Screen Printing - August/September 2019 - 17

The world of apparel is already
starving for business - and they
seeing major disruption from "fast
will make any promise they can to
fashion" - a quick manufacturing
get you in the door. A good rule of
turnaround from catwalk to stores,
thumb: if it sounds too good to be
allowing consumers to inexpensively
true, it probably is. Look for a
purchase the latest trends at retailers
company that speaks realistically
like H&M and Zara. Some consumabout what they can accomplish for
ers are taking it a step further with
you, as opposed to selling you the
customization. Whimsy Rose, a local
best case scenario and falling on
company in St. Louis, is pushing the
their face more often than not. Also,
envelope with their sublimation equiptry to clarify how they handle any
ment by allowing their customers to
mistakes that occur or when somewalk into a store, try on white blanks
thing is lost in transit. Do they look at
to pick the proper fit and feel, then
you as a partner or as a dollar sign?
head to a kiosk and design their own
With outsourcing, you have to
look and style. The customer places
change your thinking a bit. Will you
the order and then they can have it
make as much money as if you had
shipped directly to their home or they
the equipment yourself? Probably
can return to pick it up in a few days.
not from a straight cost to cost
(Apparel examples are featured on
analysis. But, what other costs are
the first page of this article.) Whimsy
you forgetting to factor in? Consider
If you plan to add DTG, heat printing, or dye sub to your
Rose is launching this program with
the time to get up and running,
business, it might be wise to start by outsourcing as you
several major distributors around the
the pain your customers might
build a customer base. DTG T-shirt image courtesy of
One Off Apparel.
world so those distributors don't have
experience as you tackle the
to inventory a bunch of stuff they
learning curve, the spoiled products
hope will sell. Instead, they only need to have a set or two of the
in production, and inventory carrying cost. When you outsource
blank products, some finished goods to show the print quality,
to build your market for personalized products, you don't have
and they have instant success and no inventory risk.
to worry about any of those things and you can let the wholeI also think we will see clothing sizing change. There will
saler teach you the nuances of the decorating techniques before
no longer be a size medium, but instead an "Aaron-sized"
you bring them in-house. Something else to think about: what
garment based on a digital scan that might even come
is the cost of spending your time in production when you could
from our smartphones. Digital one-pass printing technology
be out selling, marketing, and growing your income? I have
is evolving quickly, so the ability and cost to customize
witnessed shops that go all in on the equipment, hustle to try
will continue to change to the benefit of the consumers.
and make the production work, and then end up seeing their
Decorators need to start thinking about how they can help
business take a dip because they were focused solely on how to
their customers set themselves apart through customization
complete orders and not on filling the sales pipeline. There are
and personalization of products. Recently, YouTube an"costs" to those things, even though they might not show up on
nounced a partnership with Teespring to give their content
a profit and loss statement right away.
creators an avenue to sell shirts to their viewers. Those are
thousands of "brands" that need a tangible product their
GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE
viewers can connect with, because we are human. Until we
The demand for customization is only going to grow and
all become cyborgs, we have a tactile need to connect so
it could even drastically change how we buy our clothing
there's a lot of business to be had out there.
and other daily use items like phones, mugs, headwear, and
more. This will continue to impact our industry because it's
going to change the humble T-shirt. Charles Ohiaeri, chief
Aaron Montgomery, president and CEO of MontCo Consulting
fulfillment officer of e-commerce company Zazzle, says 67
(aaronmontgomery.info), has worked in the garment decorating
world for almost 20 years. He is actively involved in the industry as
percent of their orders are personalized and their network
a speaker and writer on such topics as marketing, social media,
makes 250,000 products a day. Customers are encouraged
the personalization market, sublimation, and garment decorating
to envision a product they want, create it through the Zazzle
techniques. As a consultant, he assists small businesses through
platform, and it's in their hands within 48 hours. How does
planning and setting up their company with a customer-first mindset
to give them the best chance to succeed. He co-hosts an industry
this change your business? Your customer comes to you and
podcast 2 Regular Guys Podcast (2regularguys.com) and has his
says, "Zazzle will make me a shirt from scratch in 48 hours.
own podcast channel on his website as a replay of his weekly Small
Why can't you make just one today because I'm standing in
Business Saturdays Series. New episodes are released weekly at
your shop?"
smallbusinesssaturdayspodcast.com.
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019

http://www.aaronmontgomery.info http://www.2regularguys.com http://www.smallbusinesssaturdayspodcast.com

Screen Printing - August/September 2019

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