A: Designed by our staff and manufactured exclusively for our company, these belts feature 10 lines of precise stitching, over a laminated cotton/felt core, covered with the highest quality 100% cotton or satin cover. They are designed for professional use and, in our hands, they embroider beautifully.

A: Mejin custom embroidery is created and sewn “in house” using the highest quality Japanese industrial embroidery machines and proprietary software. We only embroider karate uniforms and belts, and have spent many years perfecting the process.

A: Other suppliers charge as much as $30 to embroider your name on the lower lapel of the jacket, and $50 for your style on the chest, adding $80 to the cost of your new uniform. When you order a new Meijin uniform, we will embroider the first line of embroidery FREE, and the second for an average of $15, SAVING YOU as much as $65 PER UNIFORM!

A: We translate non-Japanese names into Japanese using the most common pronunciation, and the Japanese katakana phonetic alphabet. If in doubt, please call us so we can hear the correct pronunciation over the phone and translate it precisely.Translation is FREE for customers ordering Meijin uniforms. The Japanese perceive English a little differently from native speakers so the name Smith, for example, is correctly rendered in Japanese as Sumisu (スミス). Different translators may use different combinations of katakana characters to produce the same sound, and both can be correct. However, to accurately translate a name into Japanese, the translator needs to be fluent in both languages, and ours are.
We need to see any kangi characters before we can start work. For example KO (古) means ancient, whereas KO (故) means past. The meanings are similar, they sound exactly the same when spoken, but they are different! If you e-mail your characters to us, we will make sure they are embroidered correctly for your order.

We guarantee all translations; we promise we will not embarrass  you with a poor translation!

We developed a method of digitizing Japanese characters, stroke by stroke, just as they are written by Oriental calligraphers, and used it to produce “Gyosho,” and “Kaisho” fonts. Digitized by hand, generated by proprietary software, and sewn with digital accuracy, these fonts retain the beauty and elegance of the hand-written originals.

It’s easy, just use our shopping cart in the normal way to let us know what you need. Attach your design, if you have one, or just order your name and/or standard embroidery design and tell us where on your uniform to sew it, and in what color. Please make absolutely sure that you include your telephone number and e-mail address.

We will e-mail you an invoice/specification of exactly how we plan to fulfill your order so that you can make sure we have everything right. After you have checked it very carefully, e-mail it back if everything is correct and tell us to go ahead.

Call us immediately so that we can fix it. Speak to one of our embroiderers directly to avoid misunderstandings. When we are all agreed on what you need, we will send a new specification for you to sign off on before work starts.

The simple answer is it looks much better, and it makes the belt stronger. In the “old days” custom embroidery was done with a Singer “swing-needle” sewing machine. The operator sewed the design freehand, varying the width of the stitch by adjusting the “swing” of the needle. This was achieved by a knee control as he needed both hands to guide the cloth through the sewing machine to form the characters. The results were often less than satisfactory as the base colour was often visible through then loose stitches, and the characters varied in size. The embroidered piece of cloth was then sewn into a belt with the lines of stitches sewn directly over the embroidered design, defacing it.
We start by sewing a base before the main (top) design to stabilize the belt and prevent the colour showing through the stitching. The design looks clean as it does not have lines of stitching sewn over it, and the belts actually become more robust. Modern, multi-needle, computer-controlled Japanese industrial embroidery machines cost as much as a family sedan and easily sew through a finished belt with complete and consistent accuracy.

A: Strangely enough we are still asked this question, and the answer is obviously, NO! This is why we will work with you to get everything right the first time as it is highly unlikely that we can find a person with the same name and the same size as you who needs a custom uniform and/or belt. 

Most certainly. We have found that our embroidery lasts as long as, or longer than, the uniform it is sewn on to. We use German Madera brand thread and Gutenburg needles which not only last a long time, but in combination, create the cleanest looking and most detailed designs with the most attractive colors. To guarantee that your embroidery lasts a long time, when you iron your uniform, place a cloth between the soleplate of the iron and the design. 

We are sorry but we do not embroider other company’s products because past experience has shown us that many are not  tough enough to withstand the professional embroidery process.

A:The vast majority of custom embroidery orders are shipped within 72 hours of receipt

A: This is a good question as sizes vary tremendously from manufacturer to manufacturer. While we make every effort to standardize belt lengths, as they are hand made they can vary slightly. If you need a belt of a precise length, ask us when you order and we will do our best to meet your requirements, This is especially true with satin “silk” belts.

The standard way of embroidering a belt is to put your name on one side and your style or dojo name on the other We usually embroider the shorter embroidery design on the (manufacturer’s) label side, and the longer design on the other so that look balanced when the belt is being worn. Some customers like us to remove the manufacturer’s label ($2 charge) if they have two lines of embroidery they wish to balance exactly. In this case we need to know how much space to leave between the ends of the belt and the bottom (lower extent) of the embroidery designs.

If you have any concerns whatsoever, please call us. You will speak to the person who will actually embroider your belt, and they will answer all your questions. We are open from 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM Mon – Sat PST.