# Logo for workwear: the three-inch test

> Workwear is the smallest and most repeated version of your logo. It goes on a chest at three inches, a back at ten, and a cap at two. If the mark only works at the largest size, the uniform will carry a version you do not control.

Canonical: https://dosiefoxie.com/logo-for-workwear.html

A uniform is also a trust signal. The person at your door is wearing your mark while they do the job, and the logo is read in bad light, through a doorway, at an angle. There is no scrolling past it.

The practical problem is that embroidery, heat transfer and print each have different limits, and the same file is usually sent to all three. The mark needs a small-size version that is designed, not just scaled down.

## Two placements, two different jobs

| Placement | What it has to do |
| --- | --- |
| Left chest | Identify at conversation distance; icon alone is often enough |
| Back | Read across a room or a site; the full lockup belongs here |
| Cap | Work at two inches; simple, high-contrast shapes only |
| Sleeve | A badge, not a billboard; one colour and no fine type |

## The constraints

- Fabric moves. A stroke that is 1 mm on a screen can vanish after one wash on a knit.
- Thread and vinyl behave differently. Embroidery needs solid fills and wider strokes; heat transfer can hold finer detail but can peel at the edges.
- Dark garments flip the contrast. A logo designed on white often needs a reverse version, not the same colours on a dark background.
- Small type is the first casualty. Set the name at a size that survives the cap, then check the chest version.
- Colour matching across garments is approximate. The same thread on a navy fleece and a black polo will not look identical, and that is normal.

## Worked example: chest and cap

**The brief**

An electrician has a horizontal lockup: a bolt inside a circle, then the name, then '24 hour call-out' in small type.

On a chest at 3 inches the name is 4 mm high and the tagline is 1.5 mm. Neither stitches. The uniform version drops the tagline, stacks the bolt above the name, and sets the name at 9 mm. On the cap, the bolt alone is used at 2 inches.

The original horizontal lockup remains the website and van version. The point is not that one version is better; it is that the mark has a documented small-size behaviour instead of a digitiser inventing one.

## What our pack ships

The Production Pack includes the icon-only, stacked and wordmark-only lockups, a mono version and a reverse version. Those four cover the chest, the back and the cap without scaling a horizontal lockup into a space it was never designed for.

It does not include garment mockups or a thread chart. Your embroiderer supplies both, and the pack gives them clean geometry to work from.

## Questions

### Should the chest logo include the name?

If the name fits at 8–10 mm cap height, yes. If it does not, use the icon on the chest and put the full lockup on the back. Squeezing the name into a chest placement is how uniforms end up with an unreadable smudge.

### Can I use the same file for embroidery and print?

The same brand, different files. Embroidery needs wider strokes, solid fills and fewer colours. Print can hold finer detail. Start from a small-size master and add detail back for print, not the other way round.

### Do I need a reverse version?

If any garment is dark, yes. A reverse version is not the same file with the colours changed; contrast and stroke weight often need adjusting so the mark holds on fabric.