Bespoke Branded Footwell Mats Group Order

Hello all,

I thought I'd move the list to the very start of the thread for easier viewing.

Here's the list below which will be updated periodically to show you the I have captured your interest. I'll revise the list over the next few days to ensure its fit for purpose but this should suffice for now:

As you've come to understand from pervious dealings, this Group Order is of course yet another zero profit venture. I'll be paying exactly the same for my mats that you are for yours. My time working in the background for you is free of charge, a way of giving back to the community I both enjoy and serve.

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[ibesiano]

Still in

 

[ibesiano]

Morning all,

Another option for the font is Microsoft Sans Serif as suggested by Ian @Proghound over PM.

Here's the difference between them:

View attachment 91539

Not much but I'm getting closer to a final decision, leaning towards the MS Sans Serif as its slightly closer to the original font used. I'm sure either will do as I guess some of the crisp detail will be lost during the embroidery process.

Once I've decided which font to go for, I will then get Dan at Simply Car Mats to get a sample produced and sent to me. Pictures will be uploaded onto this thread for comment.

I'll only ask for payment once I'm (we're) happy with all aspects of this venture. The end is very close though and I look forward to having a set of these in my fleet.

Kind regards,

Tom

Hi Tom
I know more about graphic design and typography than cars... The font used for club logo is Univers Extended Bold.
You can get this here https://www.cufonfonts.com/font/univers-next-pro-extended
Audi used this until 2007 Then updated to Auditype
Pic attached
Steve

PS Any Badges etc that may need scaling up I would be happy to do for the club

 

[2work]

Hi Tom
I know more about graphic design and typography than cars... The font used for club logo is Univers Extended Bold.
You can get this here https://www.cufonfonts.com/font/univers-next-pro-extended
Audi used this until 2007 Then updated to Auditype
Pic attached
Steve

PS Any Badges etc that may need scaling up I would be happy to do for the club

Morning Steve,

Thank you so much for your input, extremely helpful indeed.

I may well be in touch for some assistance in the near future as the Club no longer has a vector format file of the logo. We only have the logo in either .jpg or .png which I have converted using Photoshop but just not as good as it could be in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing.

Would this be something you would be able to assist with over time?

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[2work]

Afternoon all,

Conscious I'm due to provide an update but the end of this week... Dan at Simply Car Mats is waiting for the embroidered logo swatch to arrive (in transit) so he can discuss any quality control issues with the embroidery team before its sent to myself.

I should have pictures of the logo to you in the next day or 2 followed by what to looks like on the set of suppliers mats I have here once its been sent to me. Quite excited now as I see the end of this venture is not too far off now.

Pictures to follow in the next few days.

Try not to eat too much chocolate over the weekend!

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[ibesiano]

Morning Steve,

Thank you so much for your input, extremely helpful indeed.

I may well be in touch for some assistance in the near future as the Club no longer has a vector format file of the logo. We only have the logo in either .jpg or .png which I have converted using Photoshop but just not as good as it could be in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing.

Would this be something you would be able to assist with over time?

Kind regards,

Tom

Sure no problem email me the biggest version you have

 

[ibesiano]

Hi Tom Here is the link https://we.tl/t-nxCBX45hep
Steve

 

[2work]

Hi Tom Here is the link https://we.tl/t-nxCBX45hep
Steve

Evening Steve,

Thank you so much for this. I’ve also received the .ai file via email, looks terrific. It will help out with future ventures along with assisting with this one should the next attempt at the embroidery not be up to standard. Such amazing community spirit demonstrated here, really appriciated.

Everyone else who is following this thread, I should have the embroidered logo swatch here in the next couple of days. Once it’s here I’ll get it placed onto the mats I have here to show you how awesome it looks.

I feel the conclusion of this venture very close now.

Edit: Just spoke with Dan at Simply Car Mats and he hasn’t yet received the embroidered logo swatch, probably due to the Bank Holiday weekend. Soon as it arrives it will be forwarded to me. He wanted it delivering to himself first to check the quality and ensure it isn’t distorted this time, obviously being easier for him to provide the necessary feedback to the embroidery team if he has it to hand.

Kind regards.

Tom

 

[2work]

Evening all,

After many weeks of discussions with Dan at Simply Car Mats regards the quality of the embroidered logo swatch and sending updated image filesI have finally got a sample here at 2work Towers.

Here is the first attempt that I added to this thread back in February:

The distortion doesn't do the Clubs logo any justice at all

Here is the revised embroidered logo Swatch:

It looks identical to the sample back in February to my eye unfortunately

This is an example of how the swatch will be stitched onto the mats:

Zoom in and you’ll see the stitching

To see how the swatch looks at distance, here it is placed on the set of Mats in that I recently purchased from Dan fitted in Project OEM:

It looks ok if not a little on the large side but does allow good detail of the logo. Any smaller and further quality may be lost

I'm not sure I'm happy with the distorted Club logo but this really is the best that the embroidery team can manage and blame the picture file to be at fault which simply cannot be the case. To be honest I'm at a crossroads with this venture right now and may need to start over with a fresh supplier for the embroidery which Simply Car Mats aren't happy to do as its part of their team. The quality of the mats along with the discount we've been offered is quite unbeatable but think I may have to source the embroidery myself and supply it to Simply Car Mats to stitch on for us.

Before I do anything drastic what's the general thoughts on the embroidery up close and at a distance whilst in the footwell? Is it acceptable or should I cut my losses and search for another supplier?

Honestly, so far I don't think its at the satisfactory quality I've managed to achieve with previous ventures but I really am my worst critic.

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[Proghound]

I have to say from that sort of distance it looks quite acceptable to my eyes. Yes if you look closely you can see the font is a bit different and the tension from it is pulling the swatch out of flat. But it looks like our logo with a recognisable A2 and the main lines are straight. Is that using the vector file from @ibesiano or didn't that happen yet?

 

[2work]

I have to say from that sort of distance it looks quite acceptable to my eyes. Yes if you look closely you can see the font is a bit different and the tension from it is pulling the swatch out of flat. But it looks like our logo with a recognisable A2 and the main lines are straight. Is that using the vector file from @ibesiano or didn't that happen yet?

Evening Ian,

The embroidery team haven’t used the new file from @ibesiano yet. So far they have used the .png file from the top left of our homepage as well as the same file that I converted to .ai using Photoshop.

Dan believes that changing the file yet again will bring an additional charge which I’m of course not willing to accept as they they are yet to produce a satisfactory sample with what’s been provided so far and believe the issue is the machines ability to embroider the detail of the logo.

I’ll continue to see what’s possible but if we want perfection I beleive it may be with a new embroidery team.

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[Darren C]

These are a great effort Tom, which from someone who is a self-proclaimed perfectionist, me, I hope offers some encouragement.

The two characters that could do with small tweaks are the red '2' and 'O' in owners to my eyes. If these could be better shaped, then I think we are there. If not, bearing in mind these are somewhere to place your feet, they are still more than presentable and I'd still have a set.

A couple of quick questions:

• Is the logo robustly embedded in the mat or is it just held in place top and bottom? If the latter, I'd be concerned that they might get snagged and rip.
• Are there any options for the highest quality mats by paying extra and without compromising the bulk order deal?

Thanks for all the leg work and effort on this to-date.

 

[Proghound]

There's a limit to the resolution that can be achieved in stitching, arising from where the holes are in the weave of the material. I guess it's only a matter of a hole or two either way from the current line to reshape the worst-offending letters as noted by Darren.

 

[2work]

These are a great effort Tom, which from someone who is a self-proclaimed perfectionist, me, I hope offers some encouragement.

The two characters that could do with small tweaks are the red '2' and 'O' in owners to my eyes. If these could be better shaped, then I think we are there. If not, bearing in mind these are somewhere to place your feet, they are still more than presentable and I'd still have a set.

A couple of quick questions:

• Is the logo robustly embedded in the mat or is it just held in place top and bottom? If the latter, I'd be concerned that they might get snagged and rip.
• Are there any options for the highest quality mats by paying extra and without compromising the bulk order deal?

Thanks for all the leg work and effort on this to-date.

Evening Darren,

The Club logo will be embroidered onto a rubberised non-fraying swatch. Here’s the top of the swatch as shown earlier:

Here is the swatch from underneath:

It is machine stitched onto the carpeted mats like as in the example picture added earlier:

Same image zoomed in to show the stitching:

The best Simply Car Mats can offer us is their Super Deluxe as it’s their thicket offering which can have a swatch machine stitched on. The ultra Deluxe which was the original plan are just too heavy a gauge/thickness to be machine stitched. Hope that makes sense.

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[2work]

There's a limit to the resolution that can be achieved in stitching, arising from where the holes are in the weave of the material. I guess it's only a matter of a hole or two either way from the current line to reshape the worst-offending letters as noted by Darren.

Hi Ian,

I agree completely and my thoughts have been transmitted back to Dan. So far though the latest sample looks to be exactly the same as the sample back in February.

I’m not confident that it’ll get any better as it’s the machines software that ‘deciphers’ the image to the embroidery programme. I’m obviously not an expert on such things but this is my extrapolation from what’s been explained to me.

Do you have any close up images of the old clothing merchandise we once had to see if there is any distortion from our previous embroidery supplier. This might help my case with Dan to outsource it to someone else if our embroidered logo has been successfully produced in the past.

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[Darren C]

Perfect sense Tom, thanks for the detail, I'm still in.

Evening Darren,

The best Simply Car Mats can offer us is their Super Deluxe as it’s their thicket offering which can have a swatch machine stitched on. The ultra Deluxe which was the original plan are just too heavy a gauge/thickness to be machine stitched. Hope that makes sense.

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[Darren C]

Forgive the dust ingrained status of my mats, just popped outside to take some pics, image for illustration Tom, @2work.

Up close...

And from a few distances...

 

[2work]

Forgive the dust ingrained status of my mats, just popped outside to take some pics, image for illustration Tom, @2work.

Up close...
View attachment 93540

And from a few distances...
View attachment 93542

View attachment 93541

Hi Darren,

Very jealous of those mats, it’s what sparked this whole venture.

I was after an image of the latest Club logo embroidery. I’m sure we had it on one of the clothing offerings we used to have in the shop, maybe the Polo Shirts?

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[Darren C]

Of course, my bad, I misread your post, sorry. That said, it does show that although the lettering is consistent on mine, it still isn't 100%.

Hi Darren,

Very jealous of those mats, it’s what sparked this whole venture.

I was after an image of the latest Club logo embroidery. I’m sure we had it on one of the clothing offerings we used to have in the shop, maybe the Polo Shirts?

Kind regards,

Tom

 

[Kleynie]

To my eyes it looks good enough to spend my cash on. It’s a case of overthinking it maybe? I would be very happy putting my feet on those mats.

I do agree that the 2 and O are distorted, but not enough to make much difference.

I’m still in.

Ian

 

[Erlingtheyounger]

To my eyes it looks good enough to spend my cash on. It’s a case of overthinking it maybe? I would be very happy putting my feet on those mats.

I do agree that the 2 and O are distorted, but not enough to make much difference.

I’m still in.

Ian

I second that. I’d be happy to proceed as is.