Impressions - October/November 2023 - 36

Along these same lines Corsano says, " We are not going to advertise
we have the cheapest shirts or can do a single shirt for Joe's birthday.
We are looking to provide apparel for the largest builder in town with
1,700 construction workers.
Another example of a sweet spot for Lincoln, Nebraska, based Relentless
Merch (relentlessmerch.com) is blankets. According to owner
Matthew Richardson, " We do these 600-piece blanket orders for an
RV shop. It's just a logo on the left corner of the blanket. My operator
really enjoys doing these, and they go quickly. "
Similarly, at World Emblem, the company's success has been built
not only on a set of specific customer types in terms of size and orders,
but on their customers' ability to comply with the streamlined ordering
system the company has developed, which has allowed it to be even
more profitable and efficient.
" We've decided we're only partnering with people who can work with
us in a specific way, " says Carr. " We do not accept orders from clients
who are not under agreements and don't fit our specific business model. "
No. 7: Make It Easy
to Do Business
" Many of our customers have said we make ordering easy, " says Glenn
of StitchMine. " We do a lot of the work for them. When a client calls
and says, 'Hey, I'm looking for a new polo shirt.' We don't just give
them a catalog. We narrow it down to four, five or six items, so it's
easy to choose. "
Similarly, Carr says at World Emblem the company's whole strategy
is based on getting to know the customer and then delivering based on
what makes it easier for them. " We are always working on perfecting
our product, our turn times and pinpointing pain points so we can
continue to grow, " Carr says.
No. 8: Steer Customers
Easy-To-Decorate Blanks
Another strategy embroiderers can employ is persuading customers to
use embroidery-friendly blanks, or at the very least, apparel the shop
has experience decorating.
At Relentless Merch, for example, Richardson says he has been experiencing
increased demand for backpacks, and while his shop has a good
selection of embroidery hoops, choosing packs specifically designed for
embroidery has made all the difference in the world.
" The backpacks I have been embroidering are actually easier than
other bags because the outside pocket is larger, which makes it easier
to sew, " he says. " It has a U-shaped zipper, which offers easy access. We
have also done golf bags that are designed like that. The pocket opens
up, which makes it easy to get under the needle. "
Similarly, at Threadbare Print House and Design Lab (threadbareprinthouse.com),
which only began offering embroidery a couple of years
ago, figuring out which caps to embroider was in many ways a process
of trial and error, but worth the effort in the long run.
" The more expensive hats work better, " Lauren Hay, head of Threadbare's
embroidery department says. " Sometimes people have brought in
really cheap hats, and the needle would pull up threads and shred the
cap fabric... While I do not talk to customers, I communicate with the
account managers to let them know which hats are difficult to sew and
which ones sew great and ask that they offer the better hats instead. "
Rule No. 9: Learn
When to Say No
What constitutes a profitable job for one shop may not be for another.
Many factors come into play, including equipment, hoops, accessories,
digitizing expertise, labor and whether a shop is set up for doing a certain
kind of work.
If you've identified a type of job that is not a good fit, try to offer
other options or suggest another embroiderer for getting it done. This
will generate goodwill and (hopefully) future business as well.
" A lot of people say, yes, to all kinds of work, because they're scared
they'll never get another job, " Atkinson says. " If you want to be more
profitable, sometimes it pays to say, no. Instead, send the less profitable
work you hate to your worst competitor. "
Case in point: Hay at Threadbare says she has learned it's not worth
it to take those jobs she knows are going to be trouble.
" When they want a dense, sophisticated design on a cap, I suggest
they send it back to the graphics designer to adjust the artwork so it will
sew well. Otherwise, the stitching indents into the cap, and makes it
look concave, and there's no way to fix that without eliminating stitches
from the design, " she says.
In this same vein, Glenn says examples of jobs that have not been a
good fit for StitchMine include full jacket backs and leather.
" Full jacket backs are typically sewn on a big bulky jacket, and we
charge from $25 to $60 just for the embroidery, " Glenn says. " People
don't understand it, and they don't want to pay for it. They are used to
China pricing. It takes up a lot of time on the machine, and we have to
stitch it out once or twice before even putting it on the garment. Each
run can take an hour and a half. "
As for leather: " I'm not crazy about it, but I will do it, " Glenn says.
" We charge a lot because it's a tough thing to do. You have to change
needles, and there's a good chance of damaging the item because of the
nature of embroidering on leather. "
On a related note, Dubow says be on guard against customers who
don't know what they want. " We just did a large project for a customer
we will never do again because the customer was totally disorganized.
It cost us a lot of money and time, " Dubow says.
One of the keys to profitability is focusing
on those customers that are the best fit for
your business model. World Emblem, for
example, focuses on larger volume orders.
Photo courtesy of World Emblem
P.36
ImpressionsMagazine.com Oct./Nov. 2023
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Impressions - October/November 2023

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