Hi-Vis Customisation: Best Practice for Industry Compliance

Hi-vis workwear has a vital job to do, but it can look impersonal when everyone’s wearing the same. Customising the garments has many benefits, but is custom hi-vis clothing still industry-compliant?

In this article, we’ll explain how hi-vis customisation works and how to do it correctly

The benefits of hi-vis customisation

When you design your own hi-vis shirts or jackets, you can add a distinctive touch rather than wearing impersonal non-branded workwear. It means you can display your company logo on every employee’s clothing, which helps to promote your business and keep the brand in customers’ minds.

Highlighting names and job titles ensures that everyone is aware of who’s who and what they do on-site, which is important for accountability. Branded hi-vis workwear also creates a sense of belonging for your staff, which can inspire effective teamwork and good conduct when representing the company.

How Start Safety UK can customise your hi-vis

At Start Safety, we can customise hi-vis workwear by embroidering or printing your logo on certain items of clothing.

Print

The direct-to-film (DTF) print method involves printing a design on specialised film and heat-pressing it onto the fabric. We can reproduce your logo in full colour or reflective silver.

Hi-vis printing can accommodate a wide range of colours and gradients for a vibrant finish. It doesn’t involve puncturing the garment, so it won’t compromise features like waterproofing.

Please note: DTF printing is not always suitable for fire-retardant or arc flash clothing, as the print can be conductive. However, some of our suppliers can do specialist printing in-house - contact us for details.

Embroidery

Embroidery allows us to create either your full-colour logo or a classic monogram (name, job title, or initials). This option offers maximum durability, and is ideal for heavier items as the stitching obviously punctures the garment. You can choose flame-resistant thread for your flameproof or arc flash-resistant garments.

There is a nominal setup fee for embroidery, but not for printing.

For both methods, the whole process takes around 7-10 days from when we receive your artwork (in addition to any existing lead time on your chosen clothing).

What types of hi-vis customisation are available

Many of the hi-vis clothes we sell are suitable for customisation, including:

This means you can offer a wide array of branded workwear options to your staff members, enabling them to wear the styles they prefer.

We can add logos and monograms to the following areas of the garment*:

Right sleeve / Left sleeve
Right chest / Left chest
Front centre / Back centre
Nape of neck
Trouser / shorts pockets**

*The positioning depends on the size of your logo - not all positions are available for all logo sizes.

** If you would like branding added to trousers or shorts, please give us a call to arrange this.

Did you know: We can also put your company logo on hard hats!

A correctly customised hi-vis garment vs an incorrectly customised hi-vis garment: What to look out for

It’s all too easy to get customisation wrong, so there are a few things to bear in mind before enhancing your hi-vis with logos or monograms.

Firstly, incorrect customisation can affect the workwear’s compliance with EN ISO 20471, the safety standard for hi-vis clothing. There are three classifications under EN 20471, each requiring a minimum surface area of fluorescent and reflective material on any hi-vis garment.

Logos aren’t allowed to cover or overlap any of the reflective tapes on the garment. You can place them on the fluorescent material, but you’ll be reducing its visible surface area.

Depending on the logo’s size, this may mean that the garment no longer meets the requirements for its certified class. For example, a Class 2 jacket could drop to Class 1, and a Class 1 jacket could drop out of compliance entirely.

To remain compliant, it’s essential that the logo doesn’t reduce the visible material by any more than 10%. There are a couple of ways around this:

1. Keep your logo as compact as possible

2. If your hi-vis garment has panels or sections in a contrasting colour (often black, grey, or dark blue), consider placing the logo there instead of on fluorescent areas.

Apart from the compliance factor, you should also make sure that the logo’s size and resolution doesn’t compromise the print quality.

To recap, here’s how to tell the difference between a hi-vis item that’s been customised properly and one that hasn’t.

On an incorrectly customised garment, the logo might:

Cover the reflective tape
Take up too much space on fluorescent areas
Appear fuzzy or pixelated (print)
Pull or stretch the material (embroidery)

On a correctly customised hi-vis garment:

Reflective tape remains visible
Percentage of fluorescent material meets requirements
Logo is clear and readable
Logo lies flat on the garment.

Top tips to successfully customise hi-vis clothing

Follow these handy hints to get the best results from your custom-made hi-vis clothing:

Ask team members what they would like to see on the hi-vis clothing. If everyone in a company or on a site is going to wear it, it’s important to get as many people’s approval as possible.
Consider how the colours in the logo will look against the colour of the hi-vis garment. For example, an orange logo won’t stand out against orange hi-vis, so choose a contrasting colour combination.

Different branding methods suit different industries and roles. For example, embroidery can be more suitable if your hi-vis gets very dirty, as it will withstand frequent washes.
Select a high-quality version of your logo to get the best results. A poor-quality image will not reproduce well on the garment.
Have the customisation done by a reputable company who will help you through the process and advise on logo sizes and types.
Order one customised item first as a test, so you can check that it’s correct before buying a large batch.

Get ready to customise your hi-vis clothing

Customising your hi-vis clothing helps you to promote your brand and develop a sense of belonging among team members. But you need to follow best practice to ensure your workwear still meets the required safety standards.

Start Safety can help you do just that. With our high-quality printing and embroidery service, it’s easy to create compliant personalised hi-vis jackets, shirts, and other workwear with your own branding.

If you still have questions, contact our friendly team who will be happy to talk you through the customisation process.