We were asked by SanMar to create and print a design with their new Port & Company® – Essential Pigment-Dyed Tee – PC099. Distressed graphics printed with discharge ink would always be my first choice when working with pigment-dyed tees as the soft hand and subtle “grunge” is a natural fit for the washed and faded look inherent to the garment. The…
The CEO of American Apparel Paula Schneider says, “This is the start of a new day at American Apparel.” This is in regards to them (as expected) exiting Chapter 11 Bankruptcy at the end of last week. So ends any value to stock that was held and they are now a privately held company, American…
Before the Sacramento Kings basketball game February 1, the players were wearing shirts celebrating Black History Month. However, in the stands they had about 20,000 shirts with monkeys on them. Not intentionally rude (as they celebrated the upcoming Chinese New Year on February 8th), but utterly clueless. You would have to be living in a…
It was announced by the Washington Business Journal this week that CustomInk bought Represent. Represent is about celebrities (and others) selling t-shirts to make money for charity. Their most well-known shirt being FUCK CANCER by some celebrity actor dude. Reportedly CustomInk paid $100 million for Represent which is owned by basketball star Kobe Bryant and other LA…
So, we all get asked to fold and bag shirts on occasion. For us, it might only be once a month or so… which does not necessitate purchasing a folding machine. When we do get asked, we are usually being asked to fold thousands of shirts however. Trying to get a floppy shirt into a…
There is an interesting article at brandchannel.com about Dov Charney, now that he appears to be permanently ousted from the company he started, American Apparel. They report that an investment firm may back him in starting a new garment company. Their advice is basically don’t be bitter and grow up. Not bad advice I suppose…but…
Printing on shirts is rarely perfect. The question is really how imperfect is it going to be. Part of keeping your customers happy does not happen on the production floor, it happens in the office. Much of what will cause you to have an happy customer later is to manage their expectations up front. Our…
The “CA Faux Appliqué” design which we printed live at ISS Long Beach garnered tremendous attention. The Hirsch booth was swamped with folks wanting samples and of course wanting to know “how’s it printed?”. Questions ranged from “do you do the stitching before the print?” or “that’s not really ink, is it?” to “what’s your EOM on the…
The New York Times has reported that a bankruptcy judge in the American Apparel bankruptcy reorganization case has ruled out Dov Charney’s 11th hour appeal for a different plan and this will leave Señor Charney out of the company on all levels. The Times reported however, “The judge expressed sympathy for Mr. Charney. “I have no…
If you keep your ears open and wits about you, there are so many smart people in this industry to learn from. Depending on the timing and your mental attitude you can take some of the advice as superficial or profound. Here are a few of my zen master moments after ISS Long Beach and…
