Impressions - Team & Spirit Apparel - Spring 2017 - 13

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s the owner of a successful
imprinted sportswear business,
perhaps you've thought about
expanding. If that's the case,
you may want to consider adding trophies and awards to your
offering, a move that can take
your business to new heights. These products are high-margin and easy to produce;
plus, if you're already printing jerseys and
other sports apparel, you've got a built-in
customer base.
Th is is a market with steady demand.
Nearly every community has established
sports leagues of all kinds, for youth
athletes from pre-school through highschool age, and maybe even college-level
or adult athletes.
These customers likely are buying
awards and trophies from another shop.
Why not offer a one-stop shop to meet all
their needs? After all, the graphics and
logos for these teams are already waiting
for you in your design library.
In addition to sports teams, every community also is sure to have numerous
organizations and businesses that look for
ways to recognize outstanding individuals, and they are always in the market for
new and creative ways to do so.
If you need an extra nudge, consider
this: the trophy and awards industry has
evolved greatly in the past several years,
extending the possibilities for creativity
far beyond the old-fashioned "loving cup"
that was once considered the standard
trophy design. With new materials and
the latest in technological equipment, the
sky truly is the limit for the designs you
can offer to your customers.
There are few barriers to entering the
awards and trophy market. Of course,
you'll want to evaluate the competitive
environment and make sure you have a
good understanding of the time, process
and technology involved in adding these
products to your offering.

a sublimation printer when you put it to use
on trophies and awards. You can print in full
color on aluminum, for example, which can
be applied to plaque bases. Other materials
not traditionally associated with awards,
such as slate and ceramic tile, can be fabricated to make one-of-a-kind recognition
pieces. Look for other unique ways to fabricate participation awards, like with military
dog tags and ribbons.
You also may already have a UV-LED
printer in your shop, which will be a tremendous asset. With these printers, you
can produce amazingly vivid images on a
wide variety of substrates beyond apparel.
UV-LED printers have the advantage
of laying down bright white ink, and
don't require substrates to be pre-coated.

With new materials
and the latest
in technological
equipment, the sky
truly is the limit
for the designs
you can offer to
your customers.

Invest in New Technology
Many trophy and awards shops find a
rotary or laser engraver a worthy investment. Lasers can help you produce not
only trophies and awards, but also signage
and personalized products and gift items.
They also use the same graphics software, such as CorelDRAW and Adobe

This acrylic star award is hand
finished from acrylic stock for a
frosty white engraving. All photos
courtesy of Johnson Plastics.

Repurpose Existing Equipment
If you're in the apparel business and you're
already sublimating, you're off to a great
start. With just a sublimation printer and
a heat press, you can sublimate plaques and
awards in full color without any additional
investments.
If you're an apparel decorator offering
screen printing and embroidery, but don't
have sublimation capabilities, you have an
opportunity to buy new technology that also
could be useful in your apparel business.
You can really push your creativity with
A Supplement to Impressions

Spring 2017 * 13
Impressions - Team & Spirit Apparel - Spring 2017

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