What to Focus on in Your Customisation Business in 2026

January has a habit of filling up quickly in all businesses and before you know it the month has gone and Valentine’s is just around the corner!

I’ve put together some practical ideas and observations from working closely with our customers which I hope will benefit you and your business for 2026. Grab a coffee and read on…

1. Choose One Thing to Focus on in Your Customisation Business

Most of us don’t struggle because we lack ideas, we struggle because we can’t focus and do too many things at the same time – sound familiar?

It’s common to see Embroidery, DTG and DTF all running side by side, each with different workflows, margins, and pressures, while the business tries to optimise everything simultaneously.

One customer of ours decided to focus on just one thing for three months which was reducing reprints in their DTF production.

They looked at:

• Standardised film and powder
• Locked in heat press settings
• Tightened file checks and colour profiling.

They didn’t add new services or chase new customers, but margins quietly improved and they found space in production for extra orders.

Choose ONE Priority, Focus, Achieve it and Move onto the next.

2. Busy doesn’t Always mean Profitable in Garment Decoration

A full order book can feel reassuring, but it doesn’t always tell the full story.

We regularly see embroidery businesses running flat out on small, highly customised logo runs, or DTG shops taking on large volumes of one-off prints, only to discover those jobs are the least profitable once labour, setup time, and interruptions are accounted for and actually the profit is lower than expected.

Review the orders you are processing for just 2 weeks and notice which ones are leaving the business stronger. That means easy to process, good margin, happy customer, stress-free team.

Simply DO MORE OF THESE and less of the others.

3. Look back at what Actually worked for Your Business in 2025.

When businesses look back over a year, it’s easy to over-credit activity.

New machines – New consumables – New software?

Maybe, but real progress often comes from the little things.

For some embroidery businesses, it was standardising thread and backing combinations for common logo types. For DTG and DTF operations, it was locking down default RIP profiles and print settings for their most common garments.

If something genuinely worked last year, find it, protect it, and REPEAT IT.

4. Identify what’s quietly adding Complexity to your Production Workflow

Not all problems announce themselves loudly. Some just slow production down a little, day by day. Examples of this in our industry are:

• Running multiple DTF films and powders with different settings
• Offering endless embroidery size and placement variations
• Quoting repeat jobs new every time rather than have a pricing structure.
• Making turnaround “exceptions” that become the norm.

None of this feels serious in isolation. Together, it can create friction across the entire production workflow.

Removing unnecessary complexity can have More Impact than adding a new service.

5. Decision Fatigue!! It’s Real.

Decoration businesses are full of small decisions.

• White T shirt – DTG or DTF?
• What brand to recommend?
• How to quote when the customer asks for something slightly different?
• Which red thread shall I use?

Over time, re-making the same decisions drains your energy and attention.

If the same questions keep landing back on your desk, it’s usually a sign the decision hasn’t been properly locked down yet.

Spending an hour to agree parameters, such as standard pricing for repeat embroidery, default DTF settings, or defined DTG lead times.

That Hour will Save You Many over the Rest of the Year.

6. Standardise where Customers don’t Care

What is the more common question you get from a customer?

“I need 10 t-shirts for delivery tomorrow – can you do it”
Or
“I’m looking for 10 t-shirts – how many varieties do you have?”

Customers value delivery and consistency far more than endless choice.

We often see garment decoration businesses offering multiple garment options, endless thread colours or asking the customer to choose their production method. Honestly, they don’t mind, you are the expert and too much variety can either give you production headaches or a lost sale as they get confused.

Standardising things like:

• Approved garment ranges for DTG or DTF
• Default decoration methods for certain job types.
• Embroidery thread and backing combinations.

often leads to fewer errors, smoother production, and faster training — without customers noticing any loss of quality.

You are the Expert – Influence Your Customer’s Decision – don’t let them lead You!

7. Reduce Reliance on One Person in Your Decoration Business

Many growing customisation businesses quietly become dependent on one key person, often the owner or head of production.

• They know the embroidery settings.
• They approve the tricky DTG jobs.
• They fix DTF issues when prints don’t come out right.

But when there is sickness or holiday everything falls down.

Little fixes like documenting standard setups, agreeing defaults, or sharing responsibility for routine decisions can reduce pressure and make the business more resilient.

Spread Responsibility will lead to More Efficiency in a Business

8. Find time to Review the Market and see what’s New

When machines are running flat out, improvement is usually the first thing to be postponed.

Many businesses say, “We’ll look at that when things quieten down.” In reality, they rarely do.

FIND THE TIME!

This industry is always changing, new technology, systems, software, and consumables.

You owe it to your business and its future to keep your eye on what’s developing.

Imagine if a new machine costing £12,000 that could be financed and cost you only £70 per week, could bring you in £2000 per month in turnover?

Or by changing consumables you could save money and at the same time speed up your production?

Finding the time to do this is also actually more fun than running your embroidery machine!

Printwear Live is an ideal opportunity to review the whole industry – CLICK TO REGISTER NOW!

All of these points come back to the same idea:

FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS

I believe if just a couple of these points spur you into some changes in 2026 you will be pleased with yourselves, you will see some real improvement in your business, whether it time, profit, or team satisfaction.

Thanks for reading and I truly hope this has helped in some way. if anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me at:

charlotte.darling@amayauk.com