Mary and I thought this snowman had so much team spirit we just had to get a photo with him. There were similar displays of team spirit throughout Canada during the Winter Olympics. Something you don't see so often!

If you’ve ever been to a pep rally, you have to admit that when large groups of people all rally behind one particular team, all wear the same team colors, paint their faces, wave pom-poms and foam fingers, the enthusiasm is contagious, even if you aren’t the cheerleader type. During the recent Winter Olympics, I noticed widespread enthusiasm for the Canadian hockey team while driving through Canada a few days before the final game. There were signs in store windows rooting for the team, signs on cars, flags on cars, signs on school marquees…it seemed everywhere you looked there was a sign, banner or flag rooting for the national hockey team. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a display of so many people rooting for the same team…it was impressive.

It’s March 1st and for many imprinting businesses March signals the start of busy season. It certainly does here at Stahls’. In fact, we are happy to report that we have seen in increase in NEW customers in February. It might be due to the fact that we have updated our website to accommodate Guest Buyers. That’s right, you no longer have to pass a lie detector test, have 3 bank referrals and sign away your first born child in order to become a Stahls’ customer. (okay, you never had to do ALL of those things)  It’s just one of the ways we are trying to make it easier than ever to do business with us.

My wife Mary and I proving the scientific theory that heat rises while watching a bonfire we built on the solid ice outside our home.

Yes, those are boat docks in the background and this is how this whole thing got started. We were doing some repairs to the docks, much easier when you have solid ice to stand on, and we had some leftover wood we needed to get rid of. A good friend said that it’s no problem to build a fire on the ice,  ice fishermen do it all the time. It made sense to me, since one of the most basic scientific theories around is “heat rises.” The ice barely melted below this big blaze. Which brings me to another point (you knew I would try to tie this into heat printing somehow, didn’t you?)–the same thing happens when you use a heat press. Which is why we always recommend that you preheat the BOTTOM platen of your heat press before print

ing your first transfer or lettering application of the day. Sure, the upper platen may be good and hot, but it’s important to have the lower

Repairing a boat dock is much easier in the winter, when you can stand on solid ice where there is usually water.

platen as warmed up as possible as well. This occurs naturally after doing a series of applications, but unless you purposely preheat the bottom platen at the start of your day, you might have problems with your first application.  Preheat the lower platen–it’s a tip that could save a t-shirt, especially your first shirt of the day.

Our most famous marketing flyer from back in the 1980's...93 Reasons To Call Stahls' and Smiles You Can Hear Through the Phone!

It seems I mistakenly attributed comments to the wrong person in one of my last postings, so my apologies to Sue Burgess and Cyndi Mills for the mix up.  I have corrected the blog posting and given credit where credit is due! Here are a few more comments on the state of the industry from the front line (that would be the customer service reps at Stahls’ ID Direct and Transfer Express) And in case you’re wondering, yes, that is our most famous ever marketing piece that was creating back in 1987 or 1988…featuring 93 Reasons to Call Stahls’. We still get requests from people who want to speak with a specific person listed in the flyer…The funny thing is…many of them do still work with us!

Here are some more predictions from customer service at Stahls’ ID Direct:

Jackie Woodside

My prediction is that this will be a positive year.  I am already noticing a difference in confidence in our customers.

Shelly Hartwell

My predictions for 2010 are based on conversations with customers & trends I’ve seen in the industry.  Customers want less inventory and are ordering product as needed.  Our ability to promise same day shipping until late into the afternoon for yardage has created a wonderful response from customers.

They are trying to offer innovative and unique products and are asking us to supply it to them.  The washed out, frayed and grunge look is certainly everywhere in the larger mass market and they can create this look with heat printing.

Darcie Tupperstraub

What I get from customers is that everyone is trying to do 3 things at once, so speed is of most importance to them.

Karen Mattox:

A trend I have seen is a HUGE jump in requests for full color digital Custom Cad Printz designs.

Daisy Hatcher

There are a lot of people out there that are starting their own businesses and finding that heat printing is the way to go.

Suzette Glover

• No Sew/Faux Sew fabrics for letters/numbers and graphics
• Reflective products: appliqué and heat-seal
• Textured materials -  “visual” textures and interesting finishes
• All things digital: multicolor, easy to apply (one step heat applied) graphics – If it can’t be cut then it should be printed!!

Yolanda Merrill

• Reflective Twill
• Fringed Twill to replicate (Aeropostale & Abercrombie & Fitch)

Danielle Petroskey

I was amazed how many people were interested in Thermo-Flock at the Long Beach ISS show. Many people thought it was something new! They loved the samples we had on terry cloth towels.

Mixing medias (for ex: Poly-Twill and THermo-Film) was a hot topic as well.

I hope I got everyone’s comments attributed correctly this time…If not I’m sure I’ll hear about it! Thanks again for everyone who contributed and for taking the time to share them with all of us.

Got this in my inbox from Lee Wayne who is in the promotional products industry and I thought it made some good food for thought for those of you who haven’t jump started your sales for 2010 yet. Maybe this article will give you the motivation, by making the sales process into a game of sorts. Wayne calls it Score 16. Hopefully it has stopped snowing in your corner of the world–I heard even Dallas got 12 inches! For those not used to snow, it can be troublesome. Enjoy your weekend.

How Josh got the folks at Hotronix (he must have connections) to custom decorate a heat press for him, is his secret. What’s no secret is that your heat press can be your best friend this busy season, especially if you are planning on printing a lot of garments. More lettering and number application tips coming, or in the meanwhile, you can go to Great Garment Graphics and review some of the most recent January webinars, which had good information on printing uniforms for baseball and soccer using the latest heat transfer graphics, as well as tried and true tips on what to do and what not to do.

Coming soon...lettering and numbering application tips that will help you save time during busy season.

If you read some of our predictions for 2010 from various GroupeSTAHL people, you might be wondering how accurate they really were. Well, we’re only into February, but we have received some valuable feedback from customer service reps at Stahls’ ID Direct as to what is going on out there. On average our reps have 14 years of experience and as a group they answer 1,000 + phone calls a day, process written orders for folks who don’t order online,  and answer inquiries through web chat or on the phone. They “hear it all” and we thought you would enjoy reading some of their feedback on how 2010 is shaping up so far. Are any of our predictions coming true?  Thanks to Brian McLeod and Mary Gaglio for gathering this info together and passing it along to me.

From Cyndi Mills–Bling and Performance Wear

• Rhinestones/bling/ metallics/glitters continue to be  hot items
• Thinner garments/ thinner softer graphics seem to continue and excel as the trend
• Performance wear is huge, we receive inquiries daily on what and how to apply to these fabrics- they are a higher price blank and customers are hesitant to apply to them since they are afraid to ruin the garment–but we have so many options for them
• Many screen printers are turning to transfers for smaller runs.  I’ve been receiving many calls inquiring prices and lead times on transfers
• Same day shipping is huge.  Customers are not stocking as much as in the past. More customers are concerned about their freight charges and how many days delivery,  much more so now than in the past.
• Animal prints, plaids, polka dots, neons are requested.
• More customers are calling to get prices on one-quantity items, mainly logos.  Customers are saying that if the customer is willing to pay they will produce where as in the past they would just tell them they can’t do it for them.

From Sue Burgess–Customers Looking for Value Speaking with a few of my customers, I have found they want to stick to the basics–offer a high quality product, with a low price margin. Al at Metuchen Center  says he’s getting a lot of inquiries from customers these last few weeks but basically his clients are shopping around for the best price. He knows this due to talking with a few of the  other vendors who have dealt with the same clients. He’s looking to offer products quicker and at a great price. This is the first time in a long time that he has found himself going on “house-calls”.

From Carol Wheeler–Vintage and Replica Looks Are In

I think 2010 will be another “Throwback” year. What I’m seeing in the fashion industry, like the auto industry, are a lot of replicas of the 70’s sometimes even the 50’s & 60’s!  We’re seeing more and more professional sports teams are wearing uniforms/jerseys from their teams of the past for major events. Shopping for clothing for my 21 year old son this Christmas, I found the older and more worn & used looking the better, and more expensive!

Thanks to everyone that submitted their thoughts on what 2010 has in store. It is very much appreciated! I can’t fit them all in this posting but will hopefully be able to publish more soon. I always like to feature your photos with your submissions so if you have any…please forward.

For those of you have been experiencing bad weather lately– we have had our share here in Michigan recently– maybe this will bring a chuckle to your day.  It did for me and thought I would share.

The commercials shown during the Super Bowl didn’t exactly blow me away yesterday, sometimes I think companies out there are trying too hard to be funny. And there were way too many people not wearing pants. Since commercials seem to be the topic of the day the day after the Super Bowl, I thought I would share my favorite commercial with you. It won’t be shown on national television, but I think it does a great job of getting the message across. And I can assure you, everyone in the commercial is wearing pants.

Better late than never...new package design for Heinz ketchup packets

Heinz Ketchup introduced their new ketchup packets this week, a new improved design that has been a long time coming in response to customer complaints. From a story I just read online, they introduced the old packets that squirt and are impossible to open back in 1968. Supposedly the complaints started coming in in 1969, so we’re talking over 40 years of consumers complaining about their packaging! Talk about a slow response time. The new packets allow for dunking and respond to requests from consumers for an easier opening package. I haven’t tried the new packages myself yet, but I would have to assume they are an improvement. What’s the lesson here? I guess we would have to say, better late than never. It certainly makes me want to take a closer look at things that GroupeSTAHL sells and see where we can improve them and make them more user friendly.