Founded, owned and run by Kevin McClenahan
A La Mesa shop with commercial machines, a two-thousand-year craft tradition behind it, and an owner who still answers the phone.
Kevin McClenahan
Kevin founded Merlin Embroidery and owns it today. If you call the shop, there is a very good chance you are talking to him — and if a lead comes through, he calls back. There is nothing more important here than that.
He was trained the old way. Every good embroiderer comes from a master digitizer, and Kevin’s teacher had been doing embroidery since the 1930s, having been trained by his own father in the 1890s. Most of what is now done on a screen was then done at six-to-one hand-sketch scale and reduced down — laborious, and the reason he learned exactly how stitching interacts with each different material.
That knowledge does not show up in a brochure. It shows up when fine lettering stays readable at two inches, when a logo sews clean on fleece as well as on twill, and when somebody says the cap looks better than the one they got last time.
Where the craft comes from
Like an antique or a good watch, embroidery has provenance — a sequential line of ownership and teaching. Ours runs through two of the deepest traditions there are.
The Japanese tradition
It is in our logo. The same tradition as robe decoration for the emperor of Japan — a discipline of restraint, placement and absolute precision that goes back two thousand years.
The European tradition
A heavy European line of decoration coming down from Floriani, the Italian who designed and embroidered the gowns for the popes. Ornament at the highest level, and the standard the craft still measures itself against.
Understanding your own history matters when you have a special purpose. It is how you establish real authority in a trade — and it is knowledge that is quietly disappearing.
Local shop. Commercial equipment.
We have operated out of La Mesa for over 30 years, serving schools, companies, nonprofits, first responders and community events across San Diego — and shipping anywhere in the world.
The shop runs SWF industrial high-speed embroidery machines and an M&R automatic press. Everything happens under one roof, which is why we control the schedule and can say yes to a rush when others cannot.
- Everything in-house: digitizing, embroidery and printing all happen here, not at somebody else’s shop.
- Honest pricing: 20–25% more affordable than typical competitors, quoted transparently.
- No minimums: one keepsake piece gets the same care as a 500-piece rollout.
- Reachable: open six days a week, after-hours pickup available, and a real person on the phone.
30+ Years
Serving San Diego from the same La Mesa shop.
5–10 Days
Standard turnaround, with same-day rush available.
50+ Washes
Commercial thread and machines, not retail-grade.
We Ship Worldwide
Local pickup, nationwide and international shipping.
See your logo on the gear before you order
Upload your logo, pick the garment and the colour, and watch it land on the left chest in real time. Change the shirt from black to royal blue and look again. Download the mockup, or send it straight over with your quote request — no account, nothing to install.
- Any logo you already have — PNG, JPG, SVG or WEBP, straight off your desktop.
- Real placements — left chest, full front, sleeve, cap front, sized in inches.
- Embroidery or screen print — preview the finish that suits the job.
Five steps, no surprises
The same process whether it is one embroidered hat or a 500-piece uniform program.
Talk to a human
Call, text or send the form. You reach the shop, not a queue — and a lead never sits waiting.
Preview it
Free digital mock-up before a single stitch. Use the Mockup Studio yourself if you want to see it right now.
We digitize
Your artwork is prepared for the machine by hand, the way it should be, so it sews clean at any size.
Production
SWF industrial embroidery machines and an M&R automatic press, run in-house in La Mesa.
Pick up or ship
5–10 business days standard, rush available, after-hours pickup, and we ship anywhere.
Rather just talk it through?
Most people do. Call the shop and you get a straight answer on whether we can hit your deadline — usually in under two minutes.