| STITCHES: Embroidery Business Insights
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Volume 138 / March 24, 2011 |
| Click here to read this and past issues online. | |
| VIDEO |
Fashion Finds Day One |
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ASI SHOW NY COVERAGE
Don Mennig, ASI's executive director of marketing, led an interactive session on Education Day titled, "Generate Powerful Business Buzz on a Budget." Focusing on social networking and e-mail, he offered tips on getting the most out of both. "Become a social stalker," he said, pointing out that when decorators and distributors look at prospects' pages on Facebook and LinkedIn (the most valuable networking sites, in his opinion), they can turn a cold call into a warm one. When it comes to posting status updates on Facebook, "Four out of every five posts should be social or informational, not business- or product-driven," Mennig said. It's also a good idea to "Post when most of your friends are online, not when it's convenient for you," he said. Another important piece of advice: "Don't drink and post! If you ever have to think, ‘Is this a good idea?' it's not." When creating marketing e-mails, Mennig stressed the importance of using a short subject line and including all the vital information in the first paragraph. It's also a good idea to "Check out your spam folder to see what's tagged as spam, and make sure your subject lines don't have that," he said. Generate Sales Through Effective Networking Next time you stop at your local pizza parlor, strike up a conversation with the owner about how decorated apparel and promotional products can help grow his or her business. The chat just might lead to a sale. Business coach Rosalie Marcus discussed networking tips like that during her education session in New York. A veteran distributor with 25 years of experience, Marcus emphasized that new decorators and distributors must begin by attending to the basics: have a credible website, a quality business card with a call to action message and a pithy elevator speech to deliver to potential clients when talking to them the first time about promotional products. Touting the importance of referrals, Marcus encouraged decorators and distributors to see if family, friends and neighbors need decorated apparel or promotional products; asking those people if they can refer you to a potential buyer is wise, too. Additionally, Marcus advised decorators and distributors to identify thriving local businesses to sell to and discussed the benefit of attending trade shows where face-to-face meetings can lead to business relationships. Noting the importance of having a focused business plan, the industry expert recommended that decorators and distributors join networking groups and partner with non-competitor businesses that can refer clients. Marcus further advised attendees to target top markets – health care, education and the financial sector – and to use contacts they may have in other industries to network into sales. "You never know where your next big order is going to come from," Marcus said.
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| Stitches Golden Needle Awards Call for Entries Enter the 2011 Stitches Golden Needle Awards and show off your embroidery and digitizing skills and creativity! Finalists will be selected by a panel of veteran embroiderers and digitizers. Winners will be featured in the November 2011 issue of Stitches and online. So, select the entry category that fits your skills, and show us your talent. Click here to enter. |
| Promo Man Takes Flight There's a new superhero in town, and his name is Promo Man. In his YouTube debut, "The Adventures of Promo Man: Promo Man Saves the Day," the dapper caped crusader helps a struggling businesswoman get her business off the ground by showing her how promo products beat prime-time TV, radio and print advertising as the most cost-effective advertising medium available. Along the way, he kicks a little TV butt. Click here to watch Promo Man's first video, and feel free to circulate the link. Click here to check out Promo Man's website. |
| Follow Us on Twitter ASI Education has entered the "Twitter-verse"! Follow our "Tweets" at www.twitter.com/asi_education to be one of the first to learn about ASI Education news, such as ASI Show Keynote presenters, special show events and courses, new webinars and online courses, and more! Like Us on Facebook It's official: ASI Education has a Facebook fan page. When you become a member, you'll connect with us and lots of other decorators, distributors and suppliers who are developing innovative approaches to sales and marketing. You'll get the latest ASI Education news, view our latest webinars and educational videos, read case studies and pick other fans' brains for their most effective strategies to increase your sales – and your bottom lines. Click here to join us now. |
| SALES QUICK HIT: Rock Out Apparel With Rhinestuds and Nailheads |
| Garments gain a distinctive rocker or biker edge when embellished with rhinestuds and nailheads. The look, made mainstream at retail, can be easily replicated for promotional apparel. Hot-fix-style rhinestuds and nailheads are readily available and simply applied to a garment with heat and pressure. "Heat must be applied to the top-side of the embellishment in order to activate the glue and to adhere the decoration into place," says Michael Georgevich, operations manager at Colman & Co., a manufacturer of decorating equipment. Decorators can use a variety of tools for applying studded embellishment. "The variety of ways to accomplish this feat is practically as diverse as the embellishments themselves," Georgevich says. "From the inexpensive hot-iron to the high-end CAMS machine, they all help to place rhinestones, rhinestuds and nailheads onto the final textile." One tool is called the GlitzUp 2-in-1, which includes a vacuum-assisted pickup to grab, heat and place the stud or nailhead in one fluid motion. The CAMS machines offered by ColDesi come in two- and six-head versions for quick production transfers. The ability to combine rhinestone and rhinestud/nailhead embellishment in your decorating repertoire is useful. (Rhinestones resemble gemstones and sparkle like a crystal with facets. Though rhinestuds also have facets, they are metallic. Nailheads are flat – no facets – and metallic.) An advantage to rhinestuds and nailheads in particular is that they're less expensive than rhinestones. However, you must know what you're looking for when choosing, as the quality varies. "Usually the differences can start with country of manufacture," Georgevich says, "but they can also subdivide into level of lead content and grade of stone, though not all manufacturers grade their stones." Like rhinestones, rhinestuds and nailheads come in a variety of sizes, from SS2 (1 mm) to SS75 (18 mm), the most popular being SS06 (2 mm) to SS20 (5 mm). Georgevich recommends choosing a reputable supplier. A good test, he advises, is to buy a few colors and sizes of rhinestuds and nailheads from an unfamiliar source to try out its products. "If you simply ask for a sample, the supplier could cherry-pick and then you would not get a true test of their supply line," he says. "Also make sure they offer colors, sizes and package quantities that work best for you." As with any form of apparel decoration, there are challenges. Fortunately, rhinestuds and nailheads are rarely chipped or cracked. A more serious concern, however, is lead content. "Anyone working within this field should be aware of the laws governing lead content in regards to selling to the younger crowd," Georgevich says, referring to the product-safety laws known as the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, or CPSIA. "Currently any stone, stud or nailhead can be sold to an adult, but to kids, the lead levels should be less than 300 parts per million (ppm)." Less of a challenge is color consistency, though you must still take care. "It can be difficult for manufacturers to repeat the same colors over and over again with rocket-science-type accuracy," Georgevich says. "A buyer should buy all they need for the complete job, just in case there is a color variation the next time they purchase the same item." |
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 Creating imprint designs with rhinestuds and nailheads then applying them to garments can be a very simple operation. "Many people still use the hand-made method," says Michael Georgevich, operations manager at Colman & Co., a manufacturer of decorating equipment. "It's tried and true, not to mention that custom-made goes a long way in today's cookie-cutter assembly line systems. You do not have to place 400 stones or studs to add value to a garment. Sometimes less is more. That works for all hand tools." However, Georgevich recommends specialized equipment like the CAMS Automatic RhineStone System for larger-scale production. "It offers complete programs from design to point-of-sale," he says. |
| Wearables and Stitches magazines are pairing up apparel distributors and decorators to spend part of a day in each other’s shops – to learn how the other side does business. Our goal is to help distributors and decorators work better together. We’re looking for veteran and newbie decorators who’ve been frustrated with the other side – and would like to have a distributor experience life in your shop and some of the challenges you face on a daily basis. If you’re interested in participating, please send an e-mail to nrollender@asicentral.com with your complete contact info, ASI number (if you have one), details about your business and the top three things that you wish a distributor would do differently or realize about your side of the business. |
| New Course Available on ASI Education's Online Learning Center Start working toward achieving your BASI (Bachelor of Advertising Specialty Information) or MASI (Master of Advertising Specialty Information) by taking self-paced, on-demand courses at ASI Education's Online Learning Center. In our newest "Wearables University" course for decorators, "The Ins and Outs of Performance Wear," you'll learn the most popular performance properties and how they work; fabrics and decoration techniques that are most common with performance apparel; and sales techniques to thrive in this category. Click here to take the course. |
| ASK PHIL powered by Flexfit |
Dear Phil, |
| NEWS BRIEFS & PRODUCT RELEASES | ||
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| AnaJet (asi/16000) has announced its partnership with Chicago Growth Partners (CGP), a major private equity group, which led a growth capital investment of the company. | Charles River Apparel (asi/44620) has announced that Nancy Wood, a sales representative for over 25 years, was awarded with the Three River Advertising Specialty Association (TRASA) 2011 Supplier/Vendor of the Year award. | |
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| Colman & Company has introduced DTG Foil for all Epson-based direct-to-garment printers, which allows for added shine to all digital prints. It’s available in nine colors in 200-foot rolls. | Heritage Sportswear (asi/60582) has assembled swatch cards and fabric samples from the top mills in the industry and has binder kits available while supplies last. Click here. | |
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| Heritage Sportswear (asi/60582) has just released The 2011 Playbook, a 148-page catalog targeting brand-name apparel and accessories for team wear and sports teams. | Project Iris has announced its 2011 spring and summer casualwear shirt line featuring floral prints and exclusive graphics that pay homage to nature’s beauty, premium-quality fabrics, high-end workmanship and a charitable consumerism opportunity to fight hunger worldwide. | |
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| Sawgrass Technologies has updated its webinar series for digital decorators. Click here to view the webinar calendar for March 15-June 21. | Sparkle Plenty Designs (asi/88444) has started a foundation called www.PegsPresents.com, to provide year round birthday and holiday gifts to kids in need through Dignity Housing in Philadelphia. | |
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| Stahls’ (asi/88984) offers a new book, The Business of T-Shirts, by Mark Venit, on the subject of starting and marketing a custom-decorated-apparel business; the book also covers entrepreneurs in related fields such as signs, recognition, graphics arts, promotional products and vehicle graphics. | Tri-Mountain (asi/92125) has introduced Reef, a nylon/poly woven shirt (style 703), designed for the outdoors by offering UPF-30 sun protection. | |
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| Wolfmark Promotional Apparel (asi/98085) will be offering its catalog through the UniformMarket platform. | ||
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WEBINARS Did you know that ASI Education has more than 50 archived webinars that you can access 24/7? Click here to view our complete selection. |
EMBROIDERY TERMS Know Your Stitch Types |
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EVENTS CALENDAR MARCH 2011 Mar. 22-24, New York City ASI Show (800) 546-3300; www.asishow.com Mar. 24-26, Austin, TX NBM Show (966) 893-7682; www.nbmshows.com Mar. 27-30, Boston Boston Gift Show (678) 285-3976; www.bostongiftshow.com Mar. 28-30, Las Vegas Las Vegas International Lingerie Show (305) 598-7019; www.lingerieshow.cc Mar. 28-31, Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, Ft. Lauderdale Advantages Roadshow (800) 546-3300; www.asishow.com |