Be One of a Kind – Create Your Own Custom T-Shirts
Feb/120
Have you seen the latest commercial from Dr. Pepper? In it they show many different people with their original custom phrases declaring who they are. You can do this too!
Dr. Pepper commercial with unique t-shirts
Those shown in the commercial use the Cooper font, a font available from Transfer Express, and layout QAL-2, two straight lines of text or QAL-153, three straight lines of text. To create your own, visit www.TransferExpress.com, login in, click “View Layouts” and enter QAL-2. Change the text to your original phrase, choose Cooper font, or any of over 100 fonts, and choose your shirt and ink color and view. There is your original phrase!
Use Easy View™ to preview your custom shirt
Create a unique, one of a kind t-shirt with Easy Prints® or Express Names™
Embroiderer Offers Tips for Success When Selling At On-Site Events
Oct/110
Marjorie Corrow has found that a great way to supplement her custom embroidery business is by traveling to events where she sets up a table or tent and sells a variety of decorated sportswear to the attendees.
Although she is primarily an embroiderer, she has found that custom transfers allow her to offer greater variety and she loves the ability to press designs on demand, which means she is not stuck with a lot of printed inventory at the end of the day.
Her business, Life’s A Stitch Embroidery LLC, Niskayuna, N.Y., returns to many of the same events year after year and she reports, she has customers who can’t wait to see what she will have new each year.
According to Majorie Corrow, president, Life’s A Stitch Embroidery, Niskayuna, N.Y, exhibiting at a conference generates sales not only during the event, but afterwards as well as sometimes she will run out of a size and color, and the customer will order it and have it shipped.
But while the money can be good, there are things to know ahead of time before deciding if this might be a good proposition for your decorated apparel business.
One of the biggest rules is if you are coming back to an event you have done before, while you do want to bring any designs you had leftover from last year, but you do not want to offer them printed exactly the same way on the same style of apparel.
Corrow feels that her efforts at creativity are a big key to her success. “I typically do one or two samples to put on display. I always try to do one that is really cool and not your typical center chest imprint. The goal is to do something attractive and different and give people ideas,” she says.
Two of Corrow’s most popular items at conferences are hoodies and flannel pants. She uses transfers on the pants as it’s much faster, easier, and cheaper than using a big embroidery design or appliqué.
Because she brings a heat press and designs with her, she also can offer some customization to her clientele. “They can tell me what they want, and I do it right in front of them. I will cut up little bits of the logos and put parts of the logo in one place and another. I’m not afraid to experiment. I’m very low key and happy to do what they want.”
The decorator also makes sure she offers at least one exclusive design each year.
“With permission, I take the conference logo and get creative with it, and I put that on a signature piece. So every year at the conference is a new signature piece from me,” she says.
Ideally, the embroiderer wants to have some extra designs on hand for the inevitable follow-up orders. “Post-event orders happen frequently, and I encourage it,” she says. “Customers will want a sweat shirt in a color or style that I don’t have.”
Ganging designs on a page when ordering transfers also helps keep costs down.
“I try very hard not to overbuy transfers,” she says, “and I may pay a little more as a result. But I’ve become pretty sharp about how to place them on the page to get the most bang for the buck.”
And in some cases, running low on a design can actually be a plus. “Sometimes it creates a perception of ‘hurry up they are running out’ and that enhances sales,” she notes.
Of course, it’s not possible to perfectly guess how much you will need for any given event, and having some leftovers is a cost of doing business. “If I have anything left, I mark it down, bring it the next year, donate it, or give it away. Regardless, I get my money out of every conference.”
Expect to pay a fee for the opportunity to exhibit at a conference, says Corrow, and she also offers a cut of the sales on items with the conference logo or some other arrangement that helps the organization make money. “I do not make megabucks at these, but it is my way of helping non-profit groups in other ways besides a cash donation,” she notes.
You also will need permission to use the conference name and logo on merchandise and if she is going to offer cut up designs, she makes sure she has permission from the conference in advance to do that.
Embroiderer Caters To Conferences With Print-On-Demand Transfers
Oct/110
Conferences are a great niche for custom transfers because they allow you to offer a customized shirt without committing inventory. You may be left with some extra designs, but these can be used for follow-up orders after the event or for next year’s gathering.
By visiting a website like http://www.allconferences.com/, almost any decorator can easily identify if there are any worthwhile conferences near them that would make it feasible to pack up a truck or van with shirts, designs, and a heat press and spend a busy weekend selling logoed merchandise.
For Marjorie Corrow, president, Life’s a Stitch Embroidery, LLC, Niskayuna, N.Y., (http://tinyurl.com/6k6tzsw) custom transfers have been a profitable decorating method to use as she travels to conferences held by Christian youth groups and child abuse prevention organizations. Although Corrow is primarily an embroiderer and brings a few pre-embroidered items with her, the majority of her merchandise is printed onsite.
One lucrative niche that Marjorie Corrow, president, Life’s A Stitch, Niskayuna, N.Y., caters to is conferences. Although she is primarily an embroiderer, she has found that transfers allow her to easily expand her offerings and increase her overall sales.
“I invest in a lot of blanks and about $200 in transfers,” she says, “and I use them for a couple of years. For example, I have two logos I use every year for my Christian youth group.”
One secret to success in catering to conferences is knowing what to bring. Corrow selects a nice variety of apparel appropriate to the event, which typically includes T-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, and women’s tops as well as miscellaneous little things.
“I usually have hoodies and T-shirts with the conference logo on the front chest, down the sleeve, or down the leg. I also bring a selection of blank flannel pants. I typically buy a lot of closeouts that I don’t pay a lot on. I have a good relationship with the wholesaler, and it will let me return closeouts,” Corrow says. “Of course, you have to be at a certain sales volume, and you have to return goods within a certain amount of time. But it allows me to send back apparel that isn’t logoed even though I have to pay the shipping.”
“I have a pretty good feel for how much and what sizes,” the decorator notes. “I only bring things I can sell in subsequent years. That is something that you learn over time.”
Corrow has found that even though she’s often bringing back an old design, she can still sell another piece to last year’s customer by changing the garment it’s applied to.
“For a prevent child abuse conference, I have a design that is hands with spread fingers and thumbs entwined in different colors, sizes, and configurations. They form a U-shaped necklace, and I apply it to the neckline of either a scoop-neck ladies’ shirt or a regular T-shirt.
“This conference is mainly women in helping professions, and the hands symbolize helping. They absolutely love it, and every year I put the hand design on a new piece,” she says.
Each year, Marjorie Corrow exhibits at a Prevent Child Abuse conference where one of her most popular designs is intertwining hands, which she embroiders on women’s wear and bags. She uses transfers for hoodies, flannel pants, and doggie Ts.
Heat Printing Zone at SGIA featuring Ted Stahl
Oct/110
Visitors to the SGIA Expo in New Orleans will experience many interactive exhibits, from hands-on demonstrations to product giveaways. Don’t miss out on your chance to interact with industry pioneer and Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame member Ted Stahl.
Ted will be hosting question and answer sessions in the Stahls’ Heat Printing Zone on Wednesday, October 19 and Thursday, October 20 at 1:15 pm. Ask Ted any questions you may have on heat printing and garment decoration and benefit from his over 35 years in the garment graphic industry.
So get to the Heat Printing Zone and see Ted – he wants to hear from you.
Find the complete schedule of events in the Heat Printing Zone here.
Magic at the SGIA Expo
Sep/110
To most consumers, garment decoration is a mystery. Somehow, somewhere, people take plain shirts, jackets, and hats and Shazam! make them into great-looking apparel. You can see the magic happen firsthand at the 2011 SGIA Expo in New Orleans, October 19-21. Nobody will be wearing top hats or capes, and no rabbits will be pulled from hats, but there will be hands-on demonstrations, informational sessions with industry experts, and even prizes and giveaways.
It’s all happening in the Stahls’ Heat Printing Zone. There you’ll find refreshments, samples, demonstrations, and forums with world-class experts. You’ll learn how to decorate your customers from head to toe – literally. Topics include printing on headwear, creating graphic T-shirts, and customizing shoes, as well as discussions on industry trends and innovations. Plus, you’ll have the chance to win a Hotronix® Fusion™ heat press at our Friday drawing.
And don’t forget to visit our other areas.
In booth #1245 you’ll be able to see samples of Transfer Express’ screen printed transfers and get more information on our products.
The Digital Apparel Zone(#3125) will have live demonstrations of cut and sew equipment, heat transfer and print/cut technology, and cutting-edge techniques in digital apparel decoration.
Cap off your day with a visit to the Screen Printed Apparel Training Zone (#3319). Each day at 3:30 pm Josh Ellsworth of CAD-CUT ®Direct will demonstrate the use of screen printed transfers and heat press machines, as well as a thorough review of heat applied materials.
Stahls’ is Heat Printing, so be sure to visit us at the SGIA Expo and on Facebook.
Transfers Offer Solution For Hard-To-Decorate Items
Sep/110
Almost everyone is familiar with the fact that transfers are a great decorating medium for just about any type of apparel that is made of cotton, polyester, or a cotton/poly blend.
What you may not realize is that Transfer Express offers two distinct types of transfers: screen printed and digital. Screen printed transfers are limited to the traditional cotton and polyester fabrics, but digital transfers such as CAD-PRINTZ™ Opaque will go on almost anything you can fit in a heat press and can be created in unlimited colors.
This opens the doors to a much wider range of apparel and promotional items including nylon team uniforms, umbrellas, swim suits, and leather goods.
When Illinois Glove Co., Northbrook, Ill., was looking for a solution to print full-color logos on gloves for its promotional product customers, CAD-PRINTZ™ turned into a great solution for the company.
Prior to using Transfer Express, the manufacturer was screen printing one-color logos onto gloves. “Screen printing was a mess,” notes Jay Shmikler, director of sales and marketing. “Because the glove was made of a knit fabric, the print would fall into the little mesh holes. We could do only one color with screen printing, and then we lost out on orders to other products that could offer multiple color logos.”
Today, the company uses Easy Prints for one-color orders and CAD PRINTZ for full-color logos. Another reason digital transfers have been such a great match is the wide range of materials that gloves are made of.
“We offer gloves for automotive, construction, farm, ranch, trucking companies, freezer gloves for people who are stocking shelves in the grocery stores, and safety awards; you name it, we have probably done it,” says Shmikler.
So when choosing a decorating process, it’s important to match the right method to the glove material.
“We have certain types of gloves that we use Easy Prints,” says the director. “If the glove stretches, we have to make sure we get Easy Prints because that stretches. If the logo has a lot of detail, we use CAD-PRINTZ. So when someone comes to us with an eight-color logo, CAD-PRINTZ looks amazing. You can get shading that you really can’t get in a screen printed transfer.”
As a steady customer for the past four years, Shmikler has been satisfied with the product and the customer service. “They are good at returning calls, they are professional and they’re easy to deal with.”
If you have a customer come in with a hard-to-decorate item, next time, don’t turn them away. Investigate if using a digital transfer may be the perfect solution!
Switching from direct screen printing to screen printed and digital transfers solved several embellishing challenges for Illinois Glove Co. faced when decorating gloves for promotional product clientele. Photo courtesy of Illinois Glove Co., Northbrook, Ill.
Decorator Converts Home Into Shop, Showroom & Tiki Bar
Jul/110
When most decorators want to entertain a client, they might take them out to a nice local restaurant. But Tim Hoffman, owner, Hoffman Embroidery, had a better idea. He built a tiki bar.
After paying big rent at the Annapolis Mall in Annapolis, Maryland, for years, Hoffman and his partner decided they’d had enough of that. So the embroiderer, who lives in a three-level house, gutted 1,000 feet on the first floor and built his shop, a showroom, and an outdoor tiki bar instead. It’s now home to his one singlehead, one four-head, and two two-head embroidery machines and two Stahls’ Hotronix heat transfer presses.
The tiki bar garnered media attention from a local newspaper The Capital, Annapolis, Md., November 13, 2010 issue and March/April 2011 issue of Stitches magazine where it was the cover story.
“It looks just like a tiki bar you’d see on the beach in the British Virgin Islands,” says Hoffman. “We have water in the back yard. It’s enclosed in the wintertime so we can use it year-round.”
Although Hoffman doesn’t sell drinks, it’s used for entertaining clients and friends for all kinds of occasions. “It looks like a real bar, and we have mixed drinks,” he notes. “We throw big neighborhood parties and watch all the big sporting events. It’s a perfect man cave.”
In addition to offering embroidery, Hoffman also is a regular customer of Transfer Express. When he gets multi-color print jobs, he has found transfers the best way to go. “When we get an eight-color job for a dark shirt, if you screen print it, that’s eight screens plus a white underbase. When it’s a left-chest size design for 100 shirts, the only cost-effective way to do it is using Transfer Express CAD-PRINTZ™.”
“We’ve used them for a multitude of orders, and they have always done a great job with outstanding service at a price that is affordable,” says Hoffman. “We also get quick turnaround. We’re glad to have them on our team.”
Owner Tim Hoffman and production manager Amy Lynn Hall sit on a stool in the outdoor tiki bar that is used to entertain clients throughout the year. Hoffman built it at the same time he transformed the first floor of his three-story house into his shop and showroom.
Print Low Cost Custom T-shirts by Adding Name drops to Patriotic Prints
Jun/110
The new stock patriotic screen printed designs, Transfer Extreme™, have a lot of color and are a great new look. Did you know you can order name drops to customize these stock designs at a minimum cost?
Here you see two examples of how you can combine a Transfer Extreme patriotic design with a name drop ordered on gang sheets.
Layout USA-5 with a name drop added
Layout USA-11 with a name drop added
1.) First choose a design from the Transfer Extreme collection.
2.) Decide what text you would like to add, the color and the typestyle (We have over 100 typestyles to choose from, and a distress effect can be added).
3.) Create a gang sheet and order the number of name drops (Sanford Family Reunion was 3.5” tall x 8.5” wide and we could fit 3 prints per sheet. Allegheny 4th of July Parade was 3.5” tall x 8” wide with 3 prints per sheet).
4.) Position both transfers on the page and apply with one application.
How To Outfit An All Star Uniform
Jun/112
Baseball All Star teams are forming and these teams will need uniforms. Start with the front of the uniform and dress them like pros! An entire layout category is dedicated to these players in our Easy Prints® collection. Many of these teams will want two or more colors on the print and our online design tool, Easy View™ can show your customers what the print will look like in two colors on their shirt. All Star teams frequently also add a number to the front of the uniform under the logo, especially script with tails layouts. If doing teen uniforms, our 4” numbers are perfect. For smaller youth, use 2.5” or 3” numbers ordered through our Express Names program. If using 2.5” numbers you can fit 10 digits in one strip, and for 3” numbers you can fit 8.
The All Stars will want to be recognized so be sure so to be sure to add an Express Name above the number on the back. The 2.5” size is best for teen uniforms and the 2” size is perfect for younger teams. The number under the name can be ordered in two colors to match the uniform front, and with Easy Prints® numbers it is one application in just 4 seconds. For teen uniforms, an 8” number can be used and for smaller sizes use a 6” number.
If your team has a sponsor this can be added to the sleeve. Add this as well as a cap size print for your team caps to the front logo and create a gang sheet – all three logos are printed on one sheet for a great cost savings.
Add an American flag to the other sleeve and your All Star is ready to play!
All Stars layout QAS-2 with front number
Win the Bid with our Bid Sample Kit!
Mar/110
We have created a sample product to help you win every bid! Our new bid sample kit is printed with our full color Cad-Printz™ opaque so you can use the samples on any color, and almost any product—including tshirts, caps, golf shirts, nylon bags, neoprene ad specialty items, and umbrellas. With just a heat press, and the bid kit, you can show your customers a wide array of items they will be able to order from you, custom printed in full color.
The Bid Sample Kit includes:
- 2 – 4×4” prints
- 2 – 3×3” prints
- 4 – 2×2” prints
- 6 – 1×1” prints
- All for just $25! Or split the sample kit into two logos for just $35.
Our new Bid Kit will be featured as part of the webinar in April titled Winning Your Customer’s T-Shirt Printing Business. Don’t miss out!
Get Bids for Jobs using our Bid Kit from your design
