction for Ms Lees, she plans to launch a new clothing brand, intended to run as a separate entity to The Embroidery Barn, with fashion manufactured from ocean waste and featuring DTG-printed designs.
