Automotive · decorated in-house
Automotive Workwear Auckland, Garages and Dealerships
Most workshops end up running two uniforms without meaning to — whatever the floor is wearing this year, and whatever the front counter was given last year. Same business, two looks, and the logo is usually the only thing they have in common. We put one logo on both, in the right method for each garment, and keep your setup on record so the next hire matches.
Decorated in Glenfield, couriered to the workshop — Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm.
Before you ask
- What we are
- A decorating workshop — we brand the gear. We are not a PPE supplier
- Who we deal with
- Workshops, panel shops, detailers, tyre and parts shops, dealerships — one van or forty staff
- Minimum order
- None. One coverall is a real order, and larger runs price better per unit
- Reorders
- Your setup, placement and thread codes kept on record — a reorder of the same gear skips setup
What we supply
The gear an automotive business actually orders
Blank garments from New Zealand wholesalers, decorated here and couriered to you. Whether you came looking for mechanic uniforms that Auckland workshops reorder in ones and twos, or car detailer uniforms that Auckland operators wash off at the end of a shift, it is the same list and the same process. If the garment you want is not here, ask — the list is not the limit.
Two methods, and which one you get depends on the garment rather than on what we would rather run:
Why automotive is different
What a workshop does to a uniform
None of this is about how hard your team works. It is about what the job puts on the fabric and how often the gear gets replaced — and both are worse here than in almost any sector we decorate for.
You are running two uniforms, not one
The floor needs something that can be destroyed without anybody minding. The service desk needs something that looks clean at four in the afternoon. Most places buy those separately, years apart, and end up with two versions of the logo at two sizes. The same logo, sized and placed to suit each garment, is what makes them read as one business.
Contamination, not wear
Oil, grease, brake dust, degreaser and the odd spark. A workshop garment is usually retired because of what is on it rather than because it wore through, and the wash that shifts any of that is hotter and harsher than a hospitality wash. Stitching survives it; a large pressed panel on a garment that gets scrubbed is the first thing to go.
The floor churns in ones and twos
An apprentice in February and another in August is the normal pattern, and it is the worst case for consistency, because each order is small enough to be worth nobody re-checking. Your setup does not move between them: same size, same position, same thread, whether it is one coverall or fifteen.
Certified garments have rules about where a logo goes
A hi-vis garment follows AS/NZS 4602.1:2011, which sets how much retroreflective banding it carries and where that banding sits. We place a logo clear of it rather than across it, and we confirm the position with you in writing before anything is decorated. What we will not do is tell you what decorating does to the garment’s status — see below, and ask us early rather than late.
Two ways to start
One logo, the floor and the front counter
Send through what your team wears now and roughly how many. You will get a price per garment with the branding in it, usually the same business day.
Or call 021 082 12843 — Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm.
What happens next
- 1. You send rough numbers and what the team does.
- 2. We come back with garment options and a price per garment, decoration included, usually the same business day.
- 3. Once you go ahead, we confirm logo size and placement in writing before anything is decorated.
How it works
Three steps to a branded workshop
Nothing goes into production until somebody has approved the placement in writing.
Step 1
Tell us what the team wears
Garments, rough numbers and a size spread if you have one. A photo of what you are wearing now is usually faster than a description, and it tells us where the old logo sat.
Step 2
You get a price per garment
Garment options with the decoration included in the price, per size run. If a cheaper blank would do the same job we will say so, and if a garment is wrong for a workshop we will say that too.
Step 3
We confirm placement, then decorate
Logo size and position confirmed in writing — including where it sits relative to any banding on a hi-vis garment — and only then does anything get stitched or pressed. Your setup is kept for the next order.
Embroidery pricing is an estimate until the artwork is digitised, because the stitch count sets the price and nobody knows it exactly beforehand. There is a one-off setup if we have not already set your logo up at that size. One setup covers your garments at the same logo size, so coveralls and polos share it; a business shirt's lighter fabric usually needs its own, caps stitch differently and need their own, and a much larger logo on the back of a jacket does too, because it is not just the same stitching enlarged. A reorder of the same gear never pays it again.
Managed supply
Reordering when one apprentice starts
The order that goes wrong is never the first one. It is the single coverall eight months later, ordered by somebody who was not there when the first lot were done.
Your logo, kept on record
Your logo is set up once. Every run after that is the same setup at the same size in the same place, so the tenth coverall matches the first without anybody comparing them.
Thread and garment codes on record
The exact thread colours and the blank we used, kept with the setup. That is what stops a reorder coming back in a slightly different navy eight months later.
One or fifty, same process
A single garment for a new starter runs the same way as the original order and goes out by courier. Small orders carry a handling charge, shown on the quote, because the setup work is the same either way.
What we are not: we do not sell PPE. Safety boots, gloves, eye protection, respirators and the certified garments themselves are somebody else’s trade, and we neither supply nor decorate the hard goods. We will not tell you what your site, your insurer or your franchise requires, and we will not tell you what decorating does to a certified garment’s status — we are a decorator, not a certifier, and we have not seen a test result either way. There is no online ordering portal and no login; a reorder is an email or a phone call, which is faster for the size of order most workshops place. And there is nowhere to visit — the workshop takes no walk-ins and everything leaves by courier, Auckland included.
Questions
What workshops ask before they order
If yours is not here, ask when you request a quote and you will get a straight answer.
Will putting our logo on a certified garment affect its rating?
We cannot tell you that, and we would rather say so than guess. We are a decorator, not a certifier, and we have not seen a test result either way. It matters most on flame-resistant gear — if your panel or exhaust work means somebody is welding in a certified garment, a pressed transfer and the thread in an embroidered logo are both worth asking about, because they may behave differently in exactly the event the garment is certified for. Get it in writing from whoever supplies the garment, before you order rather than after, because the answer may decide which garment you buy. Tell us what it says and we will work to it.
Will the logo survive degreaser and a hot wash?
Embroidery will. It is thread through the fabric, so there is nothing to lift, and it is what we put on coveralls, business shirts and jackets for that reason. A pressed transfer is more exposed on a garment that gets scrubbed, especially a large panel on a back or a chest — it is the right answer for full-colour artwork on a lightweight tee or a vest, and the wrong one for the garment somebody wears under a car. If the gear is going through a commercial launderer rather than a domestic machine, say so when you ask, because it changes what we would recommend.
Should our logo be embroidered or printed?
For most automotive gear, embroidered. Coveralls, business shirts, polos and jackets all take stitching well and it outlasts the garment. Printing earns its place when the artwork is full-colour or detailed enough that thread would lose it, or when the garment is too light to stitch without puckering — a performance tee or a hi-vis vest. We stitch in-house on our own machines and we press in-house on our own heat press; the transfers themselves are printed by a trusted partner, which is the one step that is not ours. Caps are the exception and it is a machine limit rather than a preference: pressing a curved, seamed crown needs a cap press and we do not have one yet, so caps are embroidered.
Can you make the workshop and the front counter match?
That is most of what we do here. The trick is not putting the identical logo on everything — a chest logo sized for a coverall looks oversized on a fitted business shirt, and a back logo sized for a jacket will not fit a polo. We set a size and a position per garment, reuse one stitch file wherever garments share a size and fabric, and where a garment needs its own file we will tell you why before you pay for it.
How long does an order take?
Roughly 5 to 21 working days from the moment you approve the artwork. A straightforward reorder of gear we already hold a file for sits at the short end; a first order with a new logo, a garment we have to bring in, or a mix of stitched and pressed work sits nearer the long end. If you have a date — a new branch opening, a franchise audit, a fleet launch — tell us at the quote stage and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable rather than finding out later.
Is there a minimum order?
No. One coverall for one new apprentice is a real order and we will do it. Very small orders carry a handling charge, which is shown on the quote, because the setup work is the same for one garment as it is for fifty. Larger runs price better per unit, and a reorder of gear we already hold the file for skips the setup entirely.
Can we supply our own garments?
Yes. Plenty of workshops are already buying coveralls or hi-vis through a supplier they are happy with and only need the branding done, and that is fine — send them to us and we will decorate them. Two things worth knowing: we will want to test-stitch or test-press one before we run the batch, and if a garment is coated, laminated or certified we will ask you to check with its supplier first, for the reason in the first question above.
Can we drop gear off or pick it up?
No — there is no shop to visit and we do not take walk-ins. The workshop is not set up for visitors. Everything comes and goes by courier, Auckland included, and customer-supplied garments are couriered in the same way. It keeps the turnaround predictable, because nothing is waiting on somebody being free to meet you.
Send us the logo and the headcount
Usually same-business-day replies, Mon–Fri. One coverall is a real order.