Impressions - October 2018 - 37

PoPPy Digital artistry at a glance
C ompan y n ame: Poppy Digital Artistry/Whimsy Rose
address: 1641 Dielman Road, St. Louis, MO 63132
Foun ded: 2008
no. oF employees: More than 25
deCoraTIn G meTH ods oFFered: Sublimation
C ompan y WebsITe: poppyda.com; whimsyrose.com

Early on, the company
patented a process that
uses digital templates for
sublimation printing on
preconstructed garments.

moment," he recalls."We created our initial apparel label in 2008, Before + Again,
which, in 2016, became Whimsy Rose."
Werner's wife, Susan, once asked if
some of her designs could be printed on
fashionable, trendy burnout fabrics. She
and her friends began wearing the new
T-shirts and literally were stopped in the
streets by other women asking where they'd
been purchased.
"All other endeavors stopped, and it
was decided that this was where all of our
energies would be focused," Daneyko says.
He saysWhimsy Rose's evolution began
10 years ago in brick-and-mortar locations,
but now the line can be found in more than
1,000 specialty boutiques."The ability to
touch and feel something is still very important to the consumer," he says."Women
today have significant apparel options via
shopping on the internet. However, once
they find their favorite T-shirt, tunic or
dress for comfort and fit, they find limited choices available to them to purchase
additional prints for their favorite styles."
Sticking to Sublimation
In the women's specialty-boutique space,
Daneyko says, sublimation solved a few
nagging problems.The process made available unique garments for which specialty
boutiques always are searching. Sublimation
also allows for short runs, which mitigates
risk.When garments work well, the ability
to explore and reorder them at a moment's
notice exists.
The systems that Daneyko and the
team have put into place, combined with

the sublimation process, have allowed
for no minimums and more than 2,000
ever-changing designer print-to-style
combinations. Specialty stores can curate
their own collections. Store owners also
can reorder pieces in the sizes needed and
cater to customers' special requests.
Unlike other forms of fabric printing,
sublimation allows for highly cost-effective
pre-production sampling, Daneyko says.
"Many buyers and merchandisers traditionally have little, if any, flexibility when it
comes to modifying a print layout or scale,
or specific color elements, for their specific
merchandising needs," he says. "Having
the flexibility to actually collaborate on a
print idea specific to a geographic region
helps to better meet the aesthetic desire of
both the consumer and the merchandiser."
A New Addition
For the past 10 years, the company's
focus has been on print-driven women's
fashion, but only for its internal labels.
In 2017, Poppy Digital Artistry became
the umbrella brand for Whimsy Rose
and the company's other brands, as well
as private-label branding. Launched to
leverage both the team's experience and
internally developed systems, the company now provides those services to select
fashion-related endeavors.
"New companies we are working with
are looking to elevate their offerings beyond the basic allover T-shirt, and that
usually involves custom styles and fabrics,"
Daneyko says. "For the majority of our
garments, we work directly with the mills

for our fabrics and then make our blanks
based on specific style requirements."
Through its licensing arm, AOP STL,
Poppy Digital Artistry currently has two
patents:US 8,958,131 and US 9,468,237 -
"A Systems and Methods for the Printing
of Pre-Constructed Clothing Articles and
Clothing Article so Printed."
"If you are printing on a preconstructed
T-shirt efficiently and use any digital template,
it is likely you are infringing on the patent,"
Daneyko says. "We currently license the
patent to both large and small sublimation
printers. Licensees include established industry leaders, such asTrevco and Jakprints,
and smaller shops. The benefit of such a
license is that it not only protects you, but
your customer as well."
Whimsy Rose's and Poppy Digital
Artistry's success hasn't come without challenges. Daneyko says one significant issue
has been meeting customers' expectations
regarding colors, since what is seen online
can vary depending on the media through
which it's viewed.
"We currently texture-map our fabrics
to the prints selected for digital rendering,
so the customer gets as accurate a representation as possible," he says."Specifically, the
same print produced on varying knits has a
significant effect as to the vibrancy, ranging
from vintage fade to an extremely high
vibrancy. When it comes to sublimation
on pre-constructed garments, explaining
white creases or voids is simply part of the
process and not something to shy away from."
In the future, Poppy Digital Artistry plans
to extend services on the production level
and the licensing side of its patents. The
company also is open to discussing partner
relationships beyond its current brand. 
Jennifer Morrell is an award-winning writer who
has written for a number of national consumer
and trade publications. For more information
or to comment on this article, email Jennifer at
jennmorrell@hotmail.com.
OCT./NOV. 2018

P.37

http://www.poppyda.com http://www.whimsyrose.com

Impressions - October 2018

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