Excellent Garment Decorator Advice and Facts in May 2013 Stitches
Stitches has come out with another “State of the Industry” mega-
feature that includes a wealth of survey information and rankings that more or less takes the current conditions and provides a light forecast of near future conditions in many areas of gardec.
There are some key facts and stats that bear mentioning. If you don’t already subscribe to this, visit the web site. The theme for 2013 appears to be “Diversification” and AnaJet is right there with it.
- Jean Erickson writes in “Diversify Your Customer Base,” page 46: “Small shops with diverse equipment can really capitalize” on short run orders. Among other advice from an embroidery business owner, “Analyze the viability of [a] market” before you make a strong effort to sell into it.
- Article has five buyer “categories” that help you determine how genuinely viable a prospect or a market segment really is.
- A sidebar on lead generating strategies is a must read.
- Chris Ruvo – who is also a great webinar moderator – penned “Active E-Commerce” starting on page 49. One of the major points is online personalization. The article mentions Deco Networks, but AnaJet has a great arrangement with a superior design and e-commerce platform called InkSoft.
- Among the tips on decoration diversification: digital garment printing.
- Page 55 is the start of an excellent article on SEM, or search engine marketing for the uninitiated.
Now for some of the cooler factoids – and remember Stitches covers primarily Embroidery, so the respondents are mostly in that industry:
- T-shirt sales comprised 25% of revenue. Polos 18%.
- While screen printing services comprised 13% of the average total revenues, direct to garment comprised 2%. This 6.5:1 ratio is a huge shift from the 50:1 ratio of just a few years ago.
- Page 57: 66% of apparel decorators relied on Facebook as their top social media platform. Absolutely true for AnaJet customers.
This is probably as much as we can give away without being accused of plagiarism. Get Stitches even if you’re not in embroidery, because there is not a magazine devoted to direct to garment business, but this and a select few others are ideal resources for garment decorators who have multiple technologies.
The AnaJet mP5i at the Virgin Megastore in Dubai
We are happy to announce that AnaJet now has a presence at the famous Emirates Mall in Dubai in the form of an mPower mP5i digital apparel printer which has been installed at the Virgin Megastore thanks to Multisytem Technology, an authorized AnaJet distributor . The new printer will print customized graphics on demand, onto any color of t-shirts or garments, per individual request.
“Ingrave-IT, a personalization specialty store located within the Virgin Megastore at the Emirates Mall, was anxious to choose the best direct to garment printer to generate new business parallel to the Megastore’s music, video and multimedia products,” said Hassan Kittaneh, Managing Director at Multisystem Technology. “After careful evaluation, they selected the AnaJet mPower mP5i.”
“It could not be a better solution than to have the mPower mP5i to deliver each of the customized jobs requested quickly, with excellent quality and aligned with the entertainment theme that Virgin Megastore delivers to the public,” said Nizar Nairoukh, Managing Director at Ingrave-IT. “The mPower is a perfect fit for our company, which is a service-oriented business specializing in the customization of consumer electronics and brand promotional products.”
Interested parties are encouraged to visit AnaJet at FESPA London, June 25-29, Booth #H20N, for an in-person demonstration. For more information about the mPower i-series, visit www.anajet.com/mpower.
For the complete Press Release from AnaJet, please click the link below.
Multisystem Technology Press Release
Introducing Direct to Garment at ACUP 2013
Deana Leelachat represents AnaJet at ACUP 2013
Yesterday marked the start of ACUP 2013 and we are happy to report that AnaJet is sponsoring the conference and demonstrating our mPower i-series printer.
ACUP is a non-profit organization whose goal is to serve the printing, copying and related operations administrators by providing a forum to meet annually and explore subjects and problems common to all in the field.
This is the first time that ACUP has held their annual convention in the Twin Cities. We sent our AnaJet team member Deana Leelachat to staff our exhibit. All feedback thus far is great. The people attending are administrators for various college & university print departments both here in the US and some from universities from around the world.
Deana reports that attendees are eager to learn about direct to garment technology. “The real goal for those who are looking to DTG for a solution is to make more money in-house,” she said. “When they see the possibilities of our printers, they get really excited at how they could use the technology in their own settings.”
Thanks to ACUP for giving us the opportunity to exhibit! There is another related event we are looking into – the In-Plant Printing & Mailing Association conference. Know anyone who is a member? We might send an AnaJet representative but it’s too late to coordinate an exhibit there.
ASI Helps You Capture Bigger Margins on Imprinted Apparel
On Tuesday, May 21, from 2-3 pm ET, AnaJet will be sponsoring a special ASI Education Series Webinar entitled Price for Profit: Capture Bigger Margins on Imprinted Apparel. Customers are always seeking the lowest price, and the competition will nickel-and-dime you to death to get your clients. As a result, margins are under constant pressure, and the inability to maintain them can prevent you from running a profitable business. The purpose of this event is to solve some of these issues to maximize profit for your business.
In this free webinar, moderator C.J. Mattica, along with a panelist of apparel experts which includes AnaJet’s Marketing Director Joe Longtin, will be showing you how to:
- Maintain and raise margins on apparel orders
- Beat internet companies and other competitor who cut their prices
- Work as a consultant, not just a “stuff seller”
- Make deeper connections with clients
- Upsell, and score additional sales in the process
For more information and to register, please click here.
Outfitting a Start-Up DTG T-shirt Business: Image1 Media
When Eddie Cardenas saw his Lithographic Printing field losing steam due to the recession, he did some research and gathered resources, teamed up with his brother Ruben Cardenas to make the brave move into the emerging direct to garment revolution. This is a decision he has not regretted, as his start-up business has quickly blossomed into a very successful venture!
In July of 2012 Eddie started up Image 1 Media , located in Pasadena, CA, specializing in creating digital apparel with an AnaJet mp5. After checking out other DTG printers, he decided to buy an AnaJet as it was manufactured close by. With his former background in commercial printing, or “Print-to-Paper” industry, moving to DTG was pretty easy for Eddie. He outfitted a small room off of his garage with fresh paint, a table, the AnaJet printer, a humidifier capable of humidifying the Arizona desert(!), and supplies such as t-shirts, ink, and cleaning solutions. He calls his set-up, “The perfect environment to produce DTG printing… The fact that we have a “garage” set-up, and a very nice set-up in my opinion, gives us a huge advantage by keeping our overhead at a very, very low cost. With traditional silk-screening our garage would be a mess and probably wouldn’t have enough room to operate effectively.”
“Being new to the garment business most of my time was spent studying and self-teaching myself Photoshop Elements. “ There were also details to work out: “building marketing material and setting up the business, CPA, Quick books, etc.” While attending the free training at AnaJet University, Eddie shared some tips and tricks he’d acquired in using the mP5, and his technical prowess led AnaJet to hire him on as a Field Technician. Although he still holds a regular job in sales, he has a projected goal to be 100% dedicated to Image1 Media by the end of 2013. He would also like to continue to be working with AnaJet as part of the independent Anatech team. “Hopefully between the two I will be sitting in the front row of the modern t-shirt industry.”
Business in the past year has grown — this week alone orders for over 2,400 shirts are in the queue! In April he upgraded his mp5 with an mPower mP10i. He enthuses over the mP10i, saying that, “It is cutting-edge!” He also loves the fact that initial morning start-ups are ten times faster with his new machine, and according to Eddie, clean-up takes only 3 minutes!
Check out Image1 Media’s website: http://www.image1media.com
Also see them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image1-Media
Image1 Media Print Room
Image1 Media Print Room
Image1 Media Print Room
Overdrive Media & Printing Adds Direct to Garment
Overdrive Media & Printing Services started as a Media company/Ad Agency, then moved to a bigger building and opened a print shop showroom for the public. Owner Doug Bennett came from a printscreen background and in January 2011 stumbled upon AnaJet at a trade show in Long Beach, where he was going to look into a competitor’s DTG printer. After finding that their only reasonably priced offering could not print to dark shirts, he looked to AnaJet for a solution and we delivered the SPRINT.
“When I ran into Karl (Tipre) who was showing what the SPRINT could do, I knew then and there that every print shop should have one of these,” Doug said of the trade show exhibition.
“The thing that really sold me on AnaJet printers was the size. Compared to other major pieces of equipment you find in the garment decorating business, the printers from AnaJet took up no space.”
After purchasing his AnaJet SPRINT, Doug came out to Costa Mesa, California for training at AnaJet University. “The amount of information covered is more than enough to get you started.”
He went on to talk about how accessible the Tech Support team at AnaJet is. “The lifetime tech support offered from AnaJet is a great feature.” Doug explained that as long as you keep up with basic maintenance, you can keep printing non-stop, 7 days-a-week.
The SPRINT brought a new pipeline of daily orders to Overdrive. Doug and his team were only limited by the speed at which they could print the shirts. So when AnaJet launched the mPower in August of 2011, Overdrive Media & Printing Services planned to upgrade to the new printer which promised “industrial strength” and the “fastest print speeds”. Literally, Doug took his business to “overdrive!”.
Today, Doug and Overdrive are more than happy with their purchases of AnaJet direct to garment printers. The product offerings have brought in so many new customers that he can’t get them all! If you find yourself in Flagstaff, Arizona on Route 66, stop by and say hi to Doug and his team at Overdrive Media & Printing Services
For more information on Overdrive Media & Printing Services, check their website by clicking here. You can also find Overdrive Media & Printing Services on Facebook.
If you want to see why Doug went with the mPower, check out the mPower Product Page.
