Well, we decided that if their t-shirt offered a combination . . . → Read More: What? Test our t-shirt? No way!]]> You might have received one of those fax promotions for cheap t-shirts this past week. We received one from a wholesale distributor offering a white t-shirt for just $1.29. Furthermore, they guaranteed ‘the best quality for the lowest price’. And to back it all up, they offered a free sample ‘to feel’.

Well, we decided that if their t-shirt offered a combination of low price and high quality, we would like to see it and to take them up on their offer to test the garment. We thought that we would then give them some exposure on our blog. 

We asked for 4 sample shirts. We said that we would wear 2 of them until they needed a wash. We would wash and tumble dry them in the manner that t-shirts are really washed and dried (without any special handling) and then compare the worn and washed shirts with the new ones. We would then report our findings and their contact information as a service to our blog readers.

We thought that this would be excellent exposure for the t-shirt wholesaler. After all, our blog reaches a large population of textile screen printers and if their t-shirt is as good as they claim, then that kind of exposure could only be a good thing, right? Well apparently not. Our offer was ignored.

So maybe when a garment supplier you haven’t heard of before apparently doesn’t want their t-shirts to be tested, and when you go to their web site and find that it is very basic, poorly designed and full of grammatical and punctuation errors, you need to be skeptical of claims that their product is ‘the best for the lowest price.’ Just sayin’….

Normally a delicate, dyed Polyester garment that needs to stretch but cannot be passed . . . → Read More: Featured product this week… Wilflex’s Performance ink for stretchy, dyed and heat-sensitive Polyester.]]> An ink that has the dye-block capability to deal with dyed Polyester, that stretches, that cures at only 290 degrees Fahrenheit and that is non-phthalate? Absolutely! It is Wilflex’s Performance series. This is an ink designed to deal with today’s increasingly difficult fabrics.

Normally a delicate, dyed Polyester garment that needs to stretch but cannot be passed through a 350 degree dryer, would be a screen printer’s nightmare. But not anymore!

So, this week we are offering a free sample of this amazing ink in a scarlet. As with most colours in all types of inks, we mix them in our Cambridge ink lab. We have made a batch of Performance Scarlet to distribute as samples this week.

You too could make absolutely any colour that you need with Performance Base and the standard Wilflex Pigments. The base and the pigments can be found in the “PC Mixing System”  section of the Screenflex web site at www.screenflex.ca. Standard colours in Performance are currently being added to the web site as well in quart and 1-gallon sizes.

Want to see Performance perform? A free sample can be requested any time this week (ending Friday 18th May)  by emailing info@screenflex.ca or calling toll-free 1800 661 7766. Please keep in mind that samples are shipped in one of 3 ways: immediately with an order; or they can be held for your next order; or they can be shipped on their own but then the standard shipping charge of $16.85 applies.

Before testing the ink, please look over the Wilflex Product Information Bulletin which can be found at this link: http://www.polyone.com/en-us/about/businessgroups/Inks/Literature/PIB_Wilflex%20Epic%20Performance%20Base.pdf

Here is one of the responses. Sean of Port Colborne emailed, ”… here are a few things I found… dry time was pretty fast… after exposure screen rinsed out very easy and had a nice clean edge… it was light and . . . → Read More: ORANGE gets the thumbs up!]]> Ulano’s ORANGE one-part SBQ emulsion is getting the thumbs up from those who have been testing the samples.

Here is one of the responses. Sean of Port Colborne emailed, ”… here are a few things I found… dry time was pretty fast… after exposure screen rinsed out very easy and had a nice clean edge… it was light and creamy and that made it much easier to work with… all in all it is a great product.”  

It is interesting how different people like different aspects of ORANGE, but the general feedback is that it is a great product. The price of $67.50 less 10% = $60.75 per gallon is hard to beat for a good SBQ emulsion. You can find it here: https://www.screenflex.ca/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=21&zenid=ui3tsk949quacpamep0m40l7h6

If you missed earlier posts about ORANGE, here is one with more information: http://www.insidescreenprinting.com/an-orange-from-brooklyn-new-york/ 

Still need more information? We are at info@screenflex.ca  or 1 800 661 7766.

Doesn’t the colour just make you want to try it? Check with us, we have been swamped wth sample requests but at the time of writing still had a few.

So, before you take a risk with a fabric possibly bleeding and causing you all . . . → Read More: Stop! Test for bleeding before printing.]]> Is this fabric going to bleed? That is increasingly becoming a textile screen printer’s worst nightmare especially because of the multiple offshore sources for fabrics. A lot of the time we can’t be sure where they come from, how they are dyed and whether we can even rely on the lables. 

So, before you take a risk with a fabric possibly bleeding and causing you all kinds of headaches, come-backs and even claims, carry out a simple bleeding test. It is so easy that it is almost laughable, but it could save you big time! Here is a link to the page on the Screenflex web site where you will find the test: https://www.screenflex.ca/info_files/Polywhite.pdf

Keeping in mind that fabrics can differ even when coming from the same supplier, here are a couple of tips that have been known to work when bleeding is an issue:

• Putting the fabric through the dryer before printing can help burn off surplus dye.
• Putting the garment through the dryer a second time, even if the print shows some bleeding after an extended period of time, will often reactivate the dye-block ingredients in the ink and make the bleeding disappear from the print.

And remember that while Wilflex whites like White Buffalo, Bright Tiger and Solar White all have dye blocks, for those really bad bleeding situations such as you can expect from dyed 100% Polyester, Wilflex’s Polywhite is still the best dye block ink on the market.

White Buffalo is a creamy, smooth, bleed-resistant white for 100% cotton and some cotton/Poly blends. And it is tough. As with all Wilflex inks, the quality has been consistent, batch after batch for many years now. It . . . → Read More: Featured product this week… Wilflex’s White Buffalo ink.]]> This white ink was originally developed at the request of a huge, quality-obsessed printer. When we say huge, we mean huge as in ‘prints for Disney’.

White Buffalo is a creamy, smooth, bleed-resistant white for 100% cotton and some cotton/Poly blends. And it is tough. As with all Wilflex inks, the quality has been consistent, batch after batch for many years now. It has been an enormously popular ink right across the board from very small printers to very large printers; Screenflex has delivered it in all sizes from quarts to 30-gallon drums.

There are of course cheaper white inks in the market, but as we have always maintained, inks are like nightclub bouncers, you can always find a cheap one but at those critical times when you really need performance, you’ll wish that you had paid a bit more for the security.

Before you take a look at the specs and technical information for White Buffalo provided in the links below, keep in mind that if you are printing on a 100% dyed Polyester fabric, a specialty Polyester ink like Wilflex’s Polywhite is always the better option than regular or all-purpose low bleed whites.

Everything that you need to know about White Buffalo can be found here…  https://www.screenflex.ca/info_files/Wilflex%20White%20Buffalo.pdf 

and here… http://www.polyone.com/en-us/about/businessgroups/Inks/Literature/Wilflex%20White%20Buffalo.pdf

Each Monday an email will be sent identifying the sample of the week. It could be an ink, an emulsion, a chemical, an adhesive or a film. The samples are free and the only conditions that apply are as follows:

But Screenflex is offering help with a show special of $35.00 less 10% = $31.50 for 1lb of Tekencal’s Tek/400 stencil remover crytals. If you have never used crystals before, you can find all the technical information that you need at www.screenflex.ca in . . . → Read More: Stencil remover prices still high but Screenflex helps with a show special!]]> The world-wide shortage of Iodine continues, which means that the price of stencil removers is still high.

But Screenflex is offering help with a show special of $35.00 less 10% = $31.50 for 1lb of Tekencal’s Tek/400 stencil remover crytals. If you have never used crystals before, you can find all the technical information that you need at www.screenflex.ca in the Screen Chemicals section under Stencil removers. Just click on the ‘READ’ link on the product line.

Is this a good price? Well, the closest equivalent we could find was $82.50 per Kilo which converts to $37.50 per 1lb. That is 20% more than the Screenflex.ca show special price. And Screenflex.ca doesn’t make you buy a whole kilo to get the best price.

Here is what you do. On the way home, stop . . . → Read More: Magnesium Sulfate… good for screen printers!]]> So you’ve spent the whole day on the shop floor and everything aches. Your back hurts from hauling around boxes of shirts, your legs ache from standing at the press and your arms can’t pull another squeegee. Well, you need Magnesium Sulphate, more commonly known as Epsom Salts.

Here is what you do. On the way home, stop off at the drug store and pick up a container of Epsom Salts. We recommend the 4 kg size if you can get it. It is the most economical size to buy and should cost you just under $10.00. Pick up your favourite drink as well. When you get home take care of  feeding the dog and the kids and then announce that you are not to be disturbed for the next half hour.

Run a good deep tub of warm water. Dissolve two cups (or 500 ml) of the Epsom Salts in the water. Set your drink up where you can reach it and slide into the tub. Relax, sip your drink and soak for at least 15 minutes. You’ll feel so good after a soak in the Epsom Salts water that you’ll wonder why the stuff isn’t illegal.

Here’s a tip… don’t make the water too hot because you’ll find that if it is too hot you won’t be able to stay in it for long without feeling uncomfortable.  

In case you are wondering why and how this works, here are extracts from some web research…

I always knew that soaking in a tub full of hot water with a few cups of Epsom salts was good for relaxing muscles and drawing toxins from the body, but I could never figure out why. And it wasn’t until I spent some time at the Epsom Salt Industry Council web site that I learned that epsom salts—made of the mineral magnesium sulfate—are also a sedative for the nervous system.

When magnesium sulfate is absorbed through the skin, such as in a bath, it draws toxins from the body, sedates the nervous system, reduces swelling, relaxes muscles, is a natural emollient, exfoliator, and much more.

 But there is also a warning…

Epsom salts should not be used if you have an allergy to sulfur or if you are pregnant

We are happy to report back that we have completed PolyOne’s course for “Ethical Business Conduct” and “Global Corruption and Bribery” and that we are now familiar with the provisions of anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws in all applicable jurisdictions including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and that we are able to confirm that  our . . . → Read More: Good news! Our 23-year cookie tradition is not ‘bribery’.]]> Long version:

We are happy to report back that we have completed PolyOne’s course for “Ethical Business Conduct” and “Global Corruption and Bribery” and that we are now familiar with the provisions of anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws in all applicable jurisdictions including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and that we are able to confirm that  our 23-year tradition of including free cookies in all our shipments has not constituted ’bribery’ or ‘corruption’ under the said Act.

Short version:

Expect cookies in all your shipments. If we ever miss, let us know and we will send you a double dose. 

Seriously though…

We think that it is well known that in 23 years Screenflex has always endeavoured to uphold the highest ethical standards in its business dealings. If you ever have reason to doubt that, Michael Best would like to hear from you. As always, the toll-free number is 1 800 661 7766.

The Dennings article that we are bringing . . . → Read More: Dave Dennings on pinholes.]]> This is the first of a series of articles by Dave Dennings that we undertook to bring you on a weekly basis. We are not going to repeat Dave’s impressive credentials each time but we recommend that if you do not know Dave, you review our introductory blog here: http://www.insidescreenprinting.com/dave-dennings/

The Dennings article that we are bringing you this week is Screen Preparation For Proper Pinhole Prevention. It is as valid now as it was when first written in 2004.  

Over the years we have had many screen printers claim that a particular brand of emulsion makes pinholes whereas another does not. As Margaret has often pointed out to anyone making such claims, even when it has been about a competitor’s brand of emulsion, “It doesn’t matter which brand you are talking about, no significant manufacturer includes pinholes as an ingredient!”

Here is an extract from Dave’s article. The full article can be downloaded at the link provided at the end of this post.

Causes of prepress pinholes: (1) Mesh contamination; (2) Poor post-degreasing drying techniques; (3) Dirty screen-making department; (4) Improper preparation of emulsion; (5) Particles in the emulsion or film; (6) Cheap emulsion; (7) Coating speed and trough design; (8) Incomplete drying of the emulsion; (9) Improper exposure; (10) Contaminated glass and/or film positives.

Causes of on-press pinholes: (1) Chemical breakdown; (2) Mechanical breakdown; (3) Improper coating technique.

You can find the entire article here:

http://www.kiwo.com/Articles/How%20to%20Keep%20Pinholes%20from%20Plaguing%20Your%20Screens%201.pdf

Dave is currently based in Seabrook, Texas where he is the Product/Technical Manager at Kiwo.

We at Screenflex developed a healthy respect for Dave’s ability, knowledge, experience and prefessionalism . . . → Read More: Dave Dennings.]]> We have been fortunate to obtain permission from Dave Dennings to publish some of the numerous techinical articles that he has written over the years on everything relating to screens from preparation, through coating, to reclaim.

Dave is currently based in Seabrook, Texas where he is the Product/Technical Manager at Kiwo.

We at Screenflex developed a healthy respect for Dave’s ability, knowledge, experience and prefessionalism when he served as our Kiwo representative in Canada many years ago while he was still based in California. Not surprisingly, Dave has become a sought-after speaker at shows and other industry events.

Due to space constraints, we will be quoting just highlights from Dave’s various articles but we will be offering links to the full articles in question. We recommend that you take the time to download and read them – they are always well written and full of useful information that could save you time and money.

It is too bad that circumstances in the industry have changed and that it is no longer viable to travel the country with Dave visiting shop after shop as we did in past years. We hope to partially fill that void though by bringing you Dave’s writing. 

We intend highlighting one topic a week but if you don’t want to wait for us, just Google “Dave Dennings” and you will find a wealth of useful information by locating his various articles.

Just when we thought that emulsion is a commodity and . . . → Read More: What is not to love about this innovative emulsion that costs less?]]> Let’s be frank. Nothing really new, exciting and innovative has come out of the supply side of this industry for quite some time. And with all due respect to the ink manufacturers, we don’t mean exciting in a look!-we-are-saving-the-planet-with-our-eco-friendly-inks kind of way. We mean in a wow!-what-a-great-idea-that-works-and-costs-less kind of way.

Just when we thought that emulsion is a commodity and will always just be a commodity, ULANO surprised us with their ULANO Orange SBQ emulsion. And no, SBQ does not stand for Super Bloody Quick, though in this case it easily could, because it would be true. 

Just in case you have always wondered what SBQ stands for, it is Stryryl Basolium Quaternary which is a salt added to emulsion to react with the PVA also in the emulsion, in order to pre-sensitize it. That is why SBQ emulsions are one-part emulsions that do not have to be sensitized by mixing a diazo into it, as has to be done with two-part emulsions. Our expert source for this chemistry lesson is Dave Dennings at Ulano’s sister company, Kiwo; if you need to know more about the chemistry of emulsion, just call him. He can even pronounce “Stryryl”.

But back to the innovative people at Ulano.  So they came up with the first ever orange emulsion specially for textile applications that has the advantage of working really well on white mesh in particular. That is not the only advantage but we have already listed all the technical advantages of ULANO ORANGE in an earlier post on this blog (just scroll down).

This post is to applaud the folks at ULANO for differentiating themselves from their competitors by not offering the market another me-too emulsion but for coming out with something eye-catching and different that works very well and costs less than other SBQ emulsions. And it comes in a  bucket with an orange lid. What’s not to love about a stand-out combination like that? 

To celebrate this bit of creativity by ULANO, Screenflex is offering ULANO ORANGE at an online price of CND67.50 less 10% a gallon = $60.75.

Want to know more? We are at info@screenflex.ca or 1 800 661 7766

Matches can be made to anything from samples of any other . . . → Read More: Any colour in any type of plastisol ink!]]> Screenflex started doing it 23 years ago and today it is still being done every day in the Cambridge ink laboratory and then being shipped to textile screen printers everywhere. We are referring of course to colour matching and mixing; everything from custom colour matches to all the PANTONE colours.

Matches can be made to anything from samples of any other brand of ink (wet or dry) to bits of coloured fabric. Before Roots closed down their Ontario production facility and print shop a few years ago and moved it all offshore, Screenflex matched and produced sample ink twice a year for the Roots Spring and Fall lines. Often the colours provided for matching were no more than a few strands of wool or tiny corners snipped off garments.

You will have to go a long way to find a more experienced and reliable ink matching and mixing service than that provided by the Screenflex ink lab. We don’t know of one in Canada that even comes close. Well, perhaps Stanley’s in Calgary, but then they got it from Screenflex anyway. To their credit though we understand that they have maintained a high standard of mixing and matching for the benefit of Western Canadian textile screen printers.   

At the Screenflex Cambridge ink lab colours are usually produced and shipped the same day in quart, gallon and 5 gallon sizes. The range of inks include general purpose (for 100% cotton), 50/50, Polyester, Nylon, stretch fabics such a Spandex and Lycra, Athletic Mesh and just about any other fabric you are likely to want to print on.

While many textile screen printers routinely have Screenflex match and mix their colours, some mix their own colours using a Wilflex ink mixing kit. Some do a bit of both by mixing their own colours in small quantities (say quarts) but have Screenflex mix the larger quantities (gallons and 5 gallons). Some printers have developed their own in-house colour pallette which they file with Screenflex as a reference and then simply order colours against the pallette as they require them. The result is consistent colours time-after-time, year-after-year.

Part of the success of the Screenflex ink lab is Wilflex consistency and quality while another part is the procedure followed to ensure that extreme care is taken to produce as near as possible to perfect colour matching. The formulas used are very precise per the Wilflex Ink Management System (IMS) software. Part of the established procedure is the taking of sample swatches and matching them before the lid is placed on the container. All samples are retained in case they are needed for reference purposes later.

A sure sign that a lot of textile screen printers have a lot of confidence in the Screenflex ink lab is the fact that some of them have been using the service for 23 years.

Want to know more? Need colour matching and mixing soloutions? An email to info@screenflex.ca or a toll-free call to 1 800 661 7766 might go a long way to taking a colour matching and mixing weight off your mind.

Have you ever wondered why, in a creative and colourful industry . . . → Read More: An orange from Brooklyn, New York!]]> An orange from Brooklyn, New York? Certainly! It is not the first creative concept to come out of Ulano in recent years - as far as we know they are still the only manufacturer that delivers their emulsion and chemicals in red containers instead of the industry standard containers, boring black or wish-washy white.

Have you ever wondered why, in a creative and colourful industry like textile screen printing run mostly by artists, potheads and an assortment of other interesting characters, the manufacturers can’t do any better than black buckets and boring labels? It is as if they are from another planet entirely, a far-off black and white world. But we digress… back to the orange from New York.. 

Ulano Orange is a new emulsion. Ulano describes it as a “ready-to-use, ultra-fast-exposing, SBQ-photopolymer emulsion formulated for imprinted sportswear printing”.   

Here are the features at a glance…

• Orange, high-contrast “masking” colour that reduces light scattering and halation effects for finer resolution and easier stencil inspection. 
• The orange colour makes it particularly effective on white mesh. Enables savings to be made on mesh by buying white mesh instead of more expensive dyed mesh. 
• Ultra-fast exposing giving fast stencil throughput for high volume shops. It assures thorough exposure even with weak light sources.
• Durable with good ink resistance and excellent wet strength.
• High solids content at 44 to 46%.
• High viscosity therefore easy to control during coating.
• Resists plastisols and most washup solvents.
• Resists some water-based inks.
• Shelf life is 1 year at room temperature (approx 70 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Want to try Ulano Orange emulsion? We have quart samples. All you have to do is ask…

info@screenflex.ca or 1 800 661 7766.

Note to Ulano: Why not go out on a limb and put a huge orange (colour and shape) label on the bucket? We dare you!

PolyOne (Wilflex) recently sent out an email advising their distributors that they were going to be required to take a training program about compliance with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws. The focus is apparently going to be the U.S Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The email also mentions “maintaining ethical business standards”, which is something we at Screenflex have been advocating for our . . . → Read More: PolyOne (Wilflex) takes aim at bribery and corruption.]]>

PolyOne (Wilflex) recently sent out an email advising their distributors that they were going to be required to take a training program about compliance with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws. The focus is apparently going to be the U.S Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The email also mentions “maintaining ethical business standards”, which is something we at Screenflex have been advocating for our industry for the past 20 years; so no objections from us.

The PolyOne email explains, “In the last few years, a number of lawsuits have been brought against companies whose distributors and/or agents have violated corruption laws.  The companies were found to be liable for their distributor/agent actions.  Thus, PolyOne Corporation is requiring all of our global distributors to certify that they understand and will comply with both PolyOne’s policy on anti-corruption and bribery and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (FCPA).”

So yes, you can say that PolyOne appears to be motivated by a case of ‘CYA!’. But even so, we still believe that this is a good thing for the industry. We wonder though how successful the effort will be in certain foreign markets. PolyOne has distributors in many countries in which bribery is woven into the fabric of the society. But that is where the CYA aspect comes into play; by insisting that their distributors and agents participate in the program the probable intention is to insulate themselves from the actions of foreigners.

It might just be a matter of time before other manufacturers in our industry undertake similar exercises. Screenflex would welcome it; the promotion of ethical business practices has to be good for our industry, in the U.S., in Canada, and abroad.

We were wondering whether our 23-year tradition of including candy and cookies in our shipments falls under the definition of “bribery and corruption”. We guess that we’ll know more about that after we have completed the program. Until then, dear customers, dont’ worry – your candy and cookies supply is assured!

We’ll post an update after we have completed the program.

It remains to be seen whether it indicates the same for the Canadian textile . . . → Read More: Show report… Long Beach ISS 2012.]]> Most exhibitors reported that they were encouraged by the attendance. We have not seen any official attendance numbers but it certainly seemed to be a busy show this year. That will be good news for the industry and may be a reason for optimism, particularly in the U.S.

It remains to be seen whether it indicates the same for the Canadian textile screen printing industry in 2012. However, as our pre-show survey predicted, very few Canadians attended the show. The lack of  Canadian attendance was disappointing particularly because Long Beach is still the biggest and best purely textile screen printing show in North America. Most respondents to our survey told us that given the current economic state of the Canadian industry, the expense of attending was not in the budget this year.  

If you had attended with a specific purpose in mind, such as looking for a particular piece of equipment or a consumable, you would almost certainly have found it. Most established manufacturers were exhibiting, even if some of them had downsized their booths from previous years. If you had gone to browse the show looking for something new to blow you away, you would probably have been disappointed. But even in the absence of ‘wow!’, attendance at least every couple of years helps to keep you in touch with developments in the industry and with key manufacturers and supliers.  

Even though it had absolutely nothing to do with screen printing, there was a bit of ‘wow!’ for some when they found that Carmen Electra was in attendance on Saturday at one of the booths for an hour. Since she probably did not come cheaply, we hope that she sold enough digital printers for her hosts to justify her appearance money. An interesting bit of trivia we heard was that another exhibitor also inquired about hiring a has-been televison star to attend for three hours but they canned the idea when the asking fee turned out to be $50,000.00.

And while on the topic of trivia, how about this statistic for putting the size of the Canadian textile screen printing industry into perspective? A U.S. ink company representative mentioned that his top 100 customers in Southern California and Baja alone, have 700 automatic presses collectively. 

But back to the show… Wilflex was showing a 16-colour Disney print done with their new Ecolution PVC-free ink. It looked and felt like a plastisol print and the ink apparently prints just like plastisol. It is not yet widely available as it is still undergoing some final tweeking in field tests but already it seems to be vastly better than any other PVC-free ink in the market. The demand for PVC-free ink is being driven by large customers like Adidas, Nike and Disney. Adidas, for example, issued their ‘Hazardous Substances Policy, A-01′ in September last year in which they specifically exclude PVC from their clothing line. That is all very well, but the bad news is that PVC-free ink is apparently going to be about twice the price of regular plastisol.   

Also confirmed at this show is the shift away from conventional plastisol as we have known it for years, to Phthalate-free ink.  Phthalates are what make vinyls pliable not only in screen printing ink but also in items like the tubes and intravenous equipment used in hospitals, which makes us wonder why it is okay in a hospital but not on a t-shirt. The major international ink manufacturers have already switched or are in the process of switching. Customer pressure and legislation in the U.S. and Europe has prompted the change. There is no legislated requirement (or serious customer pressure) for Phthalate-free ink in Canada yet but it cannot be too far off because the Canadian government has Phthalates in its sights already with regard to children’s toys.     

If you have any specific questions about the show that we have not covered, please just ask and we will do our best to address them. As usual, we are at info@screenflex.ca or toll-free at 1 800 661 7766.

So far our survey has not detected much interest among Candian screen printers in attending the Long Beach show on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of this month. Various reasons have been mentioned but the most common to date is cost.

We have often pointed out that, in our opinion, the Long Beach show is the premier textile screen printing show in North . . . → Read More: Preliminary survey reveals not much Canadian interest in Long Beach show]]>

So far our survey has not detected much interest among Candian screen printers in attending the Long Beach show on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of this month. Various reasons have been mentioned but the most common to date is cost.

We have often pointed out that, in our opinion, the Long Beach show is the premier textile screen printing show in North America. This has been particularly true for a number of years now ever since the emphasis of the SGIA show shifted from a healthy dose of textile screen printing to digital graphics.

Arguments have been made from time-to-time that the shows should perhaps run every second year. In fact, it is our understanding that a few influential individuals in the industry raised the topic with particular reference to the SGIA show a few years ago already. We have also noticed that over the past few years at all the shows a few large manufacturers have scaled back their presence while others have not appeared at all.

The same applies to the shows in Canada which are now considerably smaller than they once were and the focus now is almost exclusively on garments.   

But in spite of these changes, we still encourage our Canadian customers to keep abreast of developments in the textile screen printing industry by attending at least one good textile screen printing show at least every couple of years. And, as mentioned before, if you are going to budget to attend only one show and want the best bang for your textile screen printing buck, we suggest that you make it the Long Beach show.

So what does this dog and his veterinarian have to do with screen printing? Well, not a whole lot except that Ryley has been one of Screenflex’s beloved mascots for the past 16 years. So there is just enough of a connection to provide us with an excuse to tell an interesting tale about how some businesses . . . → Read More: How many t-shirts equal a vet’s bill?]]>

So what does this dog and his veterinarian have to do with screen printing? Well, not a whole lot except that Ryley has been one of Screenflex’s beloved mascots for the past 16 years. So there is just enough of a connection to provide us with an excuse to tell an interesting tale about how some businesses have figured out how to generate revenue in ways and at a rate that we could never dream of doing in our industry.

Ryley has already passed the 14 to 16 year upper limit of the life expectancy of a Jack Russell Terrier. While he is still in great physical shape (can still catch mice, chase squirrels, go on long wallks and do victory laps after a poop), his mind is not what it used to be. He is showing signs of Canine Cognitive Dysfunction, which is basically doggy dementia and is quite common in older dogs. They start doing weird things like sometimes just staring at nothing, wandering around aimlessly, barking at nothing in particular and, the most annoying thing in Ryley’s case, barking at three o’clock in the morning.

After one too many episodes of barking in the middle of the night, Ryley had an appointment with the vet last Friday. We  had done some research on the internet first and I went to the appointment armed with a Canine Cognitive Dysfunction checklist that showed that Ryley checked most of the boxes.

Here is where you are going to start wishing that you had this vet as your sales manager. The first option she offered was a referral to a veterinary neurologist for a brain scan and consultation. I declined that before even inquring about the cost because, I mean, really, of what use would the results be when the ‘patient’ was already past his best-by date? What could we honestly do with a picture of his old brain? The next option offered was a daily pill that would apparently ease the symptoms and make the dog ‘more manageable’. I selected to try that. ”Good”, said the vet, “but first we must do a blood test to make sure that he can take these pills.” She picked him up to take him downstairs for the blood test and said that she would also adjust his back because I had mentioned that it had not been done for some time.

The consultation only took about ten minutes and, about another ten minutes later, a nurse brought Ryley back and told us that we were good to go. On the way out we had to check in at the front desk and settle the bill.  If you have ever had a pet, you are probably very familiar with that dreadful procedure. I have for a long time felt that every vet’s front desk should serve stiff shots of medicinal brandy with their bills. We once bumped into a ’patient’ and his owner leaving the same vet’s office as we were arriving. He could obviously have used a stiff shot of medicinal brandy. As they came out through the door he seemed to be taking the shock of his bill out on his dog by pulling the leash and yelling, “Come on, Sh**thead!” It had to be the shock of the bill; nobody calls a dog Sh**thead.

Anyway, there we were at the dreaded front desk and, without any shame at all, the assistant handed me the bill for the twenty minutes we had taken out of their busy day. $74.00 for the consultation (even though we had done the diagnoses for her with our checklist), $159.00 for the blood test, $150.00 for 30 Anipryl tablets, $40.00 for the back adjustment, plus tax for a total of just over $450.00! For 20 minutes! And no brandy! At that moment it crossed my mind that that was approximately what we paid for Ryley when we got him as a six-week old puppy and that if he lived for another two years, the tablets would cost $3,650.00, or the equvalent of nine new Jack Russell puppies.

Now ask yourself this, when last has your sales manager put in a performance like that? And does your sales manager follow up the way that this vet does? Later, while discussing the blood test results on the phone, she said that there was a slight issue with a kidney and that Ryley should go on a low-protein food that, wait for it…  could only be bought from their office because it was not available in the stores. 

Well, we got a second opinion from an older and wiser semi-retired veterinarian whom we have known for a long time and who said that he had never prescribed Anipryl and sugested a natural alternative, Ginkgo Biloba. A little research confirmed that 20 mg of Ginkgo Biloba a day showed equally impressive results as the 5 mg Anipryl tablets. Just for the record, Screenflex’s ageing mascot is now on  Ginkgo Biloba at a penny a day and the $5.00-a-day Anipryl is going back.

And as for the low-protein special food only available from the vet’s office, why would anyone impose a tasteless vegetarian diet on a geriatric dog? Isn’t old age tough enough? When the inevitable time comes, Ryley is going to go out still enjoying his daily bison sausages.

By now you might have experienced the sharp rise in stencil remover prices. And if you have been told that most of it is due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March this year, that would be correct. But it is also apparently due to short supplies in Chile which is the world’s major supplier of iodine.

The key ingredient . . . → Read More: What is happening to stencil remover prices?]]>  

By now you might have experienced the sharp rise in stencil remover prices. And if you have been told that most of it is due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March this year, that would be correct. But it is also apparently due to short supplies in Chile which is the world’s major supplier of iodine.

The key ingredient in stencil removers is sodium metaperiodate. A key ingredient in the production of sodium metaperiodate is iodine. The earthquake and tsunami apparently damaged the Japanese iodine extracton plants with the result that the already strained world supply of iodine was made worse. Now there is a world-wide shortage of iodine and sodium metaperiodate. And as usually happens when a commodity becomes scarce, the price shoots up.

Price and shortage are not the only problems. We heard an interesting story that illustrates how shortages like this one seem to bring out the worst in some people. Screenflex is very careful to only deal with the most reputable of manufacturers and it pays off when you hear what happened to one manufacturer. They thought that they had got very lucky when they found a foreign supplier offering sodium metaperiodate at a very attractive price. Unfortunately, as they say, when something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is. In this case, the shipment was received but when it was quality checked in the lab, they found that the sodium metaperiodate had been ‘cut’ or ‘diluted’ with salt.

Screenflex has a good supply of stencil remover still at attractive prices. However, we don’t know what the future holds. Some manufacturers of stencil remover have hiked their prices by 50% or more already. Apparently one manufacturer of sodium metaperiodate has already warned that there could be a further price increase of about 15% early in the new year. It is going to be a case of waiting and seeing.

We’ll keep an eye on this and post any new information when it becomes known.

We know that, generally speaking, the recovery in the textile screen printing industry in Canada has a way to go yet, but we hope that if you didn’t have a great summer . . . → Read More: Back and blogging again!]]> With the busy summer season behind us and long Canadian snowy nights to look forward to, it’s that time again for a log on the fire and a blog on the computer.

We know that, generally speaking, the recovery in the textile screen printing industry in Canada has a way to go yet, but we hope that if you didn’t have a great summer season, you at least had a reasonable one.

And talking about the state of the industry and this past summer, didn’t it drive you crazy when you saw that picture of our Prime Minister touring the state-of-the-art Gildan manufacturing plant? We assume that it was supposed to be a celebration of Canadian ingenuity, entrepreneurship and job creation; we would just have preferred for the factory and the textile jobs to have been in Canada instead of Honduras. Because, as we have discovered, the screen printing tends to follow the manufacturing to wherever it goes. 

We just can’t get our heads around how exporting Canadian jobs can be good for the Canadian economy. It certainly hasn’t been good for the Canadian textile screen printing industry!

Here is the seventh extract from Rafi Mohammed’s book, The Art of Pricing. From the chapter, Differential Pricing, he tells an interesting tale to make us carefully consider why we might sometimes offer “quantity” discounts…

“… there are many justifications for quantity discounts. My only caution is that you should understand why you are granting a discount. . . . → Read More: “The Art of Pricing” – weekly extract number 7 (The dicounted ribs)]]>  

Here is the seventh extract from Rafi Mohammed’s book, The Art of Pricing. From the chapter, Differential Pricing, he tells an interesting tale to make us carefully consider why we might sometimes offer “quantity” discounts…

“… there are many justifications for quantity discounts. My only caution is that you should understand why you are granting a discount. Sometimes large orders simply mean, “I love your product.” On the way to a barbeque last summer, I stopped at my local gourmet food shop to buy thirty pounds of beef ribs to make my famous Korean-style ribs. The butcher’s brightened mood, brought about by a seemingly quick and profitable sale, dampened when I asked him to cut the ribs thinly. After twenty minutes of intense slicing, the meat was ornately packaged and ready to go. As you probably guessed, I could not resist the temptation of inquiring; “Since I am buying a lot of meat, do I get a volume discount?” Even I was surprised when the butcher, literally without a second thought, sliced the price from $8 to $6 a pound. While I appreciated the $60.00 savings, there really was no reason for him to offer the discount; I had not indicated that price was an issue and had already made the order at the agreed-upon price.”

You might be planning to attend the screen printing shows later in the year or you may be off on a summer vacation soon. In either case, if the trip involves staying in hotels, here is something that you should consider. It came to us as an email and, while we generally ignore emails of this . . . → Read More: Planning to travel to the screen printing shows this year?]]>

You might be planning to attend the screen printing shows later in the year or you may be off on a summer vacation soon. In either case, if the trip involves staying in hotels, here is something that you should consider. It came to us as an email and, while we generally ignore emails of this nature, we felt that this one might actually be worth passing on.

It is about the fact that apparently the key cards that most hotels issue to guests nowadays contain more personal information than you might have supposed. We have not attempted to verify this, but even if it is only half true, there is no harm in exercising caution, particularly as identity theft and other fraud is an ongoing problem. Here is the explanation extracted from the email…

“Grab a refrigerator magnet on your way out the door, we all have tons of them!

 Always take a small magnet on your vacation , they come in handy at the end of  it. Never even thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code for the room!   Ever wonder what is on a magnetic key card? 

Answer: 

a. Customer’s name 
b. Customer’s partial home address 
c. Hotel room number 
d. Check-in date and check-out date 
e. Customer’s credit card number and expiration date!  

When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any hotel employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and, using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense. Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee reissues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest’s information is electronically ‘overwritten’ on the card and the previous guest’s information is erased in the overwriting process.  

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT! The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them.  NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it’s illegal) and you’ll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader. For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip.

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card.”  

Credit: Image by Peter Wynn Thompson for the New York Times.

The New York Times recently offered this case study (Author: Adriana Gardella) which should be of interest to Canadian textile screen printers. The NYT published this one week and then followed up the next week with reaction and comments from other business . . . → Read More: Was Big D wise to pursue small customers? A case study from the NYT about a textile screen printer.]]>  

Credit: Image by Peter Wynn Thompson for the New York Times.

The New York Times recently offered this case study (Author: Adriana Gardella) which should be of interest to Canadian textile screen printers. The NYT published this one week and then followed up the next week with reaction and comments from other business owners. We will bring you the follow-up next week.

So here it is, and we’ll be surprised if it doesn’t sound familiar to many of you…

“Darren Robbins and a partner founded Big D Custom Screen Printing in 2007. In its first year, the company, which is based in Austin, Tex., and specializes in printing T-shirts, recorded sales of $325,000 and a small loss.

THE CHALLENGE To become profitable, Big D must determine whether to cater to customers with large printing orders or small.

THE BACKGROUND Mr. Robbins, a former full-time musician who still plays in a band, was nostalgic for the multicolor tour shirts of his youth, which he described as “works of art.” He said he was appalled by the one-color shirts sold at today’s shows. He was also disappointed by the quality of shirts created by some of Austin’s many screen printers and said he could do better.

With that goal, Mr. Robbins and his partner, who worked for Capitol Records, invested a total of $225,000 to open Big D. The division of labor was clear. “I was a natural-born customer-service geek, and he was a natural-born salesman,” said Mr. Robbins, who resolved to take care of the customers his partner brought in. “We wanted to be one of the big boys.”

As his partner traveled the country trying to win accounts, Mr. Robbins ran the shop, frequently declining business from potential customers who requested small orders. Mr. Robbins, 44, who has a background in ad agency account management, said that turning away business kept him up nights. He wanted every call to end with a sale.

By the end of its first year, Big D had grabbed a few big accounts — local video game and record companies that placed orders for 5,000 to 15,000 shirts. But when the shop was not cranking out large orders, it sat idle. Mr. Robbins said his partner feared that small orders would prevent Big D from handling bigger jobs should they come in. But given his ad agency experience, Mr. Robbins said he was used to demanding clients and short deadlines. “With effective scheduling, you can pretty much accommodate any customer,” he said. Following the lead of his competitors, he charged more per shirt for the smaller orders he did take.

THE OPTIONS At first, Mr. Robbins and his partner agreed on strategy. With their industry contacts, they said they believed they could land accounts from major bands. Focusing on high-volume orders made sense to them in part because Big D’s suppliers offered a price break on large quantity T-shirt orders.

But the partners did not realize that most bands were locked in to long-term contracts for their tour shirts. Given that, Mr. Robbins started to wonder about the strategy of chasing down high-volume clients, particularly when he had so many smaller prospects knocking on his door. But, he said, his partner saw no point in accepting orders for one or two shirts. His partner continued to believe big orders were crucial to profitability and that he could best win those accounts by conducting in-office presentations for corporate prospects across the country.

THE DECISION After a year in business, Mr. Robbins threw an anniversary party in April 2008 to thank his employees for their dedication. His partner, however, opposed the modest celebration because its cost meant the difference between breaking even and showing a loss on Big D’s first-year sales. This disagreement highlighted the increasing tension between the partners’ growth philosophies.

Determined to accept smaller orders, Mr. Robbins bought out his partner around the time of the party. The split was amicable, Mr. Robbins said, with his former partner breaking even on the sale and returning to the music business. And then the economy crashed. “Almost overnight, companies tightened their belts,” Mr. Robbins said.

At that point, he decided that no order was too small. He would find a way to take all business, even an order for a single T-shirt. He knew there would not be a lot of competition from the other local screen printers for the small orders. “I noticed they weren’t in a huge hurry to fit them in,” he said.  

 Big D began catering to those with small needs, including a Houston comedian who wanted 20 shirts. Once he made a decision to take all orders, Mr. Robbins reassessed his costs and determined that he could make a profit on the smaller orders, even without charging the significant markup that many of his competitors charged — a markup that effectively discouraged customers from placing small orders. Instead, Mr. Robbins lowered prices on smaller orders, bringing them more in line with the per-shirt price for large orders. Big D charges $5 per shirt for 40 to 499 white T-shirts printed with one color, while the charge for an order of 1,000 or more shirts is $3.50 per shirt. He was able to take this step and still make a profit because, regardless of order size, Big D’s costs to print the shirts were not that high. Because of the quantity discount, the company would still make a greater profit on its large orders, but Mr. Robbins said he decided to “be as fair as possible” on the smaller orders. His prices for one shirt, a “micro-run,” begin at $25.

He also eliminated set-up charges, a common fee charged by printers, and put his prices on Big D’s website, mostly so he did not have to memorize them. “Many of our competitors make you come to them for a price quote, adding a day to the process,” Mr. Robbins said. He hoped that Big D’s transparent pricing would become another way for the company to differentiate itself.

“The competition — and my partner — thought I was nuts,” he said. But Mr. Robbins said he understood his costs and could become profitable “without gouging people.”