Lender access and help turning your quote into a finance case
Whether you are adding capacity for workwear orders or moving into larger production runs, the finance needs to fit the purchase and your business. Sorbus can identify relevant lenders from our extensive panel of 150+ lenders and help explain the available structures. The wider panel covers different finance needs; not every lender will fund every machine, configuration or supporting item.
Our role is to help connect the supplier quote with the business case. We can discuss machine capacity, installation, software and training as separate parts of the requirement, then explain what a relevant lender may need. You do not need a complete lender-ready file before speaking to us: start with what you have, and we can help clarify the next steps.
Multi-needle and multi-head are different purchases
These terms get used loosely, but they answer different production questions. Needles per head decide how many thread colours a design can run without re-threading. Heads decide how many identical garments are stitched at the same time. A single-head ten-needle machine and a six-head fifteen-needle machine are not substitutes for each other; they suit different order books.
Brother, for example, describes its business range as ten, six or one needle machines with a wide range of frames, and notes that output can be expanded by connecting multiple machines. That is a third route: several single-head machines instead of one multi-head frame. Each route has a different floor footprint, operator requirement and resilience if one unit is down.
- More needles per head
- More colours per design without re-threading. Helps varied, colourful one-off and short-run work.
- More heads
- Same design stitched on several garments at once. Pays off when orders are repeated in batches.
- Several single-head machines
- Can run different jobs in parallel and keeps you working if one machine needs a service visit.
Batch economics: fill the heads before you buy them
The case for a multi-head machine depends on having batches that use its capacity. If most orders are a handful of personalised items with different names, some heads may remain unused. Look at your recent orders by quantity per design, not just total garments, and compare the configuration with that workload.
Prepare an affordability explanation for the business, not just a projected order. Contracts with clubs, schools or workwear buyers help explain why you need the capacity, but cancellation terms, seasonality and payment timing still matter. Show how repayments would be met in a quiet month; do not treat forecasts as guaranteed receipts.
- Average and typical garments per design over recent months
- How many orders need more colours than your current machine has needles
- Hours lost to re-threading, re-hooping and outsourcing
- Who will operate the extra capacity, and on which shifts
Hoops, digitising software and support sit on the same quote
Frames and hoops govern which products you can actually decorate: caps, left-chest logos, jacket backs, bags. Software ranges from name and lettering tools for personalisation to full digitising packages; Brother lists separate products for personalisation, design creation and digitising. Training and an engineer network are part of what a dealer sells.
Ask the supplier to itemise these lines separately. Some funders treat software licences, training and service plans differently from the machine itself, and some may not include them in the amount financed. Your broker can ask the lender how each line is treated, but no particular treatment should be assumed before that answer comes back.
DTF, DTG, heat presses and sewing are different processes
Epson distinguishes direct-to-garment (DTG) printing onto a garment from direct-to-film (DTF) printing onto a film that is transferred using a heat press. Pre-treatment, curing, consumables and fabric compatibility depend on the system. Confirm the proposed workflow with the supplier rather than assuming any printer or transfer suits every fabric. Neither process is embroidery.
If your plan combines an embroidery machine with a printer, heat press or industrial sewing machines, list each item with its own supplier quote. That lets the broker present a coherent project rather than a single blended figure, and makes it clear which parts each lender is being asked to consider. This guide does not cover printing equipment in detail.
Buying used or trading in
Second-hand embroidery machines change hands through dealers and privately. Before you agree a price, get the stitch count or usage record if the machine keeps one, the service history, confirmation of which frames and software licences transfer with it, and evidence the seller owns it outright. Whether any lender on our panel will fund a particular used machine, and on what basis, is something we check with them; it is not assumed.
Brother notes that its dealers may offer trade-ins when upgrading. If you are trading in, the quote should show the trade-in value and any outstanding finance on the old machine separately.
Hire purchase or lease: what changes for this kind of kit
With hire purchase, the business hires the embroidery machine from the funder and title only passes once every contractual payment, and any option-to-purchase fee, has been paid. Until then the funder owns it.
A finance lease is a rental agreement. Ownership does not transfer automatically at the end; what happens next, including any secondary rental, return or sale arrangements, depends on the specific agreement. Ask the broker to explain the end-of-term clause before you commit.
Which structure suits you depends on how long you expect to use the equipment, how quickly the technology moves on, and how your accountant wants it treated. We do not give accounting, VAT or tax advice; ask your accountant before relying on any treatment.
What happens after you enquire
- 1
Enquiry
You tell us about the equipment and the business. This is not an application and no lender sees it.
- 2
Discussion and evidence review
A broker talks it through with you and reviews the quote, accounts and any used-equipment evidence.
- 3
Lender proposal, only if suitable
If it looks suitable, and with your agreement, we approach lenders from our selected panel (not the whole market). Any decision is the lender’s, subject to status, affordability and its criteria.
Sorbus Finance is a broker, not a lender. We do not quote rates, deposits or terms on this page, and an enquiry is not approval.