Screen printing product and technical news from Stanley's, Canada.

Time to relax and reflect

The thumbnail version:

• 2021 is in the way out  – today is our last business day of the year.
• Now it’s time to relax and reflect.
• We’ll be back an raring to go on Tuesday the 4th of January 2022.

The full version:

As we said in the annual holiday hours email, 2021 has been another roller coaster ride and now we all deserve a rest to relax and reflect. Here is the rest of the message . . .

We’ll, we’re just about done with this year and looking forward to a more “normal” year in 2022. The question is, will we still recognize “normal” if we see it?  

But for now we all deserve a break. Let’s make the most of the holidays and come back refreshed in January ready to put out some great work.

We will be closing at 4.00 pm on Thursday the 23rd and reopening on Tuesday the 4th of January, 2022.  

The crew at all four Stanley’s branches wish you and yours the best of the season and a happy and prosperous 2022!

The thumbnail version:

• Omicron has extended the life of the facemask market.
• It’s a printing opportunity.

The full version:

Nowadays one sees more and more custom-printed facemasks, mostly fabric masks with logos. Now, because of the emergence of Omicron facemasks are going to be around for that much longer.

This of course extends the opportunity for textile screen shops to fill this niche. Is your shop in this market?

If not, why not?

The thumbnail version:

• Use only meaningful metrics to measure your social media engagement.
• Buying followers is a bad idea.

The full version:

Stop! Don’t do it.

Two posts ago I urged that you examine the cost/benefit aspect and possibly re-think your social media involvement. So assuming that you’ve done that and have decided that the benefits justify the cost, there is still something that is indisputably true—page views, users, free downloads, followers, friends, likes, and You Tube views are all meaningless. The only metric that matters is sales.

I mention this again because if you’re going to insist on attaching importance to “followers” rather than sales you might be tempted to boost your follower numbers by buying them. Don’t do it. It’s not a good idea. Ian Anderson Gray of http://iag.me offers four reasons for not buying followers:

1. Bought followers are just numbers and are unlikely to engage with you (remember that sales is the only metric that matters).
2. You can end up spamming followers (e.g. Twitter follower services accessing your account to send out multiple advertising messages).
3. Loss of integrity, particularly among people who regard buying followers as immoral.
4. You’ll likely be found out, which takes you back to 3#.

So, don’t so it.

The thumbnail version:

• Our industry has a dark side.
• Awareness leads to improvements.

The full version:

As we head into a new year we should not be losing sight of the dark side of our industry that is attracting more and more unfavourable attention.

Awareness should lead to the actions we should all be taking to help make our industry more sustainable. This is not only the responsible thing to do but it also makes business sense—we don’t want to find ourselves on the wrong end of a backlash that seems inevitable.

Magazines, blogs, and other media instruments are becoming flooded with headlines such as: “The World is Paying a High price for Cheap Clothes”; “How Clothes are Harming the Planet”; and “Most Used Clothing isn’t Recycled”. These articles are bound to have an impact when they point out facts such as, “The process of making one t-shirt emits about 5 kilograms of carbon dioxide—around the amount produced during a 12-mile car drive. It also uses 1,750 liters of water.”

All of this is a red flag for our industry. It’s a heads up. If we don’t evolve into a more sustainable industry, it will surely be imposed upon us, probably at a great cost. The alternative is much more appealing—evolve into a more sustainable industry, shop-by-shop.

What is your shop doing?

The thumbnail version:

• Better teams produce better results.
• Recruit carefully.

The full version:

Ed Catmull in his book, “Creativity Inc.”, says: “Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right.” Translated to be applicable to a textile screen printing shop it would read: “Better teams produce better results.”

What this means when hiring for a screen shop is that a carefully-put-together team of compatible personalities and complimentary skills will produce better prints more efficiently and effectively. And since better prints create happier customers and a better reputation, which in turn leads to more repeat business and more new business, Catmull obviously makes sense.

Is it time to take a look at the team as you ready your shop for the new year?

The thumbnail version:

• In some ways social media may be good for your business.
• In other ways it may be a drain.

The full version:

In his book, Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport exposes the downside of social media. He draws comparisons between the way the social media giants engineer their products to be habit forming in the way  it was disclosed how cigarette manufacturers do the same thing. It’s essentially the same business model—the more social media companies can spread the habit, the more money they make. And by now we all know about the billions they’re making.

And the problem for a business buying into the habit is that it can be a huge time and energy drain with little or even no useful return.

So from a business perspective, don’t just plunge into it as so many “social media consultants” will have you do. If you’re using social media to promote or sell your product, you need to conduct a cost/benefit analysis where cost is time and effort spent, and benefit is the impact on your bottom line. The result may persuade you to find more lucrative ways of promoting your business.

Remember that page views, users, free downloads, followers, friends, likes, and You Tube views are all meaningless to  a business. The only metric that matters is sales.

To help you make an informed decision about the use of social media, I recommend Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport as well as the less scientifically-based but still illuminating Social Media is Bullshit by B.J. Mendelson.

The thumbnail version:

• A new year is a good time for new ideas.
• Employees are a great source of ideas.

The full version:

Every business has to evolve in order to survive. In this case “evolve” means incorporating changes to make the business operate more efficiently and effectively, which is another way of saying “make more money.”

One source for evolutionary ideas is the employee pool. They are after all on the front lines, or if you prefer, they are where the rubber hits the road. They see stuff. They have ideas how to fix stuff. All you as the owner or management have to do is tap into that resource. “But how?” you ask.

One way is conduct brainstorming sessions. But not the classical text-book sessions set in formal, oak-panel-lined meeting rooms with some guy in a designer suit with a laser pointer and a big white board. I’m talking more about sitting around in the shop with a few beers and some chips and just talking about how things operate and how they could operate better.

It’s informal but there nevertheless have to be a few rules to ensure that the process produces results: (1) no suggestion is too stupid to consider; (2) no suggestion is criticized or rejected until it has been discussed and explored; (3) and the owner or management must be seen to be taking it seriously by implementing the agreed ideas.

Employees have ideas. Some can be very good. All you have to do is create the environment for them to share. And the more you do it the more comfortable everyone becomes with the process and the better it works.

The thumbnail version:

• Print on demand is a growing phenomenon
• There are different roles to play

The full version:

If you scroll back to February you’ll find two posts on the print-on-demand phenomenon that seems to be growing in popularity. Those two earlier posts addressed the topic from the point of view of a shop setting up its own digital sales mechanism (say, a Shopify site) and then offering a small-order, rapid-turnaround service on imprinted garments.

Print-on-demand online orders growing in popularity

But there’s another role for print shop to play. A print-on-demand chain has a number of links and instead of providing all the links a print shop may consider the viability of being just the production and shipping link in the chain. This would be in response to the many websites that sell but do not produce and are therefore just the first link in the chain. They need to partner with print shops like yours.

Some print shops are apparently doing it successfully but I’d still conduct a very careful cost/benefit analysis before considering the concept seriously. That’s not to suggest that it may not be a viable alternative to contract printing (or an additional revenue stream) but, as with all potential ventures, it must be properly planned and analyzed.

Printing and shipping for print-on-demand sellers may be an alternative or additional way to put dollars on the shop’s bottom line. I guess you have homework to do.

The thumbnail version:

• Supply chain disruptions affecting more than just ink
• Alternatives keep the presses turning

The full version:

Ink was the first and highest-profile material to be affected by the COVID-induced supply chain disruptions but other screen printing supplies are being affected now as well. One example is aerosol pallet adhesive.

Fortunately, there is a viable alternative to aerosol adhesives—a water-based pallet adhesive by Tekmar, TB-HV Pallet Adhesive.

TB-HV is applied to the pallet with a little squeegee and lasts for many impressions without the need for an additional application.  And not only does it work well but it costs a lot less than aerosol adhesives on a per-job basis and is a lot less-damaging to the environment and your health. Inhaling airborne aerosol adhesive particles is something to be discouraged.

Clean-up is with water instead of solvents and TB-HV doesn’t turn the floor and equipment around the press sticky.

It’s a no-brainer. The crew at Stanley’s can tell you all about it.

The thumbnail version:

• The ink supply chain is still in trouble

The full version:

Unfortunately the outlook at this time is not good. The ink supply chain, like many other supply chains, is still in trouble. There apparently isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel yet. Deliveries from some manufacturers like Avient (Wilflex, Rutland, QCM, Union, Printop) are going to be severely rationed for some time yet.

First and foremost, you should stay in touch with Stanley’s for updates on deliveries because it’s a fluid situation. But there are other measures you can take. For instance, not just using up ink already on the shelf but using Avient’s ink mixing software to formulate colours using colours on the shelf. Stanley’s can tell you more about this.

And as you know by now, Stanley’s offset some of the impact of this supply chain disruption by acquiring Inknovators plastisol. It’s not a total gap-filler but it can help you get by until the disruption eases.

Call your Stanley’s branch. They’re in the best position to advise and help your shop to whatever degree is possible.

The thumbnail version:

• Customers have opinions
• You need to know what the customers’ opinions are

The full version:

I once read that in retail, only one in twenty-five unhappy customers will actually complain—the other twenty four just take their business somewhere else. This means that as the business owner you’re denied an opportunity to fix whatever is bugging them. This is of course a problem.

I’m not sure if the one-in-twenty-five rule applies to wholesale as well but even one customer walking instead of talking, is bad for business.

So whenever you have an opportunity you have to listen to what your customers are saying. Really listen. What better measure of customer satisfaction is there? And without customer satisfaction you have no business.

You can of course subtly probe for what they’re thinking but it must be subtle, without any hint of paranoia, and without being annoyingly persistent and intrusive. Good judgement is required. And weeding out the cooks my be required too because every customer base has a few.

But one way or another, listen to your customers; they’re your bread an butter.

The thumbnail version:

• Holiday prints often include glitter
• Glitter is harmful to the environment

The full version:

Glitzy special-effects holiday prints often include glitter; they shouldn’t.

As we wrote earlier this year in a post about special effects, recent research has shown how glitter is adding to the microplastic problem in the oceans as far away as the Arctic. At 1 percent it’s not a significant part of the overall microplastic problem but we have to start somewhere and glitter is one of the easiest to start with—just stop using it. There are plenty of other ideas and materials for creating special holiday effects prints.

Here’s an interesting and alarming number regarding how plastic has found its way into our food . . . we humans now ingest an average of about five grams of plastic a week—the equivalent of a credit card, every week.

So why contribute to the problem with glitter when it can so easily be remedied?

Call Stanley’s for the materials you can use for special-effects holiday prints without resorting to glitter.

Thumbnail version:

• Crises will happen
• A plan makes it easier to cope

The full version:

Crises will happen—real, potentially business-destroying crises. For example, in recent times we’ve had floods, a pandemic, and world-wide supply chain disruptions, just to name a few of the big ones. Then there are more localized crises such as building fires, equipment failure, and system hacks.

A crisis plan can help weather these unpredictable events, and it doesn’t have to be expensive to prepare. Nowadays you can find tools and templates to help small businesses develop a crisis plan. It’s going to require though that you invest some time in developing a plan, but even if you never have to use it, it will at least give you peace of mind. And if someday you do have to use it, you’ll be glad that you made the investment.

You have some homework to do.

The thumbnail version:

• Advertising can be expensive
• Self-managed press coverage is one effective low-cost alternative.

The full version:

Potential customers can’t do business with your shop if they don’t know that it exists or what it does. One solution is to buy advertising but, that can be expensive. A low-cost alternative is free press coverage.

Journalists, writers, and bloggers are always wiling to consider content they can use; they are under pressure to produce so any offer of useable material is likely to be welcome. Potentially one of those win-win situations—they get content and you get coverage.

The owner of a Canadian swimwear business built a press kit, drafted an email, and started contacting editors, writers, journalists and bloggers. She explained why they should write about her business and products. Free coverage followed, the most significant of which was in the Globe and Mail. That PR netted her 50 sales in three days; a big deal for a brand new business.

Like this idea? Why not test it?

The thumbnail version:

• Employees are your shop’s customer experience delivery system

The full version:

In his white paper for Fosrsta, Howard Lax notes something profound: “Employees are the company’s customer experience delivery system.” And while this might sound obvious, why then do so many businesses deliver lousy customer experiences?

A delighted customer is a return customer.

Lax argues that: “If that system suffers from it’s own malaise of bad experiences and isn’t properly trained, it’s absurd to think that the firm will somehow magically delight customers.” Assuming that part of your shop’s objective is to delight customers, what are you doing to ensure that the people that have to deliver on that objective, are trained to do so?

The point is that as with any task that an employee is hired to perform, training is inevitably involved (operating equipment, completing documentation, etc.), so why not training for the task of delighting customers?

Perhaps a review of your staff training is due, assuming part of your objective is to delight customers.

The thumbnail version:

• Humour helps, even if it’s just a smile.

The full version:

As I mentioned last month, sometimes a post serves no particular purpose other than to raise a a smile. If we can’t smile once in a while (especially in current circumstances) then shame on us!

So here is another one in that category thanks to Kari Bill. Get your PANTONE™ chart out and you’ll see that this design director for Olberding Brand Family has a pretty good eye for colour-matching.

Thumbnail version:

• Ink in almost any condition is good ink in a crisis.
• Humour is always healthy, particularly crisis humour.

The full version:

Recently Matt Browning of Surge Screen Printing and Embroidery in Richmond, Kentucky, posted an item on LinkedIn with two images of a 5-gallon bucket manhandled by UPS. You have probably taken delivery of at least one similarly-distorted container in your time (the mind boggles at how shippers manage to do this, doesn’t it?), but that’s not the point.

The point is how Browning’s post drew a hilarious then-and-now comparison that’s as appropriately realistic for the times as it is funny:

2019: “Umm, our ink arrived off the UPS truck like this. Can you send us a replacement bucket please?”

2021: “Thank you, Lord, for we are truly blessed!”

Thumbnail version:

• COP26 climate conference preparations puts spotlight on sustainability
• Our industry is caught up in the clothing sustainability issue

The full version:

The current fashion industry is unsustainable

The sustainability pressure on the fashion industry and textile manufacturing has been building for some time. As an integral part of the greater fashion industry, garment decorators’ futures are going to be affected. As a textile screen printer you need to be aware of developments and trends because they will affect your future. Tees are usually fingered as prime environmental offenders.

Here is a video you should watch as part of your education on this important topic; in this video Tees are singled out as major water-wasting polluters. We can’t ignore this.

Time to re-visit your business model?

The thumbnail version:

• In an earlier post I addressed establishing and maintaining trust in your brand.
• This is another useful bit of advice on the topic.

The full version:

Marry your brand

A contributor to Entrepreneur earlier this year had an interesting angle to the brand-maintenance issue—treat your brand like a relationship.

Here is an excerpt: “Like building trust, a successful relationship depends on shared values—being “equally yoked,” or lining up your values with those of whom you work or do business with. It also means your personal brand should be consistent with your values and in sync with your actions. Make sure your brand is communicating the values that mean the most to you, and that they are clear and recognizable.”

The article concludes with this: “So go ahead and tie the knot; make a lifelong commitment to your brand. Like a romantic relationship, building a powerful and compelling personal brand takes time, hard work, and commitment. The ones that last are the ones that put in the time, the intentional effort, and stay for the long haul. It’s time to renew your vows and reignite the romance with your brand.”

The thumbnail version:

• Customer service can make or break your shop
• Some speakers on the topic are better than others
• This is a good one.

The full version:

I’ve listened to presentations and read many articles about the all-important topic of customer service over the years. Some are better than others.

I don’t have to say more here other than to introduce this short video presentation on customer service—it has a great message: CLICK HERE.

So, give then the pickle!

The thumbnail version:

• What topics or information on this blog would help you run your shop better?
• What can Stanley’s do to help your shop?

The full version:

While this blog brings you relevant industry information searched out in many places and from many sources, there may be topics you’d like to see more of. Or perhaps you would like Stanley’s to make life easier for you in certain ways.

Well, now, like the Spice Girls famously sang, here’s your chance to say what you want, what you really, really want.

Let me know at michael.best@michaelbest.ca or, if you’d prefer, talk to one of the crew at Stanley’s.

Thumbnail version:

• Brand trust is a key to long-term success
• Brand trust has to be built deliberately

The full version:

We live in a time where the brand trust for some of our public and private institutions  is at an all-time low.

Inextricably linked

For instance, a recent Canadian survey ranked trust in members of parliament, advertising practitioners, car salesmen, and owners of social media platforms at the bottom of a long list.

Apparently the so-called oldest profession wasn’t among the choices but it wouldn’t be surprising to find it ranked higher than the above group.

More to the point, a recent Gallup survey conducted in the U.S. found that while the trust level in institutions and big businesses was dropping, small business still ranked fairly high with the public. This is good news for the small business community (which includes most if not all, textile screen shops). However, brand trust doesn’t just happen, your business has to set about earning it.

The reason your business needs brand trust is obvious. If the buying public, or even business customers, have reason to not trust your brand, they’re going to avoid doing business with your shop. On the other hand, brand trust will encourage them to do business with your shop.

So, what are you doing to bolster band trust?

The thumbnail version:

• Ransomware explained
• How to protect your data

The full version:

Protect your business against ransomware criminals.

Ransomware is malware that encrypts the target victim’s data. The idea is that the attacker tries to get the victim to pay a ransom for the key to decrypt their files.

Is a small business (in this case, your shop) at risk? Probably not as much as bigger businesses and institutions that are specifically targeted for their ability to pay a substantial ransom.  However, some less-sophisticated ransomware attackers use carpet-bombing techniques by which they try to infect as many victims as possible, large and small.

So what should you do to protect your business against a ransomware attack? Well, first you need to do some reading and research to familiarize yourself with the topic, but in the meantime, here are some protective measures to implement:

• Don’t click on email links unless you have absolute confidence in the source of the email.
• Backup, backup, backup, preferably routinely, locally, and also offsite. If you’re attacked you can data-restore from the latest uninfected backup.
• Protect personal information. Be suspicious if asked for access-type information (e.g. passwords or security answers such as the old favourite, your mother’s maiden name).

It’s a big topic that can’t be covered adequately in a blog post. So, you have homework to do.

Thumbnail version:

• The ink shortage continues
• Avient (Wilflex, Rutland, Union, QCM, Printop) has published an explanatory graphic

The full version:

Here is the Avient graphic explanation of what has become known as the “ink crisis.” Contact Stanley’s for information of how they’ve worked around the shortage by introducing an additional brand—Inknovators plastisol ink.

The thumbnail version:

• There’s undoubtedly a pent-up hunger for post-pandemic “normalcy”
• But beware the misguided optimists among us

The full version:

In the editorial of the September issue of Images Magazine, the editor, in an apparent effort to inject some optimism into a hitherto gloomy situation, writes enthusiastically about the lifting of pandemic restrictions and the return of football crowds, rock concert audiences, bar and restaurant patrons, and office workers in the UK. All while one in eighty-five citizens has COVID.

Easy there, people! This COVID thing is not beaten yet.

He sees this as “good news” for the textile decorating industry’s suppliers to these entities. But one must ask, “Is it really? And for how long?” The rush to return to “normalcy” has been a disaster in many jurisdictions that have jumped the gun.

We have examples of misguided gun-jumping right here in Canada. For instance, at the beginning of July, Alberta lifted most restrictions in order to allow for “the best summer ever.” And what was the result of the return to “normalcy”? New COVID cases went from roughly one every hour to one every minute within two months. Restrictions had to be reintroduced.

So, caution is the word, particularly in strategizing and tweaking your business model. A rush to “normalcy” might look like “great news” right now but, as recent history has shown, it can be a two-edged sword.

The thumbnail version:

• The ink shortage continues.
• Stanley’s can help.

The full version:

Some of your favourite North-American brands are beginning to slowly trickle through in drips and drabs but there are still severe shortages of raw material leading to manufacturing headaches and short deliveries.

But, as previously reported, Stanley’s has lessened the impact of the manufacturing shortages by having the foresight to add the Inknovators brand of plastisol to their line. Presses that would otherwise have been idle have been able to keep turning and the reaction to Inknovators all-round quality has been encouraging.

If you have any questions about the state of the textile ink supply and what Stanley’s can do to help keep your presses turning, help is only a phone call away.

The thumbnail version:

• An untidy, dirty, disorganized shop will discourage prospective customers.

The full version:

I once saw a Tom Peters presentation in which he was explaining the importance of instilling confidence in prospective customers by attending to even small details that can shape an opinion. He used the example of a commercial airliner.

Your secret weapon for helping to attract prospective customers.

He pointed that we all like to have the confidence that when we get onto an aircraft it has been properly maintained and prepared. We don’t want to see or hear anything that might undermine that confidence. Then as you settle into your seat and lower the fold-up tray, you notice a coffee cup stain and crumbs on the tray.

The first thing through your mind is, if they don’t maintain the cabin properly, do they maintain the engines properly? You wonder if the dirty tray speaks to a generally lackadaisical attitude that extends to engine maintenance? And what does this say about the overall mechanical soundness of the aircraft?

The message for every business, including your textile screen printing shop, is that appearance has an impact on a prospective customer’s initial and probably lasting impression. A messy shop is bound to create a bad impression and doubts about the quality of your output. On the other hand, a clean, organized shop is bound to help get you off to a good start with a prospective customer.

There are of course other good reasons to run a clean and organized shop, but don’t underestimate the impact on prospective customers.

The thumbnail version:

• A lot of bosses are “toxic”
• The toxicity affects productivity

The full version:

Harvard Business Review (HBR) published the results of a survey by Life Meets Work. One of the finding was that 56 percent of American workers (can we assume Canadian as well?) claim that their boss is “highly toxic.” To add to this, the American Psychological Association found that 75 percent of Americans say that their boss is the most stressful part of their workday.

So, what would your shop’s employees say if asked the same questions? You may want to consider that because if you’re one of those “toxic” bosses it’s likely having a detrimental effect on your business. Do you want your employees to stay because you’re a great boss who creates a great work environment or are you okay knowing that they’re unhappy and only staying for one or more of the following reasons:

• They don’t have the energy to look for a new job.
• They need the salary and cannot afford a pay cut.
• They feel that they don’t have the skills to get another job.
• They hope things might get better.

Maybe if you hope to run a happy, productive shop, a little introspection might be in order.

The thumbnail version:

• The cotton in a T-shirt can take a long and complex journey
• Until recently there was no easy way to pin down its origin

The full version:

The Guardian recently ran a story about how, fives years ago, Welspun was mired in a scandal. Welspun, a manufacturer of more than 45 million meters of cotton a year, labelled it’s cotton as “Egyptian” until some of it’s customers conducted inquiries and found that in fact much of the cotton labeled in this way was not Egyptian.

Not from where it says it’s from?

And here’s the part of the story that showed how complex the supply chain in T-shirt manufacturing can be and how difficult it is to trace the origins of the cotton in a particular Tee. Quoting from the Guardian: “The cotton business is a labyrinthine, and the supply chains of products—running from the source farm to the shop shelf—have grown increasingly complex. A T-shirt sold in New Delhi might be made of cotton grown in India, blended in other cotton from Australia, spun into yarn in Vietnam, woven into cloth in Turkey, sown and cut in Portugal, bought by a Norwegian company, and shipped back to India.”

And this, writes the Guardian, is a relatively simple supply chain.

Things have become a whole lot more transparent since the origin of the cotton on a T-shirt can be pinned down to a specific farm. This is due to a geochemist, Prof Russel Frew of New Zealand, researching and developing the science known as element analysis.

Now well-known cotton brands are using element analysis to avoid any unpleasant surprises about the origin of their cotton such as, for instance, finding that the raw materials of some of their products were harvested with child or forced labour.

Have you ever wondered about the origin and the journey of the cotton in the Tees you are asked to print?

The thumbnail version:

• It’s more about the smile than the message

The full version:

I’ve been unable to find the designer of this piece to give proper credit but it’s just too clever and too pertinent to an aspect of our industry to not show,

There’s no particular business message or technical tip in this post. But if it puts a smile on your face (or stimulates a T-shirt design idea), it will be mission accomplished . . .