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WB/CAMP 2019: Danny Gruninger, of Denver Print House

Danny Gruninger, of Denver Print House, discusses the joys and headaches of water-based print production…

Misprint Monday: Pantone Sucks

Ah, Pantone, how I despise you and let me count the ways: The color guide books are expensive as hell considering how many books they sell and the fact that in our industry and others I presume they also get licensing fees for inks that match their Pantone colors. The cost means that not only…

Farm Aid 2019: Lots of Merch

We manage the merch for Farm Aid at their big benefit concert once a year. With great anticipation we’ll see how we do today. We get some of the anxiety that has us relating to the tough job farmers have, will it rain and ruin sales, will it be sunny and we sell more cowboy…

Wanna Design Like Draplin?

If you were at ThreadX19 you were probably blown away by keynote speaker Aaron Draplin, like we were. Did you know that you can take online classes taught by Draplin on the Skillshare platform? The Design Like Draplin: 21 Tips for Speeding Up Your Design Workflow class is a great one to start with, but there…

The Totally, All-New, Impressions Shop Talk, Hosted by Ink Kitchen

We were thrilled to host Impressions Shop Talk at ISS Long Beach 2019.  Thanks to our collaboration with Impressions and the participation of our good friends we were able to present some of the best and brightest minds to the industry in a fun and candid format.  Perhaps you were there, maybe you weren’t, either…

Fortune Favors the Bold

In business school I learned that Opportunity Discovery is one form of entrepreneurial opportunity. If demand exists and supply is not being met, that’s an entrepreneurial opportunity. A 22-year old Michigan college student is making the most of the state’s new recreational use marijuana law to run a t-shirt business that sells expensive t-shirts and…

Farm Aid 2018, Simple Design Lessons

Let’s start with the conclusion, which is that simple prints done well sell best. I coordinate the merchandise for Farm Aid (farmaid.org) every year, Farm Aid works to support family farmers and they put on a yearly concert that features Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp and other artists who this year included…

Breasts and Bellies

My buddy KC Hruby has created a few imaginary designs in order to protect the innocent. Today’s subject relates to mock ups of designs and how one must imagine all the folks that might be eventually wearing the shirts. We have run into quite a number of instances where a perfectly innocent design was going…

More or Bigger is Not Always Better

Funny ad for sublimation I got in my email box today. “Which Do You Prefer?” I would say that most people over the age of 11 prefer the one on the left. Simple is usually better with clothing. Some people can rock a big yellow dashiki or a full color all-over super hero, but most…

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Merch 2018, What’s Shakin’ for Trends

It always is interesting to look around and see what people are wearing for printed t-shirts. The research is extensive at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival where close to 500,000 people of all ages will attend and most of them are wearing t-shirts. The general trends continue to be very simple designs, one…

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