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An early heads up – The Imprint Canada Shows

An early heads up – The Imprint Canada Shows

Imprint Canada has announced that they’re open for reserving exhibit space for three scheduled shows:

  • Montreal on September 5th and 6th, 2024
  • Calgary on September  20th and 21st, 2024
  • Toronto on January 10th and 11th, 2025.

Whether you’re going to exhibit or attend, these are dates to note on your calendar.

Imprint Canada reports that 96 percent of buyers attending the shows rate them as good to excellent. When asked about the likelihood of returning the next year, 94 percent answered likely to absolutely.

Direct-to-garment gaining traction in Canada?

In their latest promotional email, Kornit pushes the line that the textile industry is “ever-changing” and that it is a “dynamic” market with “challenges” to overcome if you are to “thrive.” They go on to say that: “Recent economic shifts pose unique challenges for textile printers, brands, and retailer, especially with rising costs tied to traditional printing supply chain, processes and inventory.”

They quote McKinsey’s State of Fashion 2024 report: ” . . . the urgency to address the climate crisis prompts industries, including fashion, to embrace sustainable practices.”

The thinly-veiled underlying message is, of course, that direct-to-garment is good and that traditional screen printing is bad and that there’s a big shift to the former from the latter. But is there though? If there is, it’s hardly noticeable in Canada where textile screen printing is trundling along as normal.

That’s not to say that some of the concerns they raise, particularly sustainability, are trivial. But to suggest that there’s a stampede to convert to direct-to-garment, or that direct-to-garment is the answer to all the challenges, is bit of a stretch—particularly in Canada right now.

Online security

Online security

This is by no means a new topic. I’ve probably mentioned it half a dozen times during the past year, and I’ll probably mention another half a dozen times in the coming year. I’m working on the principle that if you throw mud at a wall often enough, eventually some of it will stick. And what needs to stick in this case, is the fact that online crime is becoming a bigger and bigger problem—and nobody is exempt.

You know it’s a big problem when you receive an email about it from banks and the big online retailers at the rate of at least one a week. The main problem involves imitation scams, that’s where the bad guys pretend that they’re your bank or online retailer using very convincing graphics. It’s a serious topic and you should be instructing everyone associated with your business to be cautious and to look for the tell-tale signs of an online scam.

Do some research to compile a list of signs to look out for. Just one slip by you or a staff member and it could cost your shop a lot of money.

Still current advice from the early ’70s

Wandering around a used book store a few years ago, I found a dog-eared copy of the very first business books I bought many years ago—Robert Townsend’s Up The Organization.

I lost that original copy in the Calgary flood of 2013 and was delighted to find a replacement. Never have I been so happy to part with two dollars. Even though the first edition is now over fifty years old, anyone running a business, big or small, would benefit from reading this book. Most of the material is as relevant today as it was when first written.

The advice offered on page 54 under the heading, EXCELLENCE: OR WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” sums up the book as well as providing the sub-title for the cover: If you can’t do it excellently, don’t do it at all. Because if it’s not excellent it won’t be profitable or fun, and if you’re not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing here?Robert Townsend was a business executive and author who is noted for transforming Avis into a rental car giant. He passed away in 1998 but his insight and wisdom live on.

Do yourself a favour, find a copy and read it. It’s now available as a reprint.

 

Upgrading from a manual to an automatic

In a recent article in Images Magazine, Tony Palmer discusses what you need to consider in upgrading from a manual to an automatic press.

Obviously you have to do your research but, in the meantime, here are the main points he raises for consideration:

  • Space: Measure carefully and take into account enough working area around the press.
  • Sturdy floor: An automatic will be much heavier than your manual so you must have a sturdy floor.
  • Height: make sure that you have enough height where you’ll have to locate the automatic.
  • Space for easy access to the dryer.
  • Power: You may have to upgrade your power supply.
  • Money: Make sure you have everything factored in—cost of the machine, transport, installation, power upgrade, etc.

Clearly there’s a lot to consider and it’s very much a case of looking before you leap. And, as I often advise, consult with qualified help for those trickier aspects of the decision-making process.

Zazzle

Zazzle

It’s time to revisit a topic I first raised ten years ago. Zazzle was fairly new and threatening to shake up the textile screen printing industry with its online service. Zazzle has clearly grown since those earlier days but as far as I can see, the impact of this type of concept on the traditional Canadian textile screen printing industry has been minimal.

So once again, as we did ten years ago, click on the link below and watch the presentation. But before you do that, keep in mind a few questions as you watch it . . .

  1. Is this a totally brilliant concept?
  2. If it is not totally brilliant, does this concept at least have some merit?
  3. Is it fine in theory but a whole different thing in practice?
  4. Have they made it sound simple by overlooking some obvious hassles in dealing with customers who don’t always know what they want?
  5. Can I use any of it to perhaps modify the way that I do business?
  6. Obviously there will have to be an investment in software if I were to provide my customers with such an online facility. How much would that be and would it be worth it?
  7. How would my customers respond to a concept like this?
  8. Does textile screen printing in Canada work just fine in the current conventional way or does something like this concept threaten to turn it on its head?

Here is the link.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Z0ENFJBZg

So, what do you think?

This is what I thought back then . . .  All new concepts and ideas should be considered because that is how we progress as a business, an industry and a society. But, a good dose of skepticism doesn’t do any harm in today’s world where sometimes things are presented as great ideas but are found to not work as expected in practice. It would be really useful to see some hard numbers or at least have some indication of how successful the concept has been. They may have sold a zillion shirts this way or they may not have sold one. So, some old advice – look before you leap.