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.

It seems I’m not the only one who thinks that the idea of promoting the service of adding lettering to existing or pre-printed garments is a good idea. Josh Ellsworth mentioned that he laughed when he read my blog post this morning about the MI Elite Volleyball club because his already submitted article for the March issue of Printwear Magazine covers a similar topic. I will post a link to the article when it is available online. Josh puts an interesting spin on the art of personalization and has a lot of great ideas and before and after photos. I can’t reprint the article here, but he did say I could use a few of his photos as a preview. Thanks for the photos Josh. As you can see…lettering adds value to just about any shirt. Value people will pay for!

Preprinted shirt with no lettering

The same shirt after adding custom lettering with a heat press

These pictures are important because not everyone thinks it is possible to add lettering to already preprinted or pre-embroidered items, or that it is necessary to use the same method of decoration for both the main logo and the custom text addition. A heat press gives you the ability to add lettering to just about anything. Take a look at this sports bag, which features an embroidered logo. The custom name was added with a heat press.

Name added to sports bag in Fashion Film Electric, a CAD-CUT material. The logo is embroidered.

Thanks to Josh Ellsworth and MI Elite Volleyball Club for furnishing the photos to show what a difference lettering makes.

Temporary Sign on the door of the Club Store at the MI Elite Volleyball Club

I just got the most recent Stahls’ ID Direct email, which included specials on lettering kits and free heat press shipping. Anyway…the photo of the kits reminded me that I promised to share more about the Michigan based volleyball club, MI Elite, that recently started using our heat press and lettering kits to move more merchandise from their club store. They are really excited about their new ability to offer personalization and are not wasting any time in letting people know they now offer this service.  You might not be able to read the sign but it says: Personalize Your Apparel:  Get Your Name on Your Bag, Sweatshirt and Sweats

Now this is something I always recommend that people do–let people know that you offer the service of personalization. You will be surprised at how many people out there want this service but don’t know where to go to get it done. Remember–this is something that Zazzle or Cafe Press CAN’T do! You can’t send them your existing apparel items and have them decorate them! And who would mail in their sweatshirt or expensive team bag to someone, not knowing when or how it will be returned. This is a service that those of you with heat presses can offer right now and it can help you move merchandise. MI Elite is offering personalization as a service–they are charging to have lettering put on existing or already owned items and they are also selling new items off the shelf that no one wanted to purchase before they had this service.  I will be sharing more with you on the story of MI Elite, because it is such a great example of how you can profit with personalization. Even in today’s new economy. Stay tuned for more posts about MI Elite and their venture into the world of personalization.

Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow today and forecasts six more weeks of winter weather!

Well it seems Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, which according to tradition means that we are in for another 6 weeks of winter. But that’s no reason to crawl back under the covers. Spring on the way means getting ready for one of your busiest seasons of the year. It’s time to check your inventory, make sure you have enough lettering and number kits on hand to handle your league orders, stock up on basic colors of CAD-CUT® materials and make sure you have the right accessories on hand.  I have a great story to share with you on how a local Michigan volleyball club increased their sales of blank and pre-printed garments with personalization. In fact, in one weekend they moved more than $10,000 of clothing and bags at a volleyball tournament just because they brought a heat press to the event and offered on-site personalization. They sold things off the shelves that no one had touched for  months just because buyers were able to put their names on items at the event. I’m waiting for a photo of one of the items and as soon as I get it I will tell you the rest of the story…but just keep in mind, just because it’s winter and old Phil predicted another six weeks of it,  there’s no reason for your sales to be sleeping.

Ryan Miller's Team U.S.A. Goalie Mask

Okay, this has nothing to do with heat printing, but I found it interesting since it was from a company (Warwick Mask and Equipment) that is located not too far from Stahls’ headquarters in St. Clair Shores, because it involves hockey, one of my favorite sports, and because it involves personalization.  Can’t wait to see the helmet in action at the Olympic games this month. Go Team U.S.A. and good luck to goalie Ryan Miller.

We might have to continue our predictions into February, since the month of January is pretty much over…how did that happen? January went by quickly, with a lot happening around GroupeSTAHL, the PPAI show in Las Vegas, the Imprinted Sportswear Show in Long Beach, the launching of CAD-CUT Direct.com, …I didn’t even have a chance to share my thoughts on Long Beach with you yet. I do plan to do so, but in the meantime, I have a list of predictions here from Brian McLeod, the General Manager of Stahls’ ID Direct and thought I would share this with you before January runs out…

Brian McLeod, General Manager of Stahls' ID Direct, shares his predictions for 2010

ABOUT BRIAN: Brian logged 25 years in the decorated apparel, sporting goods, garment manufacturing and licensed product industries in Canada and the US before spending 12 years with Roland DGA Corporation, whose focus is in the sign and digital graphics Industry. Brian returned to the textile decoration business and his role at Stahls’ ID Direct in 2008. Here are his thoughts on what will happen in 2010:

BRIAN MCLEOD’S PREDICTIONS: 2010 will continue to challenge all of us as individuals, employees and companies. Although optimistic about the future of our industry in the long term and I definitely believe we will return to the Glory Days again soon, this is not going to happen in 2010.

What will happen in 2010 is that individuals and companies who are insightful, focused, driven and not afraid of hard work have the opportunity to achieve extraordinary results.

The stage is set for success to come in many different forms here are a few that I feel strongly about.

1. As important as the internet will be to the growth of our industry, the concept of customers purchasing decorated apparel from local businesses is far from dead, on the contrary, the proliferation of textile graphics on the internet is expanding the awareness of just how dynamic and impactful a well designed t-shirt, team uniform or performance wear garment can be. Local garment decorators, sporting goods shops or imprinted sportswear professionals are well positioned to compete for this new business.
2. Digital printing for textiles is still in its infancy and 2010 will see it become more main stream as it continues on a path to having a long lasting impact on the decorated apparel industry. As someone who spent 10+ years participating in the evolution of the sign industry into a digital graphics industry, I am confident that digital will have the same impact on the decorated apparel industry. If there is a paradigm shift (other than the internet) looming, this is it!
3. In contrast, sectors of our industry we will see a move “Back to the Basics in 2010”. Pre cut letters for personalization will be rediscovered as fastest and least expensive way to instantly personalize a t-shirt, uniform, jacket or performance wear garment.
4. The stage is set in 2010 for a strong move into entrepreneurial home based and store front businesses by the displaced workers in our society. The decorated apparel industry with relatively low cost of entry and learning curve is perfectly suited for this movement and the industry will show strong growth in this area.
5. As much as we can say that we are in a simple business, the economy, competition and other factors make this a difficult time to be in any business!!! Companies should do their homework establish a focused plan and then trust their instinct in choosing suppliers.  This is a time when we need to partner well: customer service, training, education, support and innovation are more important than price in the long run. The best companies in America have a reputation of partnering well and maybe more importantly partnering for the long term.
6. The concepts of corporate and team identification as well as personalization will prosper as our economy rebounds, and people strive to identify and associate themselves with groups and organizations.

So, make your plans, expand the products and services you offer freshen up your showroom and advertising (web, print, social media, etc.), believe in yourself, remain positive, work hard and you too can share in the opportunities in front of us and achieve extraordinary results!

Thank you Brian for your thoughts…have a great weekend everyone.

A faster, easier way to order CAD-CUT® materials from Stahls'

Introducing CAD-CUT Direct. I am so excited about our new website for CAD-CUT users that I had to share the news that it is up and running. A lot of hard work has gone into making this website the fastest, easiest way ever to order CAD-CUT materials and I hope you take a few minutes to take a look and let me know what you think.  If you were at the Long Beach ISS Show and heard us talking about it…now you can see for yourself why we dedicated an entire booth to this product line. I will be posting more photos from Long Beach and my report on my experiences there soon.

Predictions for the future of the promotional products industry–at least those I gleaned from GroupeSTAHL people who had the opportunity to attend the show in Las Vegas last week–sound extremely positive.  Takeaways include:

• “Wow, this place is packed!” There are lines of people waiting to get in every morning and heavy traffic in both our booths.  (PPAI management reports 14,000 visitors) (I even have a video from outside the show to prove this, but can’t figure out how to put it in the blog, maybe next time)

• The promotional products industry is alive and kicking and there is a huge interest in GREEN decoration methods for a myriad of GREEN promotional items.

• Bags of all shapes, colors and sizes seemed to be the hottest promotional items  for 2010. Hundreds of suppliers were  giving out free bags, and even if the bags themselves weren’t GREEN, the concept behind using a reuseable bag instead of paper or plastic is GREEN.

• Giving back to society is IN. The Gildan booth featured a promotion where you could make your own custom t-shirt in the booth, with a fabric marker, write the name of your cause or charity on the T-shirt that was pre-printed with the words “I Support”. Digital photos were taken of you in the shirt and then you had the chance to write your story on why you choose to support this specific charity. Stories will be posted on a website and then Gilden will award $100,000 to the charity behind the best story.  See Gilden site for more information, but interesting way to give back, gather names, sell t-shirts and promote your brand at the same time.

• With bags being so IN, people are on the lookout for methods to decorate polypropelyne bags. It’s not as easy as you may think, since these bags normally will melt at temperatures over 280 degrees. You will find the link to Josh Ellsworth’s video on printing bags and other difficult items helpful.

• Full color logos with detailed graphics dominated on sample items, such as reproductions of old advertising posters, retro “travel here” logos, artwork reproductions, photo images and more.

• When in Las Vegas, anything that says Las Vegas was popular. Hopefully this was just a local trend but it does bode well for anybody selling in the tourist industry. People still like kitschy souvenirs.

• Trend of visitors of wanting to take more control over their decorating instead of always outsourcing, but they don’t want to start screen printing. “I don’t want to pay $7.50 per shirt for a name and number anymore.”  Who does! Note to PPAI members–get a heat press and do this and many other short run jobs yourself.

• More and more PPAI people realizing that digital transfers is going to be key in getting short run promotional jobs done.

• The changing definition of the word “short run.” It used to be that people wouldn’t even look at orders for less than 50 or 100 pieces.  Today, if you’re not able to supply quantities as low as 1 piece, you might not be in business long.

Were you at the PPAI show? I’d like to hear your comments on how you thought the show was. Please share!

I have several more predictions 2010 postings ready to roll but I just had the chance to view the results of some of Josh Ellsworth’s latest videos on CADCUTdirect.com and had to share the link in this posting instead. If you currently own a cutter or are thinking of using one to create your own custom apparel designs, make sure you take the time to view all of Josh’s videos on the subject. You will be hearing more from me as we roll out this new division, that will help CAD-CUT users get the materials they need faster, more conveniently and with a greater selection than ever before.  I will be posting again soon, before leaving for the Long Beach ISS Show, where I will be on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible while there. Let’s see if any of those predictions are on target so far!