Top Five Decorated Apparel Money-Making Niches

Top Five Decorated
Apparel Money-Making
Niches
Sponsored By:

Webcast Moderator
Nicole Rollender
• Editor, Stitches magazine, and
Embroidery Business Insights and
Stitches Small Business newsletters
• Director of Education for ASI
• E-mail: nrollender@asicentral.com

Agenda for today’s session:
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Welcome
Offer strategies to help sell decorated apparel and other
items
Top decorating techniques being requested
Five hot (and some unique) markets
Tips for partnering with your digitizer, other decorators
and apparel suppliers
Audience Q&A

Webcast Panelist
Jane Yoder
• Owner of Picture It Inc. DBA Wear
Haus Design; a Woman Minority
Owned Business since 2006, Wear
Haus has been in business since 1992
• Won "Best of Show" in Chicago, three
of four shows for her embroidery work
• Offers laser textile, embroidery,
screen printing, logoed apparel and
promotional products

Webcast Panelist
Michael Savoia
• Owner of Villa Savoia Inc., a textile
embroidery and embellishing company
that serves the national interior design
community
• Started his own company in 1992
• Worked in the interior design industry
in showroom sales and as an interior
designer for many years

Webcast Panelist
Jerilee
Auclair
• Owner of three companies – Black
Eagle Designs, Busy Head Creations
and Hook Wash
• Vegan embroiderer (thread and
products) for the last two years (in
embroidery for 13)
• Stresses thinking outside the box at
every opportunity – advocates never
being hemmed in by conventional
ideals in the embroidery world

Webcast Panelist
David Bebon
• President of JWEB Corporate
Apparel, a division of JWE Designs Inc.
• 28 years of experience in the textile
and garment industries
• Member of Wearables’
advisory board
editorial
• Contributing writer to various trade
publications and a seminar presenter

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The State of the Decorated Apparel
Marketplace*
50% of decorators rate the health of the decorated
apparel industry in 2008 as “fair”; 33% say it’s “robust”
43% of decorators reported increases in decorated
apparel sales in 2008
42% of decorators invested in new decorating equipment
in 2008
Decorators say their top three sources of competition
are: other local decorators; large decorators selling in
their territory; and Web sites offering decorating services
* Results from soon-to-be-released Stitches State of the Industry Report

Panelist Question: Let’s Talk Trends
What are some apparel and other
embellishable items trends for 2009 that
decorators should be pitching to clients?

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Hot Apparel Trends in 2009
Value-priced apparel, without sacrificing quality, is
generating interest ($10 and under price point)
Brands are still hot; new additions to wearables
marketplace, such as Adidas
All types of performance wear (marry function and form)
Sustainable apparel and eco-decoration methods

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Hot Apparel Trends in 2009
Bright colors in T-shirts and polos, such as yellows,
oranges and greens (reflect reaction to current economic
climate, as after Sept. 11, 2001)
Decorators are going regional: for example, Portland,
OR. Think snowboarders, bicyclers, hikers, vegans and
yuppies. To serve this health-conscious, activist
demographic, decorators offer hoodies, fleece-lined
nylon shell jackets, fleece made of soda bottles and
newsboy caps.

Hot Home Décor Design Trends
Interior designers require rich detail as a sales
tool; for example, appliqué and interpretations
of ethnic patterns.

Hot Home Décor Design Trends
Turkish and Uzbekistani art are very desirable;
Michael Savoia reuses antique fabrics to
embellish new items. He pulled these images
from a tattered panel and created a headboard
panel and a bed skirt.

Hot Home Décor Design Trends
Chair and sofa skirts;
leading edges of
curtains embellished
with beautiful designs
Trend toward modern
images; designers
are attracted to
clean, geometric lines
in larger urban areas

Panelist Question: Decorating Techniques
What are some of the hottest new decorating
techniques available for promotional
apparel and other blank items right now?

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Laser etching
Decorating Techniques
Embroidery (look to specialty work)
Appliqué
Screen printing/ digital printing
Multimedia
More tonal, color-on-color embroidery;
embroidery placement still predominately on the
left chest and on the right sleeve cuff

Laser Etching on a T-shirt

Laser Etching With Applique

Specialty Embroidery

Screen Printing: Discharge

Panelist Question: Hot Markets
What are some hot (and unique) markets
that decorators should target to sell
decorated apparel and other items to?

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Hot Markets
Education/schools (athletic teams, bands, etc.)
Government agencies/ alternative energy-related
companies
Uniforms (promotional apparel may be suffering in this
economic climate; so, focus on businesses that require
employees to wear uniforms, such as service industries,
hospitality, local YMCAs, etc.)
Health care (health-care staff will buy uniforms, lab
coats, scrubs, etc. This includes the standard
fare: dentists, chiropractors, doctors, hospitals, labs,
walk-in clinics and pharmaceutical companies.)

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Hot Markets
Interior design firms/ home décor market
Alternative medicine/ways of healing (massage,
Reiki, acupuncture and acupressure, and yoga).
Greater acceptance of alternative healing
solutions, so embellishments that identify these
healing modalities are an up-and-coming market.

Home Décor Market: Monogram
This is a monogram
based on a historic
document that
Jerilee
Auclair
digitized for Michael
Savoia. He used
cotton thread to give
it a more matte
appearance and
used a distressed
cotton velvet to
enhance that effect.

Home Décor Market
Display bold monogrammed pillows in your shop.
Tip: When monogramming, fill your border sash
frame; for example use 12-inch high and wide
monograms on 20-inch square pillows.
Tip: Work with your fonts. Change them to artwork
and create grounds and outlines.
Tip: Try a complex fill pattern over a velvet appliqué
that is surrounded by rich satin stitches.

Alternative Healing Market Designs

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Panelist Question: Go Green
Do you see eco-friendly material or
decorating options rising this year?
What are some techniques decorators can
use to capitalize on this trend?

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Sell Green
Understand the eco-apparel life cycle (for example:
Where is the organic cotton grown? Is it certified? Is the
fabric processed in an eco-friendly way? How about the
garment dyeing and finishing? How about how it’s
shipped?). Clients will want to know that you know these
answers.
Understand eco-friendly/natural fabrics: for example,
organic cotton, bamboo, Tencel, Cocona, recycled
polyester, etc.; an important part of the story is many
sustainable apparel products and fibers are performance
enhanced (moisture wicking and antimicrobial).

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Sell Green
Look to decorate in eco-friendly ways. Some
trends: organic cotton thread; more water-based
screen-printing and digital-printing dyes. Know how
natural fabrics react to different embellishment
options.
Who’s buying? Gyms and spas, health care,
hotels and resort, health-food stores, corporations,
etc.

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Green Trends: Example
Hemp and other
natural fabrics
(especially in home
décor market: cotton
thread, and natural
materials; cotton,
wool, silk, cashmere,
mohair, linen fabrics
and blends)

Panelist Question: Prospecting Techniques
What are some techniques decorators can
use to prospect locally or regionally?

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Prospecting Techniques
Explore www.meetup.com
Examine and pitch to the local businesses in your home
town and the places where you shop and dine – think
uniforms.
Purchase sample garments and decorate them with your
prospect’s logo. Present the apparel on a hanger rather
than as a folded garment. Let the prospect experience
the garment.

Panelist Question: Selling Strategies
What are the best ways for a decorator to
sell more unique or more expensive
decorated work to clients?

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Selling Strategies
Partner with your digitizer to offer unique design
twists (add a design element to a logo) to your
clients.
Partner with your apparel supplier to create custom
looks – really use your supplier’s resources.
Partner with other decorators to offer embellishment
techniques you don’t offer, or upscale multimedia
looks.

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Selling Strategies
Find a niche: for example, pet items (think
bandannas, collars, leashes, coats, apparel, etc.) If
you succeed with a golf course, for example, go to
other golf courses in the area and share your
success story.
Keep good-better-best samples in your shop to sell
the better-quality item – let your clients experience
the garments’ differences.
Go regional (again): for example, Portland, OR,
where bicyclists need waterproof messenger bags
that can be over the shoulder but rest on the back or
opposite hip.

Panelist Question: Final Advice
How can decorators educate
themselves further on the hottest
new decorated apparel and other
embellishable items trends?

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Decorators should:
Final Advice
be familiar with top supplier catalogs
offer clients samples
bring clients new product ideas that
differentiate you from your competition
shop the market – attend trade shows, open
houses and regional table-top shows

Audience: Q & A Session
Contact Information
Jerilee Auclair, jerilee@blackeagledesigns.com
David Bebon, dbebon@optonline.net
Michael Savoia, michael@villasavoiainc.com
Jane Yoder, wearhaus@ligtel.com
Nicole Rollender, nrollender@asicentral.com