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Top Five Decorated Apparel Money-Making
Niches
Sponsored By:
Webcast Moderator
Nicole Rollender•
Editor, Stitches
magazine, and
Embroidery Business
Insights
and Stitches Small Business
newsletters
• Director of Education for ASI
• E-mail: [email protected]
Welcome
Agenda for today’s session:
1.
Offer strategies to help sell decorated apparel and other items
2.
Top decorating techniques being requested
3.
Five hot (and some unique) markets
4.
Tips for partnering with your digitizer, other decorators and apparel suppliers
5.
Audience Q&A
Webcast Panelist
Jane Yoder•
Owner of Picture It Inc. DBA Wear
Haus
Design; a Woman Minority Owned Business since 2006, Wear Haus
has been in business since 1992
•
Won "Best of Show" in Chicago, three of four shows for her embroidery work
•
Offers laser textile, embroidery, screen printing, logoed
apparel and
promotional products
Webcast Panelist
Michael Savoia•
Owner of Villa Savoia
Inc., a textile
embroidery and embellishing company that serves the national interior design community
• Started his own company in 1992
•
Worked in the interior design industry in showroom sales and as an interior designer for many years
Webcast Panelist
Jerilee
Auclair•
Owner of three companies –
Black
Eagle Designs, Busy Head Creations and Hook Wash
•
Vegan embroiderer (thread and products) for the last two years (in embroidery for 13)
•
Stresses thinking outside the box at every opportunity –
advocates never
being hemmed in by conventional ideals in the embroidery world
Webcast Panelist
David Bebon•
President of JWEB Corporate
Apparel, a division of JWE Designs Inc.
•
28 years of experience in the textile and garment industries
•
Member of Wearables’
editorial advisory board
•
Contributing writer to various trade publications and a seminar presenter
The State of the Decorated Apparel Marketplace*
•
50% of decorators rate the health of the decorated apparel industry in 2008 as “fair”; 33% say it’s “robust”
•
43% of decorators reported increases in decorated apparel sales in 2008
•
42% of decorators invested in new decorating equipment in 2008
•
Decorators say their top three sources of competition are: other local decorators; large decorators selling in their territory; and Web sites offering decorating services
* Results from soon-to-be-released Stitches
State of the Industry Report
Panelist Question: Let’s Talk Trends
What are some apparel and other embellishable
items trends for 2009 that
decorators should be pitching to clients?
Hot Apparel Trends in 2009
•
Value-priced apparel, without sacrificing quality, is generating interest ($10 and under price point)
•
Brands are still hot; new additions to wearables marketplace, such as Adidas
•
All types of performance wear (marry function and form)
•
Sustainable apparel and eco-decoration methods
Hot Apparel Trends in 2009
•
Bright colors in T-shirts and polos, such as yellows, oranges and greens
(reflect reaction to current economic
climate, as after Sept. 11, 2001)
•
Decorators are going regional: for example, Portland, OR. Think snowboarders, bicyclers, hikers, vegans and yuppies. To serve this health-conscious, activist demographic, decorators offer hoodies, fleece-lined nylon shell jackets, fleece made of soda bottles and newsboy caps.
Hot Home Décor Design Trends
Interior designers require rich detail as a sales tool; for example, appliqué
and interpretations
of ethnic patterns.
Hot Home Décor Design Trends
Turkish and Uzbekistani art are very desirable; Michael Savoia
reuses antique fabrics to
embellish new items.
He pulled these images from a tattered panel and created a headboard
panel and a bed skirt.
Hot Home Décor Design Trends
Chair and sofa skirts; leading edges of curtains embellished with beautiful designs
Trend toward modern images; designers are attracted to clean, geometric lines in larger urban areas
Panelist Question: Decorating Techniques
What are some of the hottest new decorating techniques available for promotional
apparel and other blank items right now?
Decorating Techniques
•
Laser etching
•
Embroidery (look to specialty work)
•
Appliqué
•
Screen printing/ digital printing
•
Multimedia
•
More tonal, color-on-color embroidery; embroidery placement still predominately on the left chest and on the right sleeve cuff
Laser Etching on a T-shirt
Laser Etching With Applique
Specialty Embroidery
Screen Printing: Discharge
Panelist Question: Hot Markets
What are some
hot (and unique) markets that decorators should target to sell
decorated apparel and other items to?
Hot Markets•
Education/schools (athletic teams, bands, etc.)
•
Government agencies/ alternative energy-related companies
•
Uniforms (promotional apparel may be suffering in this economic climate; so, focus on businesses that require employees to wear uniforms, such as service industries, hospitality, local YMCAs, etc.)
•
Health care (health-care staff will buy uniforms, lab coats, scrubs, etc.
This includes the standard
fare:
dentists, chiropractors, doctors, hospitals, labs, walk-in clinics and pharmaceutical companies.)
Hot Markets
•
Interior design firms/ home décor market
•
Alternative medicine/ways of healing (massage, Reiki, acupuncture and acupressure, and yoga). Greater acceptance of alternative healing solutions, so embellishments that identify these healing modalities are an up-and-coming market.
Home Décor Market: Monogram
This is a monogram based on a historic document that Jerilee
Auclair
digitized for Michael Savoia. He used cotton thread to give it a more matte appearance and used a distressed cotton velvet to enhance that effect.
Home Décor Market
Display bold monogrammed pillows in your shop.
Tip: When monogramming, fill your border sash frame; for example use 12-inch high and wide monograms on 20-inch square pillows.
Tip: Work with your fonts. Change them to artwork and create grounds and outlines.
Tip: Try a complex fill pattern over a velvet appliqué that is surrounded by rich satin stitches.
Alternative Healing Market Designs
Panelist Question: Go Green
•
Do you see eco-friendly material or decorating options rising this year?
•
What are some techniques decorators can use to capitalize on this trend?
Sell Green
•
Understand the eco-apparel life cycle
(for example: Where is the organic cotton grown? Is it certified? Is the fabric processed in an eco-friendly way? How about the garment dyeing and finishing? How about how it’s shipped?). Clients will want to know that you know these answers.
•
Understand eco-friendly/natural fabrics: for example, organic cotton, bamboo, Tencel, Cocona, recycled polyester, etc.; an important part of the story is many sustainable apparel products and fibers are performance enhanced (moisture wicking and antimicrobial).
Sell Green
•
Look to decorate in eco-friendly ways. Some trends: organic cotton thread; more water-based screen-printing and digital-printing dyes. Know how natural fabrics react to different embellishment options.
•
Who’s buying?
Gyms and spas, health care, hotels and resort, health-food stores, corporations, etc.
Green Trends: Example
•
Hemp and other natural fabrics (especially in home décor market: cotton thread, and natural materials; cotton, wool, silk, cashmere, mohair, linen fabrics and blends)
Panelist Question: Prospecting Techniques
What are some techniques decorators can use to prospect locally or regionally?
Prospecting Techniques
•
Explore www.meetup.com
•
Examine and pitch to the local businesses in your home town and the places where you shop and dine –
think
uniforms.
•
Purchase sample garments and decorate them with your prospect’s logo. Present the apparel on a hanger rather than as a folded garment. Let the prospect experience the garment.
Panelist Question: Selling Strategies
What are the best ways for a decorator to sell more unique or more expensive
decorated work to clients?
Selling Strategies
•
Partner with your digitizer to offer unique design twists (add a design element to a logo) to your clients.
•
Partner with your apparel supplier to create custom looks –
really use your supplier’s resources.
•
Partner with other decorators to offer embellishment techniques you don’t offer, or upscale multimedia looks.
Selling Strategies
•
Find a niche: for example, pet items (think bandannas, collars, leashes, coats, apparel, etc.) If you succeed with a golf course, for example, go to other golf courses in the area and share your success story.
•
Keep good-better-best samples in your shop to sell the better-quality item –
let your clients experience
the garments’
differences.
•
Go regional (again): for example, Portland, OR, where bicyclists need waterproof messenger bags that can be over the shoulder but rest on the back or opposite hip.
Panelist Question: Final Advice
How can decorators educate themselves further on the hottest new decorated apparel and other
embellishable
items trends?
Final Advice
Decorators should:•
be familiar with top supplier catalogs
•
offer clients samples•
bring clients new product ideas that differentiate you from your competition
•
shop the market –
attend trade shows, open houses and regional table-top shows
Audience: Q & A Session
Contact InformationJerilee
Auclair, [email protected]
David Bebon, [email protected] Michael Savoia, [email protected]
Jane Yoder, [email protected]
Nicole Rollender, [email protected]
