I hear a surprising amount of negativity about the Atlantic City Impressions show. If you really check it out there is a lot going on in AC both at the Expo and in the area.
It isn’t the quickest ride from the Philly airport, but with traffic, most of the other shows aren’t exactly close either.
The Atlantic City train station. If you notice, it is the convention center, as the train actually goes into the convention center.
Besides the train, a good part of the Northeast is a reasonable trip by car to the show.
If you are driving from New England to the show, nothing breaks up the trip like a stop at Frank Pepe’s or Sally’s Apizza, two of the best pizza places in the country both a minute off the highway in New Haven, CT;
and then when you get to AC, the best subs in the world are to be found at White House. Show veterans start dreaming about White House for a month before the Expo.
But hey, what about the show itself?
Some of your suppliers will be at the show. There is nothing like seeing them in person as this industry is driven by people and you have to see folks in person to really connect. Check out shirt fabrics (can’t do that on line,) bring all those questions you had about your supplies and equipment, and see what’s new. Talk to your peers, lord knows that your employees and family might be sick of talking business, but your peers are all at the show and usually ready to share tips, tell you what is going on, and maybe even commiserate.
Whether for the ethics, for customer demand or maybe even because of tariffs, you might want to check out your options for USA made goods. Los Angeles Apparel will be there with full lines of fashionable garments, all made in the USA. S&S will be showing Bayside USA made goods and SanMar will be there, talk to them about their Volunteer all USA brand that has some of the deepest inventory we have seen in American made goods for decades.SanMar is on a huge expansion drive with more new styles and more inventory than ever. You want to talk to them and see all they have to offer now from their PSST program to outerware to sustainable styles of garments to new ordering systems. Spend some time with their decorator specialists who will be there and check out all the new lines.Get to the show and do yourself a favor and get your hands on some Jerzees shirts. I think one of the best kept secrets in the industry is that Jerzees is making great shirts at a great price.Hanes now has focus on just Hanes and Comfort Wash lines. Comfort Wash are those oh so popular garment dyed shirts. It is the 50th anniversary of the classic Beefy T and on this occasion check out their upcoming release of an even heavier and bigger shirt. Also see Printgear, a distributor that has the entire Hanes line and more.
S&S and Alphabroder are now one company, nothing like being in-person with them at the AC show to see what this merger will bring to the table.
No matter what you do in the garment industry, you have to see what is available in the transfer world these days. FM Expressions, Stahls, Transfer Express and Howard all have unique solutions to so many decoration options. Again, nothing beats seeing these products in person and meeting their staff, all great companies offering you so many great products these days.
Besides the tranfers themselves, there are now so many options for equipment, a great one being this hotronix hat press from Stahls.FM Expressions has their new FMX line of very affordable very quickly produced transfers along with lots of other options from them.Howard Custom Transfers makes some great puff transfers and a whole lot more you can check out at the show.Transfer Express has great transfer patch options and you could spend hours in their booth seeing all their other options.The wave of the future is here with the Saati LTS laser exposure unit, check it out at the show along with their other equipment, mesh and chemicals.
Automation is necessary in so many screen printing operations, making your employees able to get more done with a shrinking work force. Check out hydroblaster reclaim equipment and M&R has a whole lot of automation going on including their i image pictured below.
Here pictured is the Coloreel which uses only one thread and dyes it on the fly. Besides innovation Hirsch will be at the show with Tajima embroidery machines and Brother DTG machines and perhaps most importantly with a full complement of knowledgeable staff. Bring your questions.
The AC show is a good time to check out mills that are representing there, like Cotton Heritage, Briscoe Brands, AS Colour, AWDIS, and Lane Seven.
AS Colour has some very interesting cuts and colors, worth checking out at the show.
AWDIS has a wide range of product you might not be familiar with, particularly sweatshirts.Lane Seven products, particularly their hoodies should be in your repertoire, here’s your chance to check it all out, especially get your touch and feel in.AC has great restaurants like Docks, Chef Vola’s, and pictured here The Knife and Fork. Some great old places like the Baltimore Grill and look around you will find all kinds of cuisine, Honduran, Salvadoran, Peruvian, and many more.This may be an old postcard, but Atlantic City’s original charm remains, a nice boardwalk to stroll along and check out the waves and water.If you want a real nostalgic treat when in Atlantic City check out Lucy the Margate Elephant. A vintage structure by the beach now a museum and recently fully renovated.
All this and I didn’t mention gambling as I am not a fan, but there is plenty of that. And at the show I didn’t mention the Shop Talks, look for a full post on those free sessions in the next couple of days.
Register for the show which is Thursday, Friday, Saturday this week March 20, 21, 22 here.
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