TEX

What TEX does

TEX Inc. (The Embroidery eXperts, Inc.) is a family-owned embroidery services and products company founded in 1996 by Sal and Jeanine Lucchese and headquartered in Mesa, Arizona. The company serves professional embroiderers, small commercial embroidery shops, and apparel decorators, offering three core product lines: on-demand embroidery digitizing services, a patented garment-hooping hardware product called the All in 1 Hooper Pro, and subscription-based access to pre-digitized design libraries through the Embroidery Design Club (EDC) and Dollar Design Club.

TEX's digitizing services convert customer artwork into machine-readable stitch files, executed on Wilcom EmbroideryStudio and priced at $20-$125 per design. Vector artwork services are offered at $25-$75 per file, providing a complementary format-conversion revenue stream. The All in 1 Hooper Pro is a patented hooping system designed to address a recurring workflow bottleneck in commercial embroidery — garment stabilization during stitching — and is sold directly to operators at $776 and $975 price points. The two subscription clubs (EDC and Dollar Design Club) provide recurring access to TEX-curated design libraries, layering predictable subscription revenue on top of the transactional services and hardware business.

The company has served more than 20,000 customers over its 30+ year operating history and distributes entirely through its own website, supplemented by an educational blog and workflow tools such as Stitch Estimator Pro. TEX has operated continuously without external funding, retaining a family-owned capital structure. Its customer base is highly fragmented across small and mid-sized embroidery businesses, with a long-tail distribution that suggests limited single-account concentration but also limited enterprise anchor visibility.

Name

TEX

Legal name

TEX Inc. (The Embroidery eXperts, Inc.)

Website

https://tex-inc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TEX Inc. is a family-owned embroidery services and products company founded in 1996, offering professional digitizing services, patented hooping hardware, and subscription design libraries to over 20,000 small and mid-sized embroidery businesses in the U.S. and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Embroidery Digitizing Services

NAICS

Sewing, Needlework, and Piece Goods Retailers (45913), Sewing, Needlework, and Piece Goods Retailers (459130)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330), Apparel & Other Finishd Prods Of Fabrics & Similar Matl (2300)

akta.pro primary industry

Custom Printing & Decoration Services (Screen Print, Embroidery, Laser) (BPAFAMAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Threads, Yarns & Sewing Notions (Sewing Thread/Embroidery Thread/Bobbins/Needles) (IMAOALAE), Needlepoint & Embroidery Shops (CRALADAE)

Keywords

• Embroidery digitizing services
• Vector artwork conversion
• Embroidery hooping systems
• Machine embroidery files
• Stock embroidery designs

Headquarters

HQ city

Gilbert

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Embroidery Digitizing Services: Professional digitization of artwork into machine-readable embroidery files (DST, PES, etc.). Pricing based on complexity and detail with customized quotes. Services include stock lettering, left chest/hat designs, jacket backs, and volume pricing.
2. Vector Artwork Services: Conversion of artwork to vector formats (EPS, SVG, AI, PDF) for printing, screen printing, vinyl/laser cutting, and promotional items. Priced by complexity level.
3. All in 1 Hooper Pro™ Hardware Sales: Sale of patented embroidery hooping devices. The All in 1 Hooper Pro is priced at $776 during sales (regular $975) with free shipping. Made in USA.
4. Embroidery Design Club (EDC) Memberships: Subscription membership plans offering access to thousands of professionally digitized embroidery designs, new designs added regularly, premium collections, educational resources, business tools, PDF guides, and exclusive member downloads.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

TEX Inc. provides professional embroidery digitizing services, converting customer artwork into machine-readable stitch files (DST, PES, EMB, and other formats) using Wilcom EmbroideryStudio. The company also offers vector artwork conversion services and manufactures patented embroidery hooping hardware (the All in 1 Hooper Pro family). It operates subscription-based design libraries (Embroidery Design Club and Dollar Design Club) and supports embroidery shops with educational content, business tools, and patented positioning equipment.

Product overview

TEX Inc. (The Embroidery eXperts, Inc.) operates as a diversified embroidery services and products company founded in 1996. The core service offering centers on professional embroidery digitizing (converting artwork into machine-readable stitch files using Wilcom EmbroideryStudio) and vector artwork conversion. The flagship proprietary product is the All in 1 Hooper Pro, a patented multi-size embroidery hooping system (with companion products Hooper One, Hooper Mini, and Leveler Pro/Plus/XL leveling tools) that provides fast, accurate, repeatable logo placement across all major machine brands and hoop styles. The company also operates two subscription design platforms: Embroidery Design Club (EDC) offering thousands of professionally digitized designs through tiered memberships with business tools, and Dollar Design Club offering affordable stock designs. A Stitch Estimator Pro tool integrated into the quote-request page provides instant stitch count and pricing estimates for members. The overall portfolio is unified around helping embroidery businesses improve quality, efficiency, and profitability through professional digitizing services, patented hooping hardware, and design membership access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• All in 1 Hooper Pro: Patented embroidery hooping system designed to eliminate measuring and reduce setup time
• Hooper One
• Hooper Mini
• Leveler Pro
• Leveler Pro Plus
• Leveler Pro XL
• Embroidery Design Club (EDC)
• Stitch Estimator Pro

Products and services

• Professional Embroidery Digitizing Conversion of customer artwork or images into machine-readable embroidery stitch files (DST, PES, EMB, HUS, JEF, XXX, EXP, VP3 formats) using Wilcom EmbroideryStudio. Priced by complexity with tiers for stock lettering (starting at $20), left chest/hat ($40), and jacket back ($125), with 24-48 hour turnaround and volume pricing.
• Vector Artwork Services Conversion of raster artwork into scalable vector files (EPS, SVG, AI, PDF, PNG) used for digital media, printing, screen printing, vinyl/laser cutting, and promotional items. Pricing tiers include stock lettering ($25), simple artwork ($50), and complex artwork ($75).
• All in 1 Hooper Pro Patented embroidery hooping system designed to eliminate measuring and reduce setup time. Works with virtually every major embroidery machine brand and most hoop styles (standard tubular and magnetic). Includes 5 built-in sizes in one unit covering sleeve/cap, infant, youth, adult, and extension XL. Made in USA. Priced at $776 (sale) / $975 (regular) with free shipping.
• Hooper One Companion hooping product in the All in 1 Hooper family, providing additional hooping support for embroidery shops.
• Hooper Mini Companion hooping product in the All in 1 Hooper family, designed for smaller hoop sizes and compact garment placements.
• Leveler Pro Leveling tool for the All in 1 Hooper system, ensuring accurate and level garment positioning during hooping.
• Leveler Pro Plus Enhanced leveling tool in the Leveler Pro product line for the All in 1 Hooper system.
• Leveler Pro XL Extended-size leveling tool in the Leveler Pro product line, designed for larger garment or hoop configurations.
• Embroidery Design Club (EDC) Subscription membership platform offering thousands of professionally digitized embroidery designs through flexible tiered plans, with new designs added regularly, premium collections, PDF guides, business tools, StitchCheck machine testing files, and educational resources.
• Dollar Design Club Stock embroidery design club offering production-ready designs at one-dollar-per-design pricing, enabling embroidery shops to access affordable stock designs for recurring revenue opportunities, seasonal promotions, and Etsy-ready products.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20,000+ happy customers served since 1996
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• WilcomcoreTechnology or IntegrationWilcom Embroidery Studio is used as the exclusive digitizing software platform. All designs are digitized on a Wilcom system, which is described as the industry standard and gold standard in professional digitizing. TEX Inc. explicitly references using Wilcom for their work.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Tajima: Manufacturer of commercial embroidery machines and the originator of the DST file format used throughout TEX's digitizing workflow. Comparable as a broader embroidery-industry incumbent with overlapping customer segments.
• Madeira: Major embroidery thread and stabilizer supplier serving the same embroidery-shop customer base. Comparable because Madeira and TEX both sell into the same commercial embroidery and apparel-decorator segments.
• Melco: Commercial embroidery machine manufacturer supporting the EXP file format. Comparable as a broad embroidery-industry incumbent with overlap in commercial embroidery operations customer segment.
• Brother International: Major embroidery machine manufacturer (PES file format family). Comparable because Brother sells machines to the same small-business embroidery customers TEX serves with digitizing and hooping solutions.
• Sulky: Thread, stabilizer, and embroidery notion supplier. Comparable for serving the same embroidery shops and home-based embroidery entrepreneurs with complementary production consumables.
• Floriani: Embroidery supplies, stabilizers, threads, and digitizing software provider. Comparable because Floriani addresses the same embroidery professionals with both consumables and digitizing tools, overlapping TEX's customer base.

Direct peers

• Dollar Design Club: Stock embroidery design marketplace. TEX actually owns a brand of this name (DollarDesignClub.com), but as an external concept it represents peer business models offering subscription-based stock designs to the same embroidery-shop customers.
• Wilcom: Provider of Wilcom EmbroideryStudio, the digitizing software platform TEX Inc. exclusively uses. Wilcom is both TEX's core technology supplier and the leading competitor in professional embroidery digitizing software, making it the closest peer by technology overlap.
• Mighty Hoops: Manufacturer of magnetic embroidery hoops. TEX's All in 1 Hooper Pro is compatible with Mighty Hoops products, making them adjacent product-line peers competing in the same hooping-system category TEX addresses.
• Pulse Microsystems: Competitor in professional embroidery digitizing software, offering Pulse Inspiration as a Wilcom alternative. Direct competitor in the same workflow tooling TEX customers use for production.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/texincemb
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tex-inc-embroidery

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TEX