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By The Screenflex team, on April 28th, 2011
This is the third week of referencing extracts from Rafi Mohammed’s book, The Art of Pricing. The point this week is that transactions are two-way streets; something we often overlook when pricing.
“While the common convention is that sellers should be grateful to customers, it’s important to remember that transactions are two-way streets. The point that I am trying to make is that when customers purchase your product, they are in essence saying, ‘Thank you, you product offered me the best value among all of your competitors.’
This is not arrogance or lack of appreciation for customers, just a reminder that you provide your customers with a valuable product or service. I know a lot of smart managers who lose sight of the value that they provide and end up being bullied by their customers on price. It helps for you to consistently think of the value you provide your customers. If you can’t confidently articulate the value you provide, do you think that your customers fully understand the value they are receiving?”
How often are you needlessly bullied on pricing by customers?
By The Screenflex team, on April 27th, 2011
Last week we had a familiar inquiry concerning suitable emulsions for an exposure unit with a weak light source. Most of these inquiries come from start-ups who do not yet have the luxury of top-of-the-line equipment. In fact, quite often the equipment in question is “home-made” and the light source is weak.
This inquiry concerned the fact that even though he was coating 1/2 and exposing for up to 20 minutes, the emulsion was coming off while spraying out the stencil. He kindly provided a digital image of the exposure unit:
After a number emails back and forth establishing the facts, the essence of our response was as follows… We believe that your problem is under-exposure. With a set-up like this, we believe that you need a fast-exposing emulsion to compensate for the weak light source. Our private-label brand, Xpose emulsion should expose on this unit in about half the time that you are using right now. Here is the link to that specific page on our web site. If you click on the “READ” button, you will get all the information that you need: https://www.screenflex.ca/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=21&zenid=v73mg0ivfo6lqvarnhh2u2qht0
By The Screenflex team, on April 26th, 2011
Ink remover is not a hand cleaner! That includes ink washes and on-press cleaners. We don’t care how “safe” some manufacturers claim their ink removers are or whether they are soy-based or solvent-based, it is not smart to use them for cleaning human skin.
We recently had an inquiry from a printer who wanted to replace the brand of ink remover that they had been using for many years with one of our brands, provided that they could use it for cleaning ink off their hands (and presumably other body parts that tend to get ink on them in print shops).
Obviously we pointed out that skin is not impervious to chemicals and is, in fact, quite porous. In other words, it tends to absorb stuff that you rub on it. How else would moisturizers, ointments and muscle relaxants be effective? So, why would you rub a chemical designed to dissolve screen printing ink on your skin knowing that it is going to be absorbed by your body?
There are many other safer ways to clean screen printing ink off your skin. Suitable hand cleaners usually include pumice and lanolin in their list of ingredients. Citrus-based cleaners can be suitable too. Most will remove the natural oils of your skin along with the ink, which is why we favour hand cleaners that include lanolin. Using a good moisturizing cream after drying your hands is a good idea, unless you really want hands with the touch of a reptile
By The Screenflex team, on April 25th, 2011
Much to Mark’s relief, he was not fired last Monday morning. It was a close thing though and the boss was angry enough to tell him that he might just stay out of trouble if he considered wearing duct tape over his mouth.
This morning when Mark and Jamie arrived at work, Mark asked the boss why he had ignored them when they had waived to him at the spring fair on Saturday afternoon.
The boss had been expecting the question. “You were being escorted off the grounds by a security guard and a large guy in a gypsy outfit. I guess you didn’t take my advice about the duct tape then?”
“He didn’t!” Jamie said, “but it’s not his fault what happened.”
“It never is,” said the boss, “but tell tell me how it wasn’t his fault this time.”
Jamie began his usual Monday morning defense. “When we came out of the beer garden we thought it would be cool to get our fortunes told by Madam Svetlana. So we paid and went into her tent. She goes, ‘Hallo. What’s your name?’ So Mark’s like, ’You tell me.’ And she’s like, ‘Pardon?’ ”
The boss rolled his eyes thinking that duct tape would have the dual benefit of keeping beer out and comments in.
Jamie carried right on. “So Mark’s like getting loud now, ‘So what’s my name?’ And she goes, ‘ How would I know?’ Mark goes back out the tent and says to the big gypsy guy outside, ‘I want my five bucks back!’ And the gypsy guy goes, ‘Why?’ ”
Mark, taking over their defense from Jamie, “So I politely explained to the dude. I said, ‘You want to know why? Listen lard-ass, your fat fraud of a chick is supposed to be psychic so if she can’t tell what my name is how is she going to tell my fortune?’ ”
By The Screenflex team, on April 22nd, 2011
Credit: Service Plan, Hamburgh/Munich, Germany.
This is the second week of promoting minimalism as a source of design inspiration. Much to our embarrassment, after last week’s posting, we were reminded that it was Leonardo da Vinci who is credited with saying, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” We should have known that.
This design, ‘Hitler vs. Chapman’, was prepared for a hat retailer, Hut Weber of Bonn. We thought that this would be a particularly appropriate design to show at this time because last Saturday was the 122nd anniversary of Charlie Chapman’s birthday.
By The Screenflex team, on April 21st, 2011
This is the second week of referencing extracts from Rafi Mohammed’s book, The Art of Pricing. Last week we quoted a passage about how, in situations where margins are razor-thin (such as in much of the Canadian textile screen printing industry), raising prices just 1% could improve the bottom line by 11%. This week we are quoting a passage in which the author uses the example of his own book to illustrate the point. And as we have suggested before, if you can find a copy of this book, buy it.
From the chapter on “The Culture of Profit”:
“Suppose this 1% to 11% ratio applies to my book publisher, and the wholesale price of this book is $10. If my publisher achieved a 1% net price increase (e.g., the wholesale price rises by ten cents, and this is carried through, so the retail price goes from $24.95 to $25.05), its operating profits would rise by 11%. Similarly, if wholesale prices were raised by10% (e.g., resulting in the book’s retail price increasing to $25.95), its operating profits would jump 110%. Now that’s eye-opening! Of course, the potential downside of raising prices is that demand will decrease. Let me ask you, would a $1 increase in this book’s price have stopped you from buying it? This is the type of question you should be asking about your products. Will a 1% price increase really cause your customers to stop purchasing from you?”
Something to think about.
By The Screenflex team, on April 20th, 2011
This is the third week of suggestions for matching ink with garments in the Trimark catalogue “GEAR UP”.
We move to page 19 today (not shown here) where the jackets shown are described as 100% Nylon with water resistant coating and a water resistant finish. In short, a screen printer’s nightmare. If you are asked to print on treated Nylon jackets, run away. But if you absolutely have to do the job, be very, very careful.
Unlike Polyester, there are no bleed challenges with Nylon. But to more than make up for that, there can be serious ink adhesion challenges. Usually you can expect Nylon garments to have been treated for water- proofing, which might as well also be described as ink-proofing. Plastisol ink will not adhere to the garment if you do not remove the water-proofing. Again, plastisol will not adhere to the garment if you do not remove the water-proofing.
So how do you remove the water-proofing from the intended print area? You use a garment that you are willing to lose for testing. Using a clean cotton cloth, rub the intended print area vigorously with Ethyl Acetone which you can buy from most drug stores. We have known printers to claim to have used spot remover fluid successfully as well. However, in either case, in fact with regard to this whole process, the keyword is ‘test’.
Use good Nylon ink. Good Nylon inks have a bonding agent already mixed in, but in some cases where adhesion is a bigger-than-usual challenge, you might want to add some additional bonding agent per the manufacturer’s instructions. Wilflex has an excellent Nylon ink which they call, One-Step Nylon. The Screenflex ink lab in Cambridge is able to make One Step Nylon in any colour. Wilflex also supplies a separate bonding agent called, Hugger Catalyst.
Test, test and test all along the way until you are satisfied that going to production with your customer’s precious (and usually expensive) Nylon jackets, is relatively safe. ‘Relatively safe’ means that you have removed the water-proofing, printed the jacket and conducted vigorous abrasion tests on a completely cooled-down print, and the print stays on. It doesn’t fall off, peel off or abrade off.
If you don’t want to be bothered with this process and the precautions for printing on treated Nylon, take the running away option – you’ll be much better off.
By The Screenflex team, on April 19th, 2011
It was announced late last week that Weston Presidio had sold its controlling interest in Toronto-based Trimark Sportswear Group to Polyconcept North America. Trimark was founded in 1975 in Markham, Ontario.
Polyconcept is a U.S.-based manufacturer of promotional products such as stationery, travel accessories, planners and appointment books.
There has been no indication yet as to whether or not this will change anything from the perspective of Canadian textile screen printers. For our part, we have been featuring the Trimark catalogue on our blog, indicating which inks are best suited to their various garments. We will continue to do that.
By The Screenflex team, on April 18th, 2011
Mark had a bad weekend. When he left work on Friday he wasn’t sure if he would still have a job this morning. We haven’t had an update yet but it’s not looking good.
On Saturday night at the Crown and Anchor Mark explained to Jamie why the boss stormed out on Friday afternoon, slammed the door and burned rubber as he pulled out of the parking lot. “I was in the darkroom the whole of Friday afternoon trying to make that new emulsion sample work. You know, the one that that supplier buddy of the boss dropped off. I couldn’t like get it to expose properly.”
“So, why bother?” Jamie wanted to know.
“Well, when El-Cheapo gave it to me he goes, ‘This is a real low priced emulsion and I want you to make it work.’ ”
“So if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work” said Jamie. “Just like all that other cheap ink and stuff he brings us to try.”
“Yeah, I know, but he comes in the dark room and goes, ‘So, how’s it going?’ And I’m like so frustrated by then that I go, ‘Why can’t we just stick with decent products? This crap may be cheap, but it doesn’t work!’ ”
“What’d he say?”
“He acts all superior and goes, ‘Keep trying. You have to keep an open mind, like me!’ ”
“Oh geez, what did you say then?” asked Jamie. He just knew right away that Mark’s mouth had got him into trouble again.
“All I said was, ‘An open mind? Why? So that my freakin’ brains can fall out like yours?’ ”
By The Screenflex team, on April 15th, 2011
Credit: Publicis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
This week we are promoting minimalism as a source of inspiration. The product is Coke light lemon. Somebody once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” We don’t know for sure who said it, but it must be true because we have it printed on a fridge magnet from the National Gallery in London!
As our readers know by now, we present what we think are especially clever or creative examples of graphics, not for copying, but in the hope that they will serve as a spark for great t-shirt designs. Some are from t-shirts and some are not. We still show those that were not designed specifically for a t-shirt if we believe that they could inspire a great t-shirt design.
By The Screenflex team, on April 14th, 2011
Last week we introduced The Art of Pricing by Rafi Mohammed. Starting this week, we are going to offer for consideration a weekly extract of a single pricing idea or concept. As we mentioned before, this book is full of thought-provoking pricing ideas and concepts. If you can find a copy to buy, we recommend that you do so.
From the chapter on “Hidden Profits”:
“Raising your average price by a penny or two per dollar can make the difference between a good year and a great year. Since the profit margins of many companies are razor-thin, adding a few extra pennies per dollar is meaningful. A recent multi-industry analysis of profit margins found that implementing strategies that increase average prices by only one percentage point can increase operating profits by 11%.”
This is the flip side of the same principle that we addressed in an earlier blog on discounting. If you discount just a few percentage points on the dollar, you take a large chunk of percentage points out of your margin.
Something to think about.
By The Screenflex team, on April 13th, 2011
This is the second week of suggestions for matching ink with the garments in the Trimark catalogue “GEAR UP”.
We move on to page 8 today where the garments are 100% dyed Polyester pique knit with wicking. As we have pointed out so many times before, direct printing on dyed Polyester requires dye migration control. It is very close to 100% assured that as soon as you have dyed Polyester, you will have dye migration.
The very best answer to dye migration when direct printing on dyed Polyester is, quite simply, Wilflex’s Polywhite. It was designed specifically for dyed Polyester and we have yet to see anything perform better. In the “Blacks and Whites” section of www.screenflex.ca under “Whites: bleed resistant” of the fly-out menu, you can find Polywhite and, by clicking on “READ”, you can find all that you need you know about the characteristics and application details of Polywhite.
Here is a useful tip… many printers keep Polywhite on hand for those dyed Polyester jobs and then also use it on 50/50 fabrics as an assurance against dye migration.
With regard to the garments on page 8 of the Trimark “GEAR UP” catalogue, the description does not refer to stretch, but if those garments (or any others) turned out to have the dual challenge of dye migration and stretch, then Wilflex’s Performance would be the appropriate ink.
By The Screenflex team, on April 12th, 2011
We noticed an announcement yesterday that Gildan had acquired the U.S. head-quartered sock company, Gold Toe Moretz, for $350 million.
We recall fondly the time when Gildan was a Montreal cut-and-sew operation and a textile screen printing shop printing mostly licensed major league sports garments. They grew steadily and, as Canadians, they made us proud; but then they began exporting Canadian manufacturing jobs to low-wage offshore locations.
When we saw yesterday’s announcement we wondered where Gold Toe Moretz manufactured their socks and, if they manufactured in the U.S., whether one or more low-wage offshore locations would benefit from this acquisition per Gildan’s offshore manufacturing strategy. We searched the Gold Toe Moretz web site to see if we could establish where they currently manufacture their socks.
There is no definitive statement on their web site as to where they manufacture. Our impression is that they don’t actually want to address the issue on the site. There are a few vague statements such as, “Consider, for instance, that Gold Toe Moretz was global before it was popular to be global” and “But, we remain true to our America roots with manufacturing operations in the United States to respond to immediate customer demands…” and “We continue to develop a sustainable competitive advantage by leveraging a low cost world wide supply chain that brings global competitiveness through quality, innovation and flexibility.”
Yes, we know what you are thinking, but we don’t understand what all that means either. To us it sounds like vague, contradictory, PR-speak.
Bottom line? We hope that this acquisition is going to mean more textile manufacturing jobs in North America, particularly Canada, but we are not holding our breath.
Just in closing, the Gold Toe Moretz web site contains one indisputable statement, “The textile industry is a rapidly changing environment. Those who cannot adapt to market trends will disappear. Those that survive will thrive because they were versatile, flexible, and quick to find opportunities in a continually challenging environment.” On the face of it, we can’t argue with that; it is not news and we all know that. We wonder though whether in this case the in-other-words translations is, “…so we have to export North American textile manufacturing jobs to low-wage locations, sorry!”
By The Screenflex team, on April 11th, 2011
By now the boss is becoming accustomed to Monday morning staff absences, particularly as far as Mark goes. If it weren’t for the fact that Mark was a first class printer he’d have been gone two weeks ago after the blonde incident at the pub. But the boss reasoned that a Mark four days a week was better than no Mark at all. He makes a mental note to suggest to Jamie that when they go out at weekends he should stick a piece of duct tape over Mark’s mouth.
Jamie didn’t wait for the boss to ask, he just started explaining as he came through the door, “Sorry Boss, Mark can’t come to work today. He can’t walk.”
“Why am I not surprised?” remarked the boss without even looking up from The Sun. “What is it this time?”
“He had another like… accident.”
“Oh yeah, what?”
“He twisted his ankle running away from PETA.”
“Who’s Peter?”
“No,” said Jamie, “not Peter, PETA, you know, the animal rights people.”
That was enough to make the boss look up from his paper, “Oh, I have to hear this one!”
“Well, yesterday afternoon we were walking past the meat market and we saw a crowd of people outside carrying signs. So Mark wants to go find out what they are protesting about. I’m like, ‘Hey dude, you don’t want to do that, some of those people look pretty fired up, man.’ ”
“Let me guess… he went anyway?”
“He did,” continued Jamie. “He goes up to this chick whose chanting and waving a sign and asks her what they are doing. She tells him that they are protesting.”
“Mark’s like, ‘Why?’ The chick says, ‘Because we love defenseless animals’ ”
“And Mark goes, ‘Me too, especially in a good gravy!’ ”
By The Screenflex team, on April 8th, 2011
It appears that after 7 years, one of the Mars Rovers, originally expected to only work for 90 days, has unfortunately died. Spirit has apparently not survived its hibernation during another winter on Mars where the temperatures can go as low as minus 107 degrees Celsius (sounds a bit like Winnipeg).
Historical events like the landing of the Mars Rovers, provide an opportunity to record a combination of humour and history on a t-shirt and make it a “collectible”. This shirt printed in 2004 for the staff of the project to mark the successful landing of the two Mars Rovers, Sprit and Opportunity, achieved that combination. We just wish that we had it in the Screenflex collection.
With sister rover Opportunity, which is still chugging along on the opposite side of the planet, the project manager, John Callas is quoted in The Star as saying that Spirit has “rewritten history.” We would agree.
If you are interested in knowing more about the amazing work that the Spirit did and that Opportunity is still doing, you can find it here: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/home/ It is well worth a visit.
Perhaps it will generate some t-shirt design ideas.
By The Screenflex team, on April 7th, 2011
As part of our ongoing series on pricing, we want to recommend that you read The Art of Pricing by Rafi Mohammed. We recommend it for anyone running a business of any size, new or established, but particularly for textile screen print shops where pricing is always a big challenge, as we have already described in earlier blogs.
As with all business books, not all of the content will apply to your particular circumstances, but a good business book provides insight into concepts and stimulates ideas to help you run your business better and reconsider your approach to how you do certain things (in this case pricing). And this, in our opinion, is one of the best business books available on the topic of pricing. Throughout the just over 200 pages your eyes will light up from time-to-time and there will be a lot of Wows! as in, “Wow! I never thought of that” and “Wow! We could do that!” and just “Wow!” We guarantee it.
Your only problem might be getting your hands on a copy. It was published in 2005 and our recent search of Amazon.com indicated that the hard cover version (and it is not a big book at only 6 inches x 8.5 inches) has been designated “rare” and an unused copy now sells for $147.00. The good news though is that used soft cover versions are available for somewhere around $23.00 and the Kindle version is only $12.99.
By The Screenflex team, on April 6th, 2011
You have probably received “GEAR UP” the Team & Sport 2011 Catalog from Trimark and may be asked to print on some of the different garment types that they offer. By the way, if you don’t receive Trimark catalogs, we suggest that you call and ask to be on their mailing list.
Over the next few weeks we will be offering suggestions on the ink types best suited to the various fabric types in the catalog. But remember that in the meantime, if you have any questions about fabric/ink compatibility, don’t hesitate to call us toll free at 1 800 661 7766 or email your inquiry to info@screenflex.ca
This week we’ll deal with pages 5 and 7 of the Trimark catalog where the fabrics are 95% Polyester and 5% Spandex. The Polyester presents a dye migration (bleeding) challenge and the Spandex component requires the ink to stretch.
If the fabric is grey with a just a black print, as in the illustration on page 5, then bleeding is not an issue, in which case Wilflex’s SSVFF stretch ink will do the job.
If however the fabric is dyed (reds and blues in particular pose severe bleeding challenges) or if you are having to print white on grey, as in the garment on page 7, then you need an ink that addresses both bleeding and stretching. That would be Wilflex’s recently announced Performance series designed specifically for this type of fabric. We have white quart samples if you would like to test this ink that is rapidly becoming very popular. Just call 1 800 661 7766 or email info@screenflex.ca
By The Screenflex team, on April 5th, 2011
The old topic about whether or not something is appropriate to print on a t-shirt came up again recently. We thought that it might be time to once more give the topic some mention because it is something that could confront every t-shirt printer sooner or later.
Quoted below is a blog entry posted by ParentDish.com that deals with a particular incident. This time the “offending” party was the big retailer, Abercrombie and Fitch.
“Retailer Abercrombie and Fitch has agreed to pull its latest line of offensive T-shirts off the shelves as a result of a “girl-cott’ that received national media attention. The shirts are emblazoned with slogans like “I make you look fat” and “Blondes are adored, brunettes are ignored.” Abercrombie and Fitch maintains that the shirts are “meant to be humorous.” The latest controversy is not the first for the retailer. Two years ago, Abercrombie & Fitch pulled its popular catalogs that featured nude men and women after protests, and in 2002 it discontinued a line of T-shirts that Asian-Americans claimed was racially insensitive. Not surprisingly, the retailer reports a sales jump of 31% for October. The fact that Abercrombie & Fitch intentionally strives to alienate certain people is a publicity choice that I just cannot get behind. I don’t support taking away one’s right to freedom of speech, but these shirts aren’t “humorous,” they’re just dumb.”
Of course “offensive” is a relative term. Without endorsing inappropriate messages on t-shirts, we have to wonder whether the t-shirts in question would have been quite so “offensive” and created quite so much fuss if they had been in little gift store in a small beach-side tourist-trap town in Florida. There will also be those who question whether some people have become overly sensitive to the extent that every form of humor will eventually be attacked as “offensive” to someone or other. Then there are those who will suggest that perhaps the “offended” parties should grow up and get a sense of humor.
Freedom of speech is a valued right in our society, but at the same time one would expect it to be tempered with an appropriate amount of restraint and good taste. The problem is that those are subjective concepts and very difficult to define. The author of the passage quoted above seems to imply that freedom of speech includes “humorous” but not “dumb”; we think that it is a lot more complicated than that.
So where does that leave you as a printer of t-shirts? When is something appropriate to print and when is it not, either for yourself or for a customer? We think that it has to be a personal decision based on your own perception of “offensive”, but be prepared to deal with the fact that your interpretation of “offensive” might be different from someone else’s; someone who can cause you grief.
By The Screenflex team, on April 4th, 2011
We have another episode of Mark and Jamie’s weekend activities.
This morning Jamie arrived at the print shop alone. The boss knew right away that he was going to be short staffed because Jamie and Mark always car-pooled. As Jamie came through the door the boss was on him, “Where’s Mark?
Jamie expected the question and immediately answered, “Mark’s got like a bad headache.”
The boss wasn’t buying it: “You mean he’s hung over?”
Jamie decided to just tell it the way it was because he knew that the boss was not going to give up. “No, he got hit by a six pack.”
“That’s what I said, he’s hung over!”
“No, he got hit by a six pack.”
At this point the boss was clearly becoming irritated: “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Okay” said Jamie fearing that after last weekend’s episode with the blondes at the pub, not turning up today could get Mark into trouble, “I’ll tell you, but I don’t think that you should hold it against Mark because he just wasn’t thinking. It was like… an accident .”
“Tell me about the accident.”
Jamie started explaining, “Because of the snowstorm last night we decided to watch the game at Mark’s place instead of going to the Crown and Anchor. So we were almost out of beer and Mark sent his girlfriend to buy a six pack.”
“He made her go out into the storm for beer?” said the boss, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Yes,” said Jamie, before continuing with the explanation, “so she comes back with the beer but she’s locked herself out. She’s ringing the doorbell and screaming and banging on the door for a long time before Mark like sighs and gets up to open the door.”
“She comes in and she’s really mad standing there covered in snow and holding the six pack. She goes, ‘Why did I have to stand outside in the snowstorm forever?’ Mark’s like, ‘Because the Leafs were on a power play!’ ”
“Well, now she comes unglued and she screams at Mark, ‘So you leave me screaming outside but if the dog barks, it doesn’t matter what you are doing, you let him in right away. Why?’ ”
And Mark’s goes, “Because at least he shuts up once he is in!”
By The Screenflex team, on April 1st, 2011
For most Canadian textile screen printers that we informally surveyed, the winter (also known as the slow season) has been too long. The good news though is that most also say that they finally see things “beginning to stir out there.”
There are many theories about why the economy is good or bad at any one time. The frustrating thing about trying to make sense of it all is that on any given day you can hear very different opinions and forecasts from different “experts”. We forget who it was, but somebody once said that, ‘if the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion’. Too true.
Our theory on the economy, particularly as it affects our industry, is so simple that you probably won’t find it in an economics text book, but we believe it to have been proven over time. We are suggesting that people are very sensitive to the prevailing mood. It means that if there is optimism in the air, they will spend; if there is pessimism in the air, they will not.
So how does this explain the slower-than-usual start to the 2011 busy season? Well, not only does a long and cold Canadian winter tend to put one in a funk, but then we have had depressing world affairs like natural disasters, wars and violent protests all piling onto that in the past number of months. With the media pounding us daily with this stuff, who can blame people for feeling generally pessimistic?
But experience has shown us that it can all change for the better quite suddenly. All we need is for the temperatures to go up, the sun to shine and a few of the world’s trouble spots to settle down a bit, and the 2011 busy season will begin for Canada’s textile screen printers, even though it might be a bit late this year.
By The Screenflex team, on March 29th, 2011
Image: “Japanese Lucky Koi” available at ioffer.com
Incorporating foil into screen printed designs has become very popular, particularly as a fashionable special effect.
It is achieved by simply heat pressing foil onto plastisol ink. When foiling first became popular it was quite easily achieved if you were covering the whole plastisol ink area of the design with foil. But if you only wanted part of the design to be foiled it usually involved doing the rest of the print in water-based ink to which foil would not adhere. For most plastisol-oriented textile screen printers, adding a water-based capability was a big nuisance.
Then a foil-resist additive was developed by the Wilflex chemists which made foiling a whole lot more production friendly for Wilflex plastisol ink users. It is not guaranteed to work with other brands of plastisol as the chemical make-up of those brands cannot be guaranteed.
This is how it works… you add Wilflex Foil Resist Additive to the inks in the design to which you DO NOT want the foil to stick. When you remove the garment from the heat press and peel off the foil film, only the ink to which Foil Resist Additive was not added, will be foiled. Provided that you follow the application instructions properly, it works very well. A lot of printers are producing great partially-foiled prints this way.
Here are a couple of hints. The application information suggests that Foil Resist Additive works with a variety of Wilflex plastisol inks. We have found that High Density Clear has been used a lot as the “adhesive” for foil but one of our customers likes using Liquid Silver or Liquid Gold ink. They found that when using silver or gold foil, Liquid Silver ink or Liquid Gold ink were good adhesives because the ink would disguise any imperfections in the foil (such as small pin holes) which can occur in the application process.
As with any special effect, we suggest that you do some experimenting and testing before going to production. And there are also a couple of cautions that we want to tell you about. First, it does not work with white inks and is not recommended for fast fusion inks. Second, you don’t want to overheat the ink into which you have mixed Foil Resist Additive (as in over heating under the flash unit) because it can diminish the effectiveness of the product. When using Foil Resist Additive you are encouraged to print wet-on-wet whenever possible to avoid overheating the ink. You can find detailed application information in the “Additives” section of our web site www.screenflex.ca
Go ahead, foil around – you’ll like it.
By The Screenflex team, on March 28th, 2011
Jamie and Mark limped into work this morning.
Jamie started explaining as they came through the door. “Sorry boss, I don’t think that we are going to be able to pull a squeegee today.”
The boss couldn’t believe his eyes. He had just got their first decent order for weeks and now these two were obviously not going to be able to print. “What the hell happened to you?”
“We went to the Crown and Anchor on Saturday night for a few beer. So these three really hot chicks came in and sat at the bar. So Mark goes, ‘I’m going to go get me some of that’.”
“Oh yeah?” said the boss beginning to suspect that these injuries were probably not the result of an accident.
“Yeah!” continued Jamie. “So Mark goes up to the first chick and he’s like, ‘Do you want to hear my latest dumb blonde joke?’ And the chick is like really mad and she sticks her finger in Mark’s face and she’s like, ‘Listen jackass, I’m a blonde and the captain of my rugby team. She’s a blonde and she has just won the provincial ladies’ amateur kickboxing title. Our friend there is a blonde and a karate black belt’.”
“What then?” asked the boss.
“So she’s still sticking her finger in Mark’s face and she goes, ‘Do you still want to tell your dumb blonde joke?’ And Mark’s like, ‘Nah, forget it. I don’t want to have to explain it three times’.”
By The Screenflex team, on March 25th, 2011
This week we are showing a 1979 t-shirt from the Screenflex collection to illustrate how creativity and rapid turnaround have always been key features of this industry. Given the current situation in the Middle East it seems appropriate to show this particular example now.
The employees of a Houston-based heavy construction company were evacuated from Tehran and other locations in Iran in January of 1979 during the Iranian revolution. By the time they began landing in Bahrain, an enterprising screen printer had already produced a t-shirt to commemorate the evacuation. The design depicts Brown and Root and the Shah and his family fleeing from Iran.
More than any other medium, t-shirts represent the possibility of taking advantage of a window of opportunity presented by a significant event. All it needs are three vital ingredients: a significant event; creativity; and a market. In this particular case, the screen printer actually correctly gambled that the circumstances had created a market and it turned out to be quite windfall for him. “Refugees” were scrambling to buy these t-shirts. Under the circumstances, price was not a consideration at all.
By The Screenflex team, on March 24th, 2011
This is part 2 of a 2-part story that we are sharing about a small/medium couple-owned screen textile screen printer that figured out the pricing issues that seem to continue to terrify and baffle a lot of Canadian textile screen printers.
This week we’ll tell you more about their successful higher-price strategy including what happened when they decided to jump some price points by 60%.
Once they became established with a reputation for reliability, quality and service they were busier than they could handle. They had hired staff to accommodate the growth but had also made what amounts to a life-style decision to not grow beyond a certain size at which they felt that they were making good money without excessive stress.
Their work is backed by value-added elements such as reliability, quality and service. For customers who care about these elements, this differentiates them from the low-ballers who generally cannot afford to provide value-added elements.
Reliability, quality and service are what many printers promise their customers, but this couple really delivers. Their promised delivery dates can be relied upon. They have found that customers that have left for lower prices, particularly to the ex-employer low-baller, invariably come back because they cannot rely upon the delivery dates promised by others.
They always use better quality emulsions, inks and other materials to ensure that the quality of their prints are always of a high standard. They figured out at an early stage that the incremental cost of better quality materials offsets the stress, cost, hassles and comebacks when cheap materials are used. They are free to concentrate on the printing process without the additional concern about cheap materials undermining the quality of their work.
Their level of service is such that many of their customers have come to rely on it. They do many things to make their customers’ lives easier, thereby making the price less of a consideration. As she puts it, they “babysit” their customers. It is not hard to do; many of the things they do take no time at all, but they matter a lot to the customers.
At one point a few years ago, they realized that a combination of cost increases and a change in ordering patterns required that some of their price points needed adjusting. All prices were adjusted upwards, a few by as much as 60%. Predictably, some customers decided to try the lower-priced competitors. Most of those found ways to pass on the increases and came back for the value-added elements.
As a final note in this story, over the past few months they have acquired seven new customers from the low-balling ex-employer alone. Obviously price isn’t everything to everybody. Just as obviously, by exercising some intelligence and courage, they have found a niche that doesn’t include the scourge of price cutting.
By The Screenflex team, on March 23rd, 2011
So what do you need to know about inkjet film to make sure that you put it into the printer the right way? Sound like a stupid question to you? You’ll be surprised how often we have been told by first-time users that the “stupid film doesn’t work!” because they have put it in the wrong way round.
Now, if you ask some people how to put the inkjet film into the printer correctly they’ll begin to tell you about piezo technology of precise electrical pulses, vapor bubbles, micro porous coatings, glycerol humectants, and even nano porous structures.
If you ask us, we’ll tell you that inkjet film is a clear film with a porous coating on one side. The print side is the side with the porous coating. How do you tell which is the porous coating side? Wet a finger and touch a corner of the sheet. The sticky side is the coated side, therefore the print side.
You’re welcome.
By The Screenflex team, on March 22nd, 2011
Dear Maria:
You know how much we like you. You also know how much we enjoyed working with you while the large retailer that you work for was still having its screen printing done in Canada.
You will recall how for years we matched ink to your designers’ seasonal colour choices free of charge and how we then produced swatch books and ink formulas twice a year for all the Canadian printers that were printing for your employer. When technical issues and challenges arose we worked with you and the printers to solve issues, meet challenges and ensure that superb prints were produced for your employer’s retail stores.
Then your employer decided to send all screen printing offshore to various low-wage locations. Judging by your calls for technical advice from time-to-time, your job now includes trying to solve basic printing issues and correcting mistakes across long distances and language barriers. It seems that you have also found that the integrity and reliability of Canadian printers is difficult to find offshore.
Your employer’s decision to send all screen printing offshore obviously had an adverse impact on us, but by far the largest adverse impact was felt by the Canadian screen printers that had been printing for you. Some have downsized and others have disappeared. We know that you are aware of that and that you have privately expressed concern about the appropriateness of your employer’s decision to send the screen printing offshore. As you are also aware, we have taken a stand on the issue.
Our stand on the exporting of Canadian screen printing jobs to low-wage offshore locations by Canadian retailers and others is well known. You will find our objections and concerns expressed in posts throughout our blog site.
Therefore, to underscore our support for the Canadian textile screen printing industry, we have to ask you to please not ask us to provide any assistance or technical advice for offshore screen printing jobs with which you are experiencing difficulties.
We will of course continue to answer your calls for technical advice and other assistance provided that the screen printing job in question is being printed in Canada, even if it is not being printed with our products.
Knowing you as we do, we are sure that you will understand. We look forward to the day when your employer and other Canadian retailers realize that returning the work to Canadian textile screen printers is the right thing to do. At that time you will find us ready to help as before.
Best regards,
The Screenflex Team.
By The Screenflex team, on March 21st, 2011
The owner of a screen shop in the Maritimes decided that his artist had been working so hard preparing for the upcoming busy summer tourist season that he would reward her. He bought her an air ticket and a night in a hotel so that she could do a little shopping in New York City this past weekend.
On Saturday morning she was in a taxi on the way to the hotel from JFK when she leaned forward and tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question.
The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a tourist bus, went up on the sidewalk and stopped just short of lamp post.
For a second everything went quiet in the taxi. Then the driver said, “Madam, don’t ever do that again. You scared the hell out of me!”
The badly shaken artist, looking like she was about to burst into tears, apologized, “I didn’t realize that a little tap on the shoulder would scare you.”
The driver replied, “Sorry, it’s not really your fault. Today is my first day as a taxi driver. I’ve been driving a funeral van for the past 20 years.”
By The Screenflex team, on March 18th, 2011
Yes, we first ran this a month ago but we think that it can stand repeating.
Thanks to the Comic Relief Media Team in the UK for sending us the picture of Pixie Lott and for granting us permission to use it on our blog. And, as we mentioned last time, the picture was shot by Bryan Adams.
After the last post a few people asked who Pixie Lott was. She is a popular British recording artist. If you look her up on say Google, you’ll find that she has won numerous music awards. Here she is doing what she does best…
But come on, this is not about Pixie Lott… it is all about a huge charitable campaign in the UK, Red Nose Day. That and the creative ideas that the campaign t-shirt might generate back here in Canada. As we keep saying… one creative idea can lead to another.
As a final note, the campaign culminates with a brilliant night of TV tonight (Friday, 18th of March) on BBC One. Check it out here www.rednoseday.com and see if there is a way you can support this very worthwhile cause.
By The Screenflex team, on March 17th, 2011
As part of our series of blogs on pricing, we want to share the story about a typical small/medium Canadian textile screen printer. It is a story about a couple who figured out the pricing issues that seem to continue to terrify and baffle a lot of Canadian textile screen printers.
He was working for a screen printing company and she was working for a computer software company in the mid to late 90’s when they decided to start their own textile screen printing business. It was partly prompted by his boss telling him that he was going to have his wages cut because the company was not doing well.
If he had known more about pricing screen printing at the time it would not have come as a surprise that his employer was not doing very well in spite of being busy. You see, his boss was a low-baller and apparently did not understand the difference between activity and profitability.
The first year on their own was tough. They could produce great art and great printing backed by great service but the business management learning curve was steep. They worked seven days a week and many of those days until midnight. The first month they barely made enough to pay the rent. By the end of the year they realized that while they were busy, they were not making money.
They sat down and decided that charging according to the price lists of the other printers in town, including his low-balling ex-employer, was not working for them. They then analyzed their expenses and earnings expectations and, from that, determined their own price list. Not surprisingly, they came up with prices quite a bit higher than the average going rate in town. It took courage to break from the pack with their pricing, but they decided that working so hard for so little was not an option.
Ever since then they have persisted with their pricing to ensure that they are adequately rewarded for their work and expertise. In spite of competing with at least two low-balling printers in their city, they are busy, they have expanded, and they are doing well. In fact, for years now they have been going home at 5 o’ clock while doing much, much better than when they worked until midnight every night.
In Part 2 of this story next week we’ll tell you more about their successful higher-price strategy including what happened when they jumped their prices by 60%.
By The Screenflex team, on March 16th, 2011
Some time ago, Simon Clifford, president of Tekmar Technical Marketing of Santa Barbara, told a story about aerosol adhesive residue on the floor around a press in a textile print shop that he was visiting. It was so bad that the shop’s resident Golden Lab lay down to rest under the press and then could not get up because he was stuck to the floor.
We don’t know if Simon developed Tekmar’s TEKBOND line of water-based, non-aerosol pallet adhesives because of the dog-sticks-to-floor experience, but we do know that it is a cost-effective, non-messy, “greener” alternative to aerosol pallet adhesives. And we say that in spite of the fact that, as a supplier, we can make much more money from aerosol adhesives because they cost more and more is needed to do the same job.
Water-based pallet adhesives have some big fans. Printers who like them, really like them. They like the fact that water-based pallet adhesives are much more economical than aerosol adhesives. They also often mention that because water-based adhesives are non-hazardous and non-flammable, they are healthier to use. Many of the water-based pallet adhesive users have mentioned to us that they don’t care for the airborne particles of aerosol sprays that always seem to end up as sticky overspray on the floor.
Some water-based adhesives are applied sparingly to the pallet with a small squeegee. One printer told us that he printed 1200 tee-shirts without re-applying the adhesive once during the print run. That is why it is said that a 1-quart container of water-based adhesive can replace at least 3 dozen cans of aerosol adhesive. The cost saving in product price alone is significant (we calculate it at 85% to 90% saving) but it gets even better when you factor in clean-up time of the pallets, press and floor.
In addition to the squeegee-application adhesives, there are water-based adhesives that are applied by use of a spray system. These are most frequently used in automated shops. The difference between them and aerosol sprays though is that the better water-based spray systems can be controlled to spray sparingly on the pallet without over-spraying all over the equipment and floor.
So, do something good for your shop, your budget and for the environment and try water-based pallet adhesives. If you need to know more about water-based pallet adhesives feel free to give us a call at 1-800-661-7766 or email us at info@screenflex.ca or you can find more information at www.screenflex.ca
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