T-shirt printing is typically the physical process of pressing an ink gelatin through a polyester mesh onto a shirt and creating a physical bond between the typically plastic ink and the fibers on the t-shirt. Because the inks themselves are pigments, they are resting on top of the fiber versus a dye which would be embedded with the fiber. A discharge ink is considered a dye because it removes the dye that is giving a shirt a color. In order to put a color on a t-shirt you need to embed a pigment. The pigment themselves are natural in that all color comes from organic materials, but the carriers, the solutions that the inks are printed with art typically plastisol or acrylic. Water based inks are acrylics, generally, with the exception of discharge inks, and therefore they harden around the fiber and the only difference between acrylics and plastisol is that plastisol hardens with heat and hardens quicker. My work is based on literally embedding particles, smaller and smaller, into the fibers so that the physical bond of the color is with the fiber itself and not with the plastic mediums that hold the color in them.
Why, oh why do I find these things to try and turn the world of printing upside down? I don't know what, but I am not happy with the idea that water-based inks are considered more natural than plastisol, when they are just as much as plastic themselves. Printing directly with pigments that create a physical bond inside the fiber of the garment is a direct process that can eliminate the chemicals that are typically considered "bad" for screenprinting. I don't have a name for this stuff yet, but the concept to me is simliar to sand painting and therefore the t-shirts with this type of design should not be considered as permanent. Just like you don't expect your vegetables to last forever, you should not expect your t-shirt designs to last forever.
The harsh reality comes down to the question of will this cost more? T heoretically less materials should result in less expenses and translate into less cost for the consumer. The problem, and this is how we getcha' is that there is more immediate handling of the inks and shirts, so it may be a product that cost more, as far as, time on the press, handling and dry time. Personally, I don't care about the cost from an individual printing my own work standpoint, but from the consumer's standpoint this could be an issue. I like the concept though because it takes me back to my original expertise, which is from photography, and the idea that the pigments make the design is also similar to how the silver pigments in film and photo-sensitized paper is what makes the image appear in photographs. I am now conceiving a print of very fine particles of graphite on a t-shirt, without a gelatin emulsion carrier, being embedded into a white t-shirt with a physical bond between the fibers and the graphite making the print stay. This is a truly archival print and until the cotton or the graphite are disturbed, nothing should break them down besides atmospheric conditions and atomic decay.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Printing shirts so that the design will wash out? - Label Free T-shirts
Every now and then something comes up that is different, like long sleeve t-shirts or discharge inks for t-shirt printing. This year is proving to be the year of the private label t-shirt with many companies selling the same thing, but with a different label. The market is now expecting even the smallest of designers to provide a private label t-shirt, as if they were a large company manufacturing every stage of the final product, even though they are simply printing a design on a manufactured product. The way to succeed in t-shirt printing is to brand yourself and by printing your own company logo or brand into the graphic and t-shirt let's people know that you are what you sell. The problem in the past has been figuring out how to get that label into your own t-shirts without having to make thousands of t-shirts and without manufacturing thousands of t-shirts in advance of when you actually need them.
The context of the wash out design concept is to reduce the life expectancy of the shirt and to limit the period of time that the manufacturer is responsible for the t-shirt. Let's assume that you are in the vintage clothing business and therefore you are selling items that are not new and thus they are being resold. A t-shirt with a private label is the same type of product, but the relabeling process is by itself creating a secondary market for a product that gives it a new and second life. If the design of the original manufacturer can be torn out or washes out, then that should be an acceptable process for relabeling a product, because it has also undergone a change of ownership with the second owner in the same way that a vintage clothing store is reselling clothes that have been owned before and therefore should not be required to list the same information that was required in the clothing's first life as a new product.
As a t-shirt printer the most important information that I need in a t-shirt is the size and cotton content. I work in a pretty limited range of materials, so 90% of the products I use are 100% cotton and a few t-shirts are 50/50 or a blend of some combination of cotton and polyester. When I sell t-shirts as a retailer the most important information is the size and the brand, which sometimes indicates the type of cut of a t-shirt. Still most of my retail t-shirts are 100% cotton and some heather t-shirts are 50-50 blends. If a shirt is sold with a life expectancy of one wearing, then the labeling instructions should only need to be included with the garment for the period of time. The idea here is that a tear away tag with the basic information is sufficient until the garment is sold and a size and company brand information could be printed with ink that will wash out after the first use or when the shirt ends up in the wash for the first time.
In this case the first owner is the printer, who buys and embellishes the shirt with a screen printed design and may or may not remove the care instructions in favor of printing their own brand name. At that point the life expectancy of the blank t-shirt is complete from the manufacturer's standpoint. The new owner is the printer who can choose to brand the product to whatever degree they feel comfortable with. As a retailer I can choose to leave the tear away care label, which should also have the country of origin and size, while advertising the fact that the label can be removed easily by tearing it from the t-shirt. By printing the size with ink that can wash out, then a printer can remove the label on their own and still be able to tell the size of the shirt, while proceeding with screen printing their own design which may include their own company or brand information. As the new owner it would be up to them to decide how much information should go on the t-shirts that they are selling, depending on the life expectancy of the garment for their market.
The context of the wash out design concept is to reduce the life expectancy of the shirt and to limit the period of time that the manufacturer is responsible for the t-shirt. Let's assume that you are in the vintage clothing business and therefore you are selling items that are not new and thus they are being resold. A t-shirt with a private label is the same type of product, but the relabeling process is by itself creating a secondary market for a product that gives it a new and second life. If the design of the original manufacturer can be torn out or washes out, then that should be an acceptable process for relabeling a product, because it has also undergone a change of ownership with the second owner in the same way that a vintage clothing store is reselling clothes that have been owned before and therefore should not be required to list the same information that was required in the clothing's first life as a new product.
As a t-shirt printer the most important information that I need in a t-shirt is the size and cotton content. I work in a pretty limited range of materials, so 90% of the products I use are 100% cotton and a few t-shirts are 50/50 or a blend of some combination of cotton and polyester. When I sell t-shirts as a retailer the most important information is the size and the brand, which sometimes indicates the type of cut of a t-shirt. Still most of my retail t-shirts are 100% cotton and some heather t-shirts are 50-50 blends. If a shirt is sold with a life expectancy of one wearing, then the labeling instructions should only need to be included with the garment for the period of time. The idea here is that a tear away tag with the basic information is sufficient until the garment is sold and a size and company brand information could be printed with ink that will wash out after the first use or when the shirt ends up in the wash for the first time.
In this case the first owner is the printer, who buys and embellishes the shirt with a screen printed design and may or may not remove the care instructions in favor of printing their own brand name. At that point the life expectancy of the blank t-shirt is complete from the manufacturer's standpoint. The new owner is the printer who can choose to brand the product to whatever degree they feel comfortable with. As a retailer I can choose to leave the tear away care label, which should also have the country of origin and size, while advertising the fact that the label can be removed easily by tearing it from the t-shirt. By printing the size with ink that can wash out, then a printer can remove the label on their own and still be able to tell the size of the shirt, while proceeding with screen printing their own design which may include their own company or brand information. As the new owner it would be up to them to decide how much information should go on the t-shirts that they are selling, depending on the life expectancy of the garment for their market.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Another Year and Another Batch of T-shirt Companies
It's hard to choose the players this year from the new crop of contenders, but the overwhelming drive in the market is going to be based on having an inventory of blank t-shirts in the proximity of the customer to reduce shipping cost. The other variables that are starting to create alternatives are cheaper Made in the USA t-shirts that are fitted, as well as, basic t-shirts for your every day low cost t-shirt job. T-shirt contractors are also finding new ways to market their services, so the end result of that type of competition should drive down the price for contract screen printing jobs.
Being the cheapest printer on the block has never been a goal of mine, but if I can put together the right suppliers for the wide range of techniques that are required to compete in the t-shirt industry these days, then I can offer a wider array of services from different parts of the country. Turnaround times are also based on the supply chain of t-shirts to the printer who can do the job the best, but doubling the shipping time and potential cost of getting the shirts to the printer and from the printer to the customer just cost more than the services themselves.
My other option is to station myself, as a t-shirt printer, right next to my favorite suppliers in different parts of the country and price my goods based on transit cost versus cost of the t-shirts themselves.
Basically my business structure makes me a T-shirt Pimp. As a pimp my job is to get to you the T-shirt styles that you need to fill your order and make your customers happy. I'm not biased in a business sense to one t-shirt brand or another except for the fact that there has to be a certain profit margin and demand for any particular brand of shirts to make it worthwhile to sell them. Choosing amongst the legion of brands that are now readily available will help my potential customers reach a decision about what they are going to buy and when all is said and done, we all want our jobs to be easy.
Now comes the tricky part; making a convenient structure upon which to compare apples to apples with and oranges to oranges. 90% of shirt sales are of Mens styles, also known as Unisex, so any brand we are going to list my be based off the Mens style and preferably have a Womens matching style to go with the Mens line, but the Mens style numbers are the first line of comparison. Secondly, the styles within the brands are a bit confusing, but "Standard-Cut" and "Fitted-Cut" seem to be applicable phrases that best describe the style differences within brands. The Standard Cut t-shirts are the "Full-Sized" larger, boxy, thicker types of t-shirts that were commonly on the market in the 80's and 90's, but slowly became old school in the early 2000's as more and more fitted styles came into the market.
Price, Weight and the type of cotton are additional variables, but these can be compared more easily in that they have numerical variables that allow us to make some sense of them, versus the description of a "thicker collar" and "longer look" types of qualities.
The weight of fabric is usually measured in ounces per square inch with 4.0 oz per sq inch being on the low side and 6.0 oz per sq inch being on the high side.
Ring-spun cotton or open-ended cotton. If a description does not say "Ring-spun" which is more refined cotton and of a higher grade of cotton. The alternative to ringspun cotton is generally open-ended cotton which is less refined and therefore not as soft, nor as expensive. Lighter t-shirts are often made with ring-spun cotton because they can knit tighter fabric configurations that allow for a lighter final product. If you are looking for soft you have to get ringspun cotton, which cost more, or work with the lighter fitted t-shirts generally.
Price is always the final determining factor whether people want to admit it or not and basically you get what you pay for these days. The cheapest scenario I can offer is a white t-shirt in the $1.50 range that is open-ended cotton, standard cut, at about 5.4 oz per sq inch, which are the stats for a basic cheap t-shirt. The other end of the scale is a 4.0 oz per square inch fitted ring spun cotton t-shirt in the $6-8 price range. That's the high and the low of it, so if you mix and match these basic descriptive terms you should be able to have an idea of what you are dealing with when comparing one t-shirt to another.
Other variables that can effect the final price is country of origin, which means is it Made in the USA (more expensive even for United States deliveries) or made somewhere else in the world, like Pakistan, Haiti, Central America or even China or Turkey.
Availability is the most important variable that nobody mentions, because most distributors would like to think they have everything all the time, but they don't and often when it comes time to fill an order, the item that was the cheapest has sold out and won't be in for a couple of months.
Tear away tags, sewn in tags or labels that have been heat transfered or printed into the collar of the t-shirt. Hanes for example promotes their tagless t-shirts, but the tag has been transfered or printed inside the collar and they act like it's a good thing, it's not. After we have purchased a shirt we don't really want to be reminded of the brand unless it is a status symbol, which Hanes is not a status symbol. Tear Away tags have grown in popularity because they can be removed and the company name can be printed onto the shirts for the final company using the shirts, like a private label. People often call me and ask for t-shirt that are completely blank, no label, but then I ask, "how would you know what size it is?"
Still as a consumer of t-shirts you will need to purchase actual t-shirts and put them through the wash and wear cycle to get the feelling on what is the right t-shirt for you. I can have two customers tell me exactly opposite things about the same t-shirt when it comes to the final fit, amount of shrinkage, colors fading, printability and the myriad of other characteristics that make every consumer a critic these days. So break out your wallet and buy some samples before placing a large order to make sure that you are ordering the right t-shirt for your customer or job.
Coming up Next: A survey of the available t-shirt brands.
Being the cheapest printer on the block has never been a goal of mine, but if I can put together the right suppliers for the wide range of techniques that are required to compete in the t-shirt industry these days, then I can offer a wider array of services from different parts of the country. Turnaround times are also based on the supply chain of t-shirts to the printer who can do the job the best, but doubling the shipping time and potential cost of getting the shirts to the printer and from the printer to the customer just cost more than the services themselves.
My other option is to station myself, as a t-shirt printer, right next to my favorite suppliers in different parts of the country and price my goods based on transit cost versus cost of the t-shirts themselves.
Basically my business structure makes me a T-shirt Pimp. As a pimp my job is to get to you the T-shirt styles that you need to fill your order and make your customers happy. I'm not biased in a business sense to one t-shirt brand or another except for the fact that there has to be a certain profit margin and demand for any particular brand of shirts to make it worthwhile to sell them. Choosing amongst the legion of brands that are now readily available will help my potential customers reach a decision about what they are going to buy and when all is said and done, we all want our jobs to be easy.
Now comes the tricky part; making a convenient structure upon which to compare apples to apples with and oranges to oranges. 90% of shirt sales are of Mens styles, also known as Unisex, so any brand we are going to list my be based off the Mens style and preferably have a Womens matching style to go with the Mens line, but the Mens style numbers are the first line of comparison. Secondly, the styles within the brands are a bit confusing, but "Standard-Cut" and "Fitted-Cut" seem to be applicable phrases that best describe the style differences within brands. The Standard Cut t-shirts are the "Full-Sized" larger, boxy, thicker types of t-shirts that were commonly on the market in the 80's and 90's, but slowly became old school in the early 2000's as more and more fitted styles came into the market.
Price, Weight and the type of cotton are additional variables, but these can be compared more easily in that they have numerical variables that allow us to make some sense of them, versus the description of a "thicker collar" and "longer look" types of qualities.
The weight of fabric is usually measured in ounces per square inch with 4.0 oz per sq inch being on the low side and 6.0 oz per sq inch being on the high side.
Ring-spun cotton or open-ended cotton. If a description does not say "Ring-spun" which is more refined cotton and of a higher grade of cotton. The alternative to ringspun cotton is generally open-ended cotton which is less refined and therefore not as soft, nor as expensive. Lighter t-shirts are often made with ring-spun cotton because they can knit tighter fabric configurations that allow for a lighter final product. If you are looking for soft you have to get ringspun cotton, which cost more, or work with the lighter fitted t-shirts generally.
Price is always the final determining factor whether people want to admit it or not and basically you get what you pay for these days. The cheapest scenario I can offer is a white t-shirt in the $1.50 range that is open-ended cotton, standard cut, at about 5.4 oz per sq inch, which are the stats for a basic cheap t-shirt. The other end of the scale is a 4.0 oz per square inch fitted ring spun cotton t-shirt in the $6-8 price range. That's the high and the low of it, so if you mix and match these basic descriptive terms you should be able to have an idea of what you are dealing with when comparing one t-shirt to another.
Other variables that can effect the final price is country of origin, which means is it Made in the USA (more expensive even for United States deliveries) or made somewhere else in the world, like Pakistan, Haiti, Central America or even China or Turkey.
Availability is the most important variable that nobody mentions, because most distributors would like to think they have everything all the time, but they don't and often when it comes time to fill an order, the item that was the cheapest has sold out and won't be in for a couple of months.
Tear away tags, sewn in tags or labels that have been heat transfered or printed into the collar of the t-shirt. Hanes for example promotes their tagless t-shirts, but the tag has been transfered or printed inside the collar and they act like it's a good thing, it's not. After we have purchased a shirt we don't really want to be reminded of the brand unless it is a status symbol, which Hanes is not a status symbol. Tear Away tags have grown in popularity because they can be removed and the company name can be printed onto the shirts for the final company using the shirts, like a private label. People often call me and ask for t-shirt that are completely blank, no label, but then I ask, "how would you know what size it is?"
Still as a consumer of t-shirts you will need to purchase actual t-shirts and put them through the wash and wear cycle to get the feelling on what is the right t-shirt for you. I can have two customers tell me exactly opposite things about the same t-shirt when it comes to the final fit, amount of shrinkage, colors fading, printability and the myriad of other characteristics that make every consumer a critic these days. So break out your wallet and buy some samples before placing a large order to make sure that you are ordering the right t-shirt for your customer or job.
Coming up Next: A survey of the available t-shirt brands.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
T-shirts in the news
Here is an almost worst case scenario for a t-shirt printing company:
Giants cancel order for Melky Cabrera T-shirts for fan giveaway
"The San Francisco Giants canceled an order for 20,000 Melky Cabrera T-shirts just in time.
Giants spokeswoman Staci Slaughter said Tuesday that the order was stopped just before printing after Cabrera received a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball last Wednesday following his positive test of testosterone. "
It doesn't get much worse than that. Just the restocking fee would kill me, plus the cost of transporting the shirts to the print shop. Bummer Dude. I am mostly worried about the poor, poor Milk Maids, girls who go the Giant's Games dressed as Dairy Chicks. What are they going to do with their outfits?
What has changed in the t-shirt world?
Every day I get up and do the same thing, look at artwork, place t-shirt orders, check inventory and so on. Sometimes I think it is going to be different today, something is going to happen to make t-shirts come alive and print themselves. Or my designs are going to get inducted into the Museum of Modern Art in some large international city. Maybe I will get a huge order from a mainstream company that I can work on for the rest of my life, maybe, maybe not. Nothing changes that fast and nothing has been significantly different for a few years.
I have expanded my collection of fitted t-shirts on yque.com and blanktshirt.com, no biggie. The prices have come down a bit to the $4-5 range for a decent Next Level 3600 fitted t-shirt. V-necks have come into fashion in a strong way, but not for huge custom orders. I've been playing with spray paint stencil designs, but nobody is really a fan of that except me. Prices have gone up a bit due to some droughts, but have come back down this year. I would be surprised to see a rise in prices next year if the drought in the United States hits the cotton crop.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Other Markets and Why Aren't Trade Shows Outdated?
Trade shows are outdated, but I still feel the need to go to them every now and again as both a buyer and seller. There are other markets these days like eBay, Etsy or even your own website, but the fashion business still seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and thousands of people march around the world to trade shows all year around in the hopes of finding something somebody else hasn't already found. The money and expense of the booth, the travel and the display all add to the cost of these products. When the internet was evolving, I thought trade shows would die out quickly, but instead they are dying a slow agonizing death. The internet has not completely replaced the tactile nature of picking up and seeing products first hand, but still there are fewer and fewer people attending most trade shows as buyers and sellers.
Some trade shows have closed, like the Action Sports show that used to be in San Diego. It was a paradise of bikini models and free stickers from all the trendy skateboard companies vying for attention. This was more of a party than a trade show, so it was only a matter of time for this type of wasteland to go away, but I do miss it now that it's gone.
eBay has been a big let down as a place to sell wholesale as the prices that they charge are too expensive to maintain and the customers don't really buy in a large volume. I tried selling stuff on eBay for a few years and the fees just got higher and higher, then they purchased paypal and things got worse, not better. Double dipping is what I call it as they make money from the sale and the transaction, which ends up costing both the consumer and seller in the form of higher prices. Then the cycle continues as higher prices mean lower volumes until everything is retail.
Etsy seemed to be like a place where fun stuff could be sold, but again, it ends up being more retail than wholesale types of transactions, if any transactions are made. The format is interesting, but without some sales that convert it seems like a showcase for quirky things.
Amazon is another good idea that has turned into a monster. I worked with their marketplace and attempted to sell a few things, but their fees are impossible and anything that you create as a niche on Amazon will most likely be sold by Amazon in a matter of months, or right before you make any significant money, because they steal every market that is created on their system. I even considered having them ship and store products for me, but they it is like paying them rent to steal your business because if your business is any good at all, (and they will know from the data), they'll just sell the products themselves at a lower price.
Running my own website works, but having to field tons of calls from people who don't know what they want can drive you crazy. With the advent of smart phones people have gotten dumber because they don't read the information that is posted on the web since their screen is too small. Now most of the answers I have to give on the phone are like, "Have you gone to the website?" or "If you click on the item you will see more details about that product". I am the first to admit that my website isn't organized that well, but I have noticed a decline in the relevance of the types of questions I get that will actually influence a sale with the increase in the popularity of smart phones.
Wholesale margins have shrunk over time and even the cost of fees charged by the credit card processors and website hosting services have a significant effect on transacting wholesale business online. I was glad to hear that the credit card companies are being forced to pay a large settlement, but there is no way to get ahead of system when it comes to fees and charges that drive a company into the red. Fraud is the other problem with the internet and although there are ways to reduce credit card fraud it is a constant battle. For example, some of my largest orders in the past have been to international companies in Australia, France, Germany or Japan, but in order to do a wholesale order I only do wire transfers. Well in order to get a wire transfer you have to give the person your bank information, which is risky in and of itself. There is not way to stop a chargeback with a credit card, so that is a bad way to do international business and checks, well let's not even go there. It is hard to trust anyone when it comes to international orders and in the end it is easier to just ignore this large potential market than to take the risk for such small markups.Trade shows are outdated, but I still feel the need to go to them every now and again as both a buyer and seller. There are other markets these days like eBay, Etsy or even your own website, but the fashion business still seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and thousands of people march around the world to trade shows all year around in the hopes of finding something somebody else hasn't already found. The money and expense of the booth, the travel and the display all add to the cost of these products. When the internet was evolving, I thought trade shows would die out quickly, but instead they are dying a slow agonizing death. The internet has not completely replaced the tactile nature of picking up and seeing products first hand, but still there are fewer and fewer people attending most trade shows as buyers and sellers.
Some trade shows have closed, like the Action Sports show that used to be in San Diego. It was a paradise of bikini models and free stickers from all the trendy skateboard companies vying for attention. This was more of a party than a trade show, so it was only a matter of time for this type of wasteland to go away, but I do miss it now that it's gone.
eBay has been a big let down as a place to sell wholesale as the prices that they charge are too expensive to maintain and the customers don't really buy in a large volume. I tried selling stuff on eBay for a few years and the fees just got higher and higher, then they purchased paypal and things got worse, not better. Double dipping is what I call it as they make money from the sale and the transaction, which ends up costing both the consumer and seller in the form of higher prices. Then the cycle continues as higher prices mean lower volumes until everything is retail.
Etsy seemed to be like a place where fun stuff could be sold, but again, it ends up being more retail than wholesale types of transactions, if any transactions are made. The format is interesting, but without some sales that convert it seems like a showcase for quirky things.
Amazon is another good idea that has turned into a monster. I worked with their marketplace and attempted to sell a few things, but their fees are impossible and anything that you create as a niche on Amazon will most likely be sold by Amazon in a matter of months, or right before you make any significant money, because they steal every market that is created on their system. I even considered having them ship and store products for me, but they it is like paying them rent to steal your business because if your business is any good at all, (and they will know from the data), they'll just sell the products themselves at a lower price.
Running my own website works, but having to field tons of calls from people who don't know what they want can drive you crazy. With the advent of smart phones people have gotten dumber because they don't read the information that is posted on the web since their screen is too small. Now most of the answers I have to give on the phone are like, "Have you gone to the website?" or "If you click on the item you will see more details about that product". I am the first to admit that my website isn't organized that well, but I have noticed a decline in the relevance of the types of questions I get that will actually influence a sale with the increase in the popularity of smart phones.
Wholesale margins have shrunk over time and even the cost of fees charged by the credit card processors and website hosting services have a significant effect on transacting wholesale business online. I was glad to hear that the credit card companies are being forced to pay a large settlement, but there is no way to get ahead of system when it comes to fees and charges that drive a company into the red. Fraud is the other problem with the internet and although there are ways to reduce credit card fraud it is a constant battle. For example, some of my largest orders in the past have been to international companies in Australia, France, Germany or Japan, but in order to do a wholesale order I only do wire transfers. Well in order to get a wire transfer you have to give the person your bank information, which is risky in and of itself. There is not way to stop a chargeback with a credit card, so that is a bad way to do international business and checks, well let's not even go there. It is hard to trust anyone when it comes to international orders and in the end it is easier to just ignore this large potential market than to take the risk for such small markups.
Even though there are new and interesting ways to market products the benefits of seeing a product firsthand and meeting a company, before you do business with them, still seems the safest way to keep the ball rolling with wholesale clothing companies. Admittedly I still order from the same companies that I have dealt with over the years, at least the ones that are still in business. My business model has changed, but I have not been able to duplicate the success that I once had in wholesale, by attending trade shows, with my wholesale enterprise through the internet. Simultaneously my expenses have decreased too, so I also don't have to go to a show and make huge sales just to survive, but I do miss those big paydays and larger orders. The margins of dealing online with 3rd party companies that are also competitors has changed the game to where processing cost and shipping are the largest expenses in business. Fraud is a limiting factor and finally even if I find a great product by attending a trade show, the larger companies also find these products and buy out the stock with their deep pockets before I can get a decent market built for the product in my retail store or online. This makes it impossible to profit from products that are a "hit" since you can't get them when you need them. The only way to profit from the next "Big Thing" is to make the next "Big Thing" and control the production. This could be through private labeling or through production of unique items, but there isn't a easy way to profit by just reselling and stocking fashion and accessory items that aren't commodities like blank t-shirts.
Some trade shows have closed, like the Action Sports show that used to be in San Diego. It was a paradise of bikini models and free stickers from all the trendy skateboard companies vying for attention. This was more of a party than a trade show, so it was only a matter of time for this type of wasteland to go away, but I do miss it now that it's gone.
eBay has been a big let down as a place to sell wholesale as the prices that they charge are too expensive to maintain and the customers don't really buy in a large volume. I tried selling stuff on eBay for a few years and the fees just got higher and higher, then they purchased paypal and things got worse, not better. Double dipping is what I call it as they make money from the sale and the transaction, which ends up costing both the consumer and seller in the form of higher prices. Then the cycle continues as higher prices mean lower volumes until everything is retail.
Etsy seemed to be like a place where fun stuff could be sold, but again, it ends up being more retail than wholesale types of transactions, if any transactions are made. The format is interesting, but without some sales that convert it seems like a showcase for quirky things.
Amazon is another good idea that has turned into a monster. I worked with their marketplace and attempted to sell a few things, but their fees are impossible and anything that you create as a niche on Amazon will most likely be sold by Amazon in a matter of months, or right before you make any significant money, because they steal every market that is created on their system. I even considered having them ship and store products for me, but they it is like paying them rent to steal your business because if your business is any good at all, (and they will know from the data), they'll just sell the products themselves at a lower price.
Running my own website works, but having to field tons of calls from people who don't know what they want can drive you crazy. With the advent of smart phones people have gotten dumber because they don't read the information that is posted on the web since their screen is too small. Now most of the answers I have to give on the phone are like, "Have you gone to the website?" or "If you click on the item you will see more details about that product". I am the first to admit that my website isn't organized that well, but I have noticed a decline in the relevance of the types of questions I get that will actually influence a sale with the increase in the popularity of smart phones.
Wholesale margins have shrunk over time and even the cost of fees charged by the credit card processors and website hosting services have a significant effect on transacting wholesale business online. I was glad to hear that the credit card companies are being forced to pay a large settlement, but there is no way to get ahead of system when it comes to fees and charges that drive a company into the red. Fraud is the other problem with the internet and although there are ways to reduce credit card fraud it is a constant battle. For example, some of my largest orders in the past have been to international companies in Australia, France, Germany or Japan, but in order to do a wholesale order I only do wire transfers. Well in order to get a wire transfer you have to give the person your bank information, which is risky in and of itself. There is not way to stop a chargeback with a credit card, so that is a bad way to do international business and checks, well let's not even go there. It is hard to trust anyone when it comes to international orders and in the end it is easier to just ignore this large potential market than to take the risk for such small markups.Trade shows are outdated, but I still feel the need to go to them every now and again as both a buyer and seller. There are other markets these days like eBay, Etsy or even your own website, but the fashion business still seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and thousands of people march around the world to trade shows all year around in the hopes of finding something somebody else hasn't already found. The money and expense of the booth, the travel and the display all add to the cost of these products. When the internet was evolving, I thought trade shows would die out quickly, but instead they are dying a slow agonizing death. The internet has not completely replaced the tactile nature of picking up and seeing products first hand, but still there are fewer and fewer people attending most trade shows as buyers and sellers.
Some trade shows have closed, like the Action Sports show that used to be in San Diego. It was a paradise of bikini models and free stickers from all the trendy skateboard companies vying for attention. This was more of a party than a trade show, so it was only a matter of time for this type of wasteland to go away, but I do miss it now that it's gone.
eBay has been a big let down as a place to sell wholesale as the prices that they charge are too expensive to maintain and the customers don't really buy in a large volume. I tried selling stuff on eBay for a few years and the fees just got higher and higher, then they purchased paypal and things got worse, not better. Double dipping is what I call it as they make money from the sale and the transaction, which ends up costing both the consumer and seller in the form of higher prices. Then the cycle continues as higher prices mean lower volumes until everything is retail.
Etsy seemed to be like a place where fun stuff could be sold, but again, it ends up being more retail than wholesale types of transactions, if any transactions are made. The format is interesting, but without some sales that convert it seems like a showcase for quirky things.
Amazon is another good idea that has turned into a monster. I worked with their marketplace and attempted to sell a few things, but their fees are impossible and anything that you create as a niche on Amazon will most likely be sold by Amazon in a matter of months, or right before you make any significant money, because they steal every market that is created on their system. I even considered having them ship and store products for me, but they it is like paying them rent to steal your business because if your business is any good at all, (and they will know from the data), they'll just sell the products themselves at a lower price.
Running my own website works, but having to field tons of calls from people who don't know what they want can drive you crazy. With the advent of smart phones people have gotten dumber because they don't read the information that is posted on the web since their screen is too small. Now most of the answers I have to give on the phone are like, "Have you gone to the website?" or "If you click on the item you will see more details about that product". I am the first to admit that my website isn't organized that well, but I have noticed a decline in the relevance of the types of questions I get that will actually influence a sale with the increase in the popularity of smart phones.
Wholesale margins have shrunk over time and even the cost of fees charged by the credit card processors and website hosting services have a significant effect on transacting wholesale business online. I was glad to hear that the credit card companies are being forced to pay a large settlement, but there is no way to get ahead of system when it comes to fees and charges that drive a company into the red. Fraud is the other problem with the internet and although there are ways to reduce credit card fraud it is a constant battle. For example, some of my largest orders in the past have been to international companies in Australia, France, Germany or Japan, but in order to do a wholesale order I only do wire transfers. Well in order to get a wire transfer you have to give the person your bank information, which is risky in and of itself. There is not way to stop a chargeback with a credit card, so that is a bad way to do international business and checks, well let's not even go there. It is hard to trust anyone when it comes to international orders and in the end it is easier to just ignore this large potential market than to take the risk for such small markups.
Even though there are new and interesting ways to market products the benefits of seeing a product firsthand and meeting a company, before you do business with them, still seems the safest way to keep the ball rolling with wholesale clothing companies. Admittedly I still order from the same companies that I have dealt with over the years, at least the ones that are still in business. My business model has changed, but I have not been able to duplicate the success that I once had in wholesale, by attending trade shows, with my wholesale enterprise through the internet. Simultaneously my expenses have decreased too, so I also don't have to go to a show and make huge sales just to survive, but I do miss those big paydays and larger orders. The margins of dealing online with 3rd party companies that are also competitors has changed the game to where processing cost and shipping are the largest expenses in business. Fraud is a limiting factor and finally even if I find a great product by attending a trade show, the larger companies also find these products and buy out the stock with their deep pockets before I can get a decent market built for the product in my retail store or online. This makes it impossible to profit from products that are a "hit" since you can't get them when you need them. The only way to profit from the next "Big Thing" is to make the next "Big Thing" and control the production. This could be through private labeling or through production of unique items, but there isn't a easy way to profit by just reselling and stocking fashion and accessory items that aren't commodities like blank t-shirts.
Convergence of Ideas, Methods and Products
Every year when the Magic trade show rolls around I get anxious. I haven't exhibited in trade shows for years and have limited my wholesale activities to t-shirt printing jobs, blank t-shirts online and a few stores that buy my designs from time to time. Still it is as if the call of the wild is in my bones and I start making things every summer as if I was going to go to the trade show and exhibit my products and be a huge success all over again. When push comes to shove I don't spend the money on a booth and attempt to get some other company to carry my stuff, which never really works out.
Nobody will sell my products like I would and by the time everyone involved gets a piece of the action it just doesn't seem worth it. The draw to trade shows like Magic is to increase the volume of production for some of my products so that I can crank up my capacity and have a steady stream of orders instead of the stop and go that comes from only selling retail. Originally the store in Los Angeles, Y-Que was to be like a wholesale showroom so that I can avoid trade shows altogether, but now it is pretty much retail with a few racks in the back for the wholesale t-shirts I sell online.
I have been mixing my techniques and have been making a bunch of different products/things that are almost ready for market, but it takes thinking about a trade show and actually selling these things to finish them and make them presentable. That is one of the best uses for a trade show is to get products finished into a form that customers may indeed consider carrying in their own store. Here is a scribble image of the assortment of products and accessories that can go with some of the same t-shirt designs that I currently print.
I often make things that are decent, but the finishing touches are missing when I put the items on the shelf and sell them one at a time in Y-Que Trading Post. Sure it's fun, but it's not the same as putting it on a table in a 10 X 10 booth and standing next to a limited number of products while analyzing the gaze of potential buyers to see if they think my "items" are the next big thing. This process is one of the few ways I have made things that I could actually sell to other companies and without that inspiration my products sort of float around the retail store until the sample is gone or broken.
This year I need to break the cycle and approach wholesale manufacturing again, but use the store as if every day is a trade show. My products are almost ready for the market and if I catalog and clean up the loose ends I think I can make a consistent presentation for potential customers that do come into the store looking for the next "thing". My product line includes an assortment of image based products that I have turned into t-shirt designs, key chains, mesh trucker hat designs, magnets and stickers, the usual suspects in a pop-art line of products for retail gift stores. I'll post a sampling of the concepts here just to get the ball rolling.
As far as t-shirts go the main development is to break down the designs into an interface that will allow my retail customers (or wholesale buyers too) to be more particular in their choices by selecting from a wide range of t-shirt brands when purchasing a design. These days everyone is a critic and the availability of fitted and standard cut t-shirts is overwhelming, but most people are very determined to get the exact type of shirt they want. I need to make that happen in my own little world in order to satisfy the demand for different shirts in different markets for different people with my designs. In fact some designs work better on some shirts than others too.
Most people have switched over to fitted t-shirts these days which I call the trendy styles, but older people, 30 years or more, still tend towards the standard cut t-shirts. Young Men in the urban market also go towards the standard cut and larger cut t-shirts like the Alstyle 1301 which I call the skateboarder styles. There is no easy answer for all the reasons why some people like one t-shirt brand over another, but one thing is for sure and that is you can't just offer one type of shirt and think that it is going to work in all markets. Plus people need more information about the t-shirts that they are ordering these days so that they are comfortable with their choice. Nobody wants to be surprised about the fit and color of an item once it shows up in a package at their home or office. The cost of reshipping, making and the time involved are all wasted if a customer does not get the right item the first time.
My goad has been to resolve this without resorting to t-shirt transfer printing, which is an option. I have been modifying Ekay.com to include a wide array of designs, but to also include a Brand Selector. Within each t-shirt design there is going to be a choice of brands and even styles within some of the brands, so that customers can drill down to find the exact style, within reason, for any t-shirt graphic design that I offer. Check it out and excuse the dust while it is being developed. This is sort of my trade show for now.
Nobody will sell my products like I would and by the time everyone involved gets a piece of the action it just doesn't seem worth it. The draw to trade shows like Magic is to increase the volume of production for some of my products so that I can crank up my capacity and have a steady stream of orders instead of the stop and go that comes from only selling retail. Originally the store in Los Angeles, Y-Que was to be like a wholesale showroom so that I can avoid trade shows altogether, but now it is pretty much retail with a few racks in the back for the wholesale t-shirts I sell online.
I have been mixing my techniques and have been making a bunch of different products/things that are almost ready for market, but it takes thinking about a trade show and actually selling these things to finish them and make them presentable. That is one of the best uses for a trade show is to get products finished into a form that customers may indeed consider carrying in their own store. Here is a scribble image of the assortment of products and accessories that can go with some of the same t-shirt designs that I currently print.
I often make things that are decent, but the finishing touches are missing when I put the items on the shelf and sell them one at a time in Y-Que Trading Post. Sure it's fun, but it's not the same as putting it on a table in a 10 X 10 booth and standing next to a limited number of products while analyzing the gaze of potential buyers to see if they think my "items" are the next big thing. This process is one of the few ways I have made things that I could actually sell to other companies and without that inspiration my products sort of float around the retail store until the sample is gone or broken.
This year I need to break the cycle and approach wholesale manufacturing again, but use the store as if every day is a trade show. My products are almost ready for the market and if I catalog and clean up the loose ends I think I can make a consistent presentation for potential customers that do come into the store looking for the next "thing". My product line includes an assortment of image based products that I have turned into t-shirt designs, key chains, mesh trucker hat designs, magnets and stickers, the usual suspects in a pop-art line of products for retail gift stores. I'll post a sampling of the concepts here just to get the ball rolling.
As far as t-shirts go the main development is to break down the designs into an interface that will allow my retail customers (or wholesale buyers too) to be more particular in their choices by selecting from a wide range of t-shirt brands when purchasing a design. These days everyone is a critic and the availability of fitted and standard cut t-shirts is overwhelming, but most people are very determined to get the exact type of shirt they want. I need to make that happen in my own little world in order to satisfy the demand for different shirts in different markets for different people with my designs. In fact some designs work better on some shirts than others too.
Most people have switched over to fitted t-shirts these days which I call the trendy styles, but older people, 30 years or more, still tend towards the standard cut t-shirts. Young Men in the urban market also go towards the standard cut and larger cut t-shirts like the Alstyle 1301 which I call the skateboarder styles. There is no easy answer for all the reasons why some people like one t-shirt brand over another, but one thing is for sure and that is you can't just offer one type of shirt and think that it is going to work in all markets. Plus people need more information about the t-shirts that they are ordering these days so that they are comfortable with their choice. Nobody wants to be surprised about the fit and color of an item once it shows up in a package at their home or office. The cost of reshipping, making and the time involved are all wasted if a customer does not get the right item the first time.
My goad has been to resolve this without resorting to t-shirt transfer printing, which is an option. I have been modifying Ekay.com to include a wide array of designs, but to also include a Brand Selector. Within each t-shirt design there is going to be a choice of brands and even styles within some of the brands, so that customers can drill down to find the exact style, within reason, for any t-shirt graphic design that I offer. Check it out and excuse the dust while it is being developed. This is sort of my trade show for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)