With as complex a process as apparel decoration—whether you offer screen printing, embroidery, heat-applied graphics, digital direct-to-garment or some combination of these—there are hundreds, nay, hundreds of thousands of directions from which trouble may strike. We hope a trouble you’ve had recently is adequately addressed—shot down, that is—on the following pages. Welcome to another installment of one of every year’s most popular features, in which questions, problem and troubles of all kind and from all directions are efficiently dispatched by some of our industry’s brightest educators, practitioners, manufacturers and troubleshooters. We thank them for their participation, and sincerely hope you enjoy and benefit from the fruits of their labor.

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Q: As a screen printer, I’m feeling more and more the pinch of competition from apparel decorators who offer other forms of embellishment . . . but printing is all I know. Is there an easy way for me to expand what I offer?

 

A: Some may call me biased, since our companies specialize in heat-printing products, equipment and processes, but that still doesn’t change the fact that heat printing is a cost-effective and easy way to offer all types of personalization on a wide variety of objects. Many of our customers are screen printers who use heat-applied graphics, such as transfers or cad-cut materials to complement the screen-printing services they already offer. It’s just a matter of determining the most cost-effective way to get a particular job done, and screen printing isn’t always the answer, especially for low-quantity orders, samples or hard-to-print items. Take printing on difficult fabrics, such as Cordura nylon or Gore-Tex, for example. Screen printing—and embroidery for that matter—can sometimes damage the integrity of specialized or treated performance fabrics. Heat printing—using a heat press and the appropriate heat-seal graphics—allows you to customize these items quickly and at a profit. And with no damage to the performance properties of the item. It is usually pretty easy for screen printers to get started using cad-cut materials. Most screen printers already own a heat press. Many screen printers either already own a cutter or are familiar with cutter technology. Since you cut what you need as you need it, cad-cut materials allow screen printers to print last-minute and fill-in orders at a profit and can be used to expand their decorating services to nylon jackets, bags, caps and more. There are also many new cad-cut materials available that let you create metallic, reflective, holographic and other high-end fashion looks that can sometimes be difficult to screen print.

—Ted Stahl, Stahls’, St. Clair Shores, Mich.

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Q: Can a home-based business be taken seriously

A: A 2004 Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy report (sba.gov) states home-based businesses make up roughly half of all US businesses. The 119-page report entitled Home-Based Business and Government Regulation was written to advance the understanding of regulatory burdens on home-based businesses, as opposed to non-home-based very small businesses. Consider these facts:

• Over two-thirds of all sole proprietorships, partnerships and S-corporations are home-based.
• Over 90 percent of home-based businesses are sole proprietorships.
• 96.5 percent of home-based businesses had gross receipts less than $100,000.

This question was submitted by a home-based business owner who attended the Printwear Show in Long Beach this summer and was frustrated at how the business must constantly re-validated itself whenever applying for a business loan, seeking credit terms from suppliers and/or being taken seriously when courting a bricks and mortar prospective client.

There are a number of things a home-based business owner can do to elevate its stature in the eyes of the marketplace. The first thing it should consider is changing its business entity to limited liability corporation (LLC) or partnership (LLP), or Sub-chapter S corporation (S-Corp). Your lawyer or accountant should be able to help you file the necessary documents with your state to establish the business as a viable enterprise and further protect your personal assets—a benefit LLCs, LLPs and S-Corps enjoy that sole proprietorships do not. Check out the websites mycorporation.com or LegalZoom.com for online help as well.

Next, in conversation with everyone, act as if your business deserves to be taken seriously regardless of its location. Officially change your business address to:

The Name of the Business
Your home address
Suite B (for basement) or G (for garage) or 100 (or anything else)
Your hometown, state and zip

Having mail and magazines sent to the company name at a suite number gives others the impression that a well-establish business resides at that location. If you don’t have a separate business phone and/or fax number, consider obtaining them as well. If you insist on having your home phone number double as a work number, when answering the phone, your greeting should include identifying the name of the business, your name and an offer to be of assistance to the caller and make the assumption the caller is a business contact and not one of your kid’s playmates.

In short, the more you can do to conduct yourself and your company’s activities in a professional manner, the more your business contacts—vendors, advisors, customers and industry colleagues—will take your home-based business seriously. Good luck.

—Vince DiCecco, Your Personal Business Trainer, YPBT.com

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Trouble with thread breaks? Be it bobbin or top thread, there are many possible causes. The Q&A below offers relief. Q: ¡Aye, carumba! I’m plagued by thread breaks. Can you help?

A: Thread breaks occur on the top thread when:

• there is a burr or scratch on the hole of the throat plate;
• the machine is not threaded correctly;
• the thread is caught under the spool;
• the wrong needle choice has been made;
• there is lint or dust in the bobbin case;
• the needle is bent, dull or inserted incorrectly;
• the upper thread is knotted or tangled;
• the thread is too large for the eye of the needle;
• the upper tension is too tight;
• the rotary hook is rough or damaged.

Thread breaks occur on the bobbin thread when:

• the bobbin is inserted incorrectly;
• the bobbin tension is too tight
• the bobbin is incorrectly wound
• the upper thread is tangled.

Try these and, if one of them doesn’t ease your woes . . . consider taking up screen printing.

Helen Hart Momsen, Hart Enterprises, Winchester, Va

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Q: My screens are not washing out. Could the emulsion that I just bought be . . . bad?

A: As long as the emulsion is not more than two years old, has not been stored at a temperature over 85°F or frozen, or exposed to white light, the emulsion should certainly be good. The more likely reason the image is not washing out is your film positive. If you see any light coming through the image when holding the positive up to a bright light source, then the image is not blocking the exposure light. I use a $40 Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printer that works for everything except highly technical images. Once the image runs through the printer, I let the ink dry, then I print the image again over the prior image. The two images register perfectly. Sometimes I run the transparent paper through the printer several times for additional opacity, but I let the ink dry first each time. You could also make two copies of a positive, and tape one image over the other to increase density in the image, but this will increase the exposure time. If the image is washing out, except for fine details, then perhaps the exposure unit has more than one bulb or a bulb longer than six inches which is undercutting the positive and exposing the emulsion under the image.

—Roger Jennings, R Jennings Mfg., S. Glens Falls, N.Y.

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Q: I am moving my shop to a larger building. I have an eight-color/10-station automatic press. What procedures should I follow and what advice would you offer to ensure the press does not get damaged in transit, and how I can get it up and working as quickly as possible in the new location?

A: In a word: Plan, plan, plan. Everything from floor layout to power/air requirements. Every hour of planning is worth a day of lost production. The power requirements for each piece of your equipment should be clearly labeled on the equipment. If it is illegible or missing, contact the manufacturer with year and make and they should be able to help you out. Have all utilities ready and available when the equipment arrives. Also, spend the extra money to have a factory technician disassemble and reassemble your machine. They are pros at doing it and will be able to re-level and re-register the press so it will print better at the new location than it’s printing now.

—Tim Dunham, Workhorse Products, Phoenix

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Q: Anything special about printing towels?

A: Yes, a lot. First, use water-based inks for a soft hand to the print. Water-based inks require the use of a dual-cure emulsion in stencil making. Water attacks diazo and photo-polymer emulsions that are not formulated to be water resistant. Velour towels are easier to print than terrycloth, and a white or light-colored towel should be printed with darker ink. The pigment needs to be fused or cured in the towel, but that will not occur until all the water has evaporated. Drying cools the towel as heat is being absorbed by the water. Curing cannot occur until after the towel is dry. Thus, towels require two-stage drying and curing. A large volume of warm air dries the towel before fusing the pigment in the towel. When you think the ink is dry and cured, wet and rub the image as a test.

—Roger Jennings

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Got a broken press? Or worried you might get one, and wonder who bears the brunt of repairs and their associated costs? The Q&A below provides the details. Q: If my press breaks down, what are my options for getting it fixed? If I fix it myself, does it void the warranty? If I have to pay for a technician, how does that work? Does it take like a week or more to get one in? What expenses are associated with that? If the problem with the press is something covered under the warranty but a technician has to come out to fix it, who pays for that? Can you purchase an extended warranty? Does the tech come from the manufacturer or the dealer?

A: The warranty you receive on your equipment is an extension of the warranty your equipment manufacturer received from its vendors. If a part on your machine fails under warranty, you may be asked to return that part to the factory to receive credit for the new part. This is critical. If you do not return the old part, you will be charged for the new one. The manufacturer needs to turn that part back in to its vendor to receive a credit back from them. If the manufacturer has to pay because you didn’t return the bad part, odds are, you will have to pay as well. Always ask the manufacturer if you need to return a part. If so, they will provide you with a Return Authorization Number (RMA). When you ship the bad part back, write the RMA number on the bill of lading or label so you get appropriate credit.

As for authorized technicians, the best thing you can do is to contact your equipment’s manufacturer when you have a problem. They will let you know if they will cover the repair under warranty and who is authorized to complete the repair. There are some very good, independent technicians in the field, but the rules are clear, if a factory is going to warrant against failures, the technician who performs the work must be authorized by the factory. In today’s advanced electronics, one misplaced wire could result in a very costly repair. Don’t take chances, always call the factory before allowing anyone to work on your new machine.

—Tim Dunham

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Just where should an embellished garment be . . . embellished? The Q&A below offers placement help for all the most commonly decorated apparel styles. Q: I’m new to heat pressing and don’t know where on my shirt I should put my prints. Are there any guidelines?

 

A: There are various places that are common to embellish. Let’s discuss the most common, beginning with Full Front—Most full-front designs will need to be centered on the shirt. Many T-shirts have a print line, a vertical crease in the shirt that marks the vertical center. Or you can use the tag which should be centered.For the horizontal center, use the bottom of the arm seams and imagine a line across. Some manufactures offer transfers with a grid on the back of the carrier sheet so the design is centered on the page; simply find the center of your sheet and line it up!

Left Chest—This is the hardest area to visibly see position.A common mistake is to place it too close to the edge of the shirt and, when worn, it falls under the arm area.Your vertical center is an imaginary line down from the seam where the neck and sleeve meet.To measure horizontally, use the same line from bottom of arm seam to arm seam: Most left-chest prints will sit on this line; if it particularly tall print, you may want to bring it down slightly.

Golf Shirts—The position on a golf shirt is the same as the left chest print, but you will need to raise the print area so that the placket buttons do not cause a pressure problem. This can be done with a mouse pad or some other rubber pad.

Long Sleeves—Most long-sleeve shirts come with a folded line along the length of the sleeve.Place the edge of your sleeve print as close to that fold as possible and press.Although this is not a perfect center, the print will be look good when worn.

Short Sleeves—Short-sleeve shirts come with a similar fold.This will be your vertical center. The easiest way to apply a design on short sleeves is by using a cap press.Just put the sleeve on the press, center the transfer on the fold and press.If you don’t have a cap press, you will need to use a mouse pad or other rubber pad under the print area so the seam on the reverse side is not a problem.

Pant/Short Legs—Use the fold line of your sweat pants and position the transfer as close to this line as possible.Again, although not the perfect center, when worn it will look properly positioned.The position on the leg is a personal choice—hip to knee, knee to ankle and so on. Talk to your customer to see where he or she would like it.

—Sue Wilcosky, Transfer
Express, Mentor, Ohio

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Q: I think we’re just as good—if not better—than any apparel decorator around, so I’m convinced the best way for us to increase our competitive edge is through referrals from satisfied customers, finding a way for our current loyal customers to turn us on to potential loyal customers. Any suggestions?

A: Becoming referable is a matter of earning, not asking. A good friend gave me a book about building your business through referrals. The author believes: “The best marketing strategy is to be referable.”  He is correct. He writes, “Referability means that your very best clients and customers are continually cloning themselves—continually introducing you to those like themselves or better than themselves.” According to the author, your referability depends upon four habits:

1. Show up on time.
2. Do what you say.
3. Finish what you start.
4. Say please and thank you.

Could being referable be that simple? The author asserts that these four habits convey respect and appreciation toward the customer. He says, if you’re arrogant or erratic, you won’t be referred, no matter how talented or charming you are. He says if you’re not getting enough referrals, cultivate the four habits.

My take? He is partially right. Very partially. I say his four elements don’t create referability; his four elements are a given in a business relationship. To be referable, you have to go way beyond showing up on time and delivering what you promise. Those habits may have worked in 1955 when Happy Days was reality, but becoming referable and earning referrals in today’s times (unhappy days) are far more complex.

In short, I have found that a referral is earned, not asked for. When you ask for one, you immediately put your relationship in an awkward position, especially if the customer is reluctant to give you one, and you keep pestering him or her. Here’s why: The one-word synonym for referral is risk.

When someone gives you a referral, it means she is willing to risk her relationship with the referred person or company. She has enough trust and faith that you’ll perform in an exemplary manner, and not jeopardize her existing friendship or business relationship.

Once you understand the definition of referrals, and realize how delicate yet powerful they can be, you at once realize why you get them (or not), and that you must become risk-free in order to earn them.

Referrals are awkward to “ask for” and often create discomfort on the part of the customer. In order not to have to ask, here are the elements that breed proactive referrals:

1. Be likeable. This is the first prerequisite. Without a friendly relationship, there is no need to go further.
2. Be reliable. The company, the product, the service, and you, must be “best,” and “there when needed.”
3. The customer considers you an expert in your field. To be referable, you must have an expertise that breeds customer confidence.
4. They trust you. The customer is certain that you will do everything in the referred party’s best interest, like you have with theirs.
5. You have a track record of performance. You have already done the same thing with the referrer and they’re comfortable that you can repeat the performance.
6. They consider you valuable—a resource, not a salesman. Not just, “Do what you say.” There’s no real value there. I mean providing value to the customer beyond your product and service. Helping the customer to profit more, produce more, or some other form of value, either attached to your product or not. Not value in terms of you, value in terms of the customer.

And there are telltale signs, clues that you “qualify” for a referral:

REFERRAL CLUE: Your phone calls are returned. This means there was a purpose, a value, or a friendship reason. Returned calls connote respect for who you are.

REFERRAL CLUE: You get reorders. This means they want to do business with you, and they like to do business with you.

REFERRAL CLUE: There are no problems with service issues. Your interactions are smooth and your execution is flawless.

REFERRAL CLUE: They accept your lunch invitation. And the conversation is more personal than business.

Here’s the secret: If the one-word definition of referral is “risk,” then you must be risk-free, or at least risk-tolerable.

Here’s the strategy that will work 100 percent of the time: Give your customer a referral first. It will not only blow them away, they will become an advocate on your referral team.

Here’s the report card: The referral you got turned into a sale.

If you want more information on the value of a referral, go to gitomer.com—register if you’re a first time visitor—and enter REFERRAL in the GitBit box.

—Jeffrey Gitomer, Buy Gitomer Inc., Charlotte

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When you buy a cutter for heat-seal material, a software program should be included with the purchase. But this program is only one corner of the software triangle you’ll need to do your best work. Check out the Q&A below.

 

Q: I have a cutter that came with software. I have noticed that some companies offer additional software to use with a cutter. I am wondering what this additional software offers and if it would be a good investment?

A: If you have a cutter, there are three types of software to be aware of. The first, as you mentioned, is the program that comes with the cutter. What this does is take the artwork file and turn it into a language that the cutter can understand to cut out your image. Your cutter software is not likely to have any artwork or design capabilities.

In order to create artwork for the cutter to cut, you will need a graphics program, such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. This allows you to create artwork to send to the cutter. Then, in addition to your main graphics programs, there are a host of companies that have created what I will call template programs. This software has predesigned layouts, fonts and clip art from which you can pick and choose to create designs. This can speed up the artwork-creation process as well as save research time coming up with ideas of what to do.

Typically, you can choose a template layout you like, then choose your typeface and a clip-art image that matches your theme. These template programs can range in price from $50 up to $1,200. In general you get what you pay for; however, there a couple of things to keep in mind.

First, the program must create vector art. A cutter will work only with vector art. Second, you don’t want to go to your local office-supply store and pick up any old program that claims it has vector images on it. You want a software that has been specifically designed to work with a cutter. There are many industry-specific suppliers who offer these types of programs and they are cutter-friendly. Essentially, what a good third-party design program will offer are the predesigned templates, clip art, and fonts that are all engineered to work with a cutter. So it is a good investment, especially for someone with no artistic skills or experience in a graphics program, or someone just starting out.

Once a design is created in a third-party program, it can be imported into your graphics program, then sent to the cutter program where the cutter cuts it out. So you really need three software programs as each performs separate tasks.

—Mel Meibers, Great Garment Graphics, Hendersonville, N.C.

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The screen-printing screen is a very complex sub-assembly. If it’s not working right, could be the result of a number of factors . . . your film positives, for example. Read the Q&A below for advice. Q: Why are my exposure times changing? I use an exposure calculator as suggested but I am seeing a change every week. I have not changed my emulsion, and I am using a metal-halide single-source exposing unit. Wassup?

A: Occasionally, I run into this technical problem related to the fact that metal-halide lamps age and loose their light-broadcasting strength. The alignment of the glass particles caused by repeated exposure to heat causes a frost-like haze to form in the glass, called “crazing.” When a bulb’s glass crazes the glass now becomes a light filter choking off the (actinic/UV) light that exposes the emulsion.

This particular problem is most common with metal-halide systems that are not equipped with a light integrator or where the light-sensing and -measuring probe is not working correctly. Check your light integrator or make sure you replace your outdated or low-end model for a metal-halide exposure unit the is equipped with a light integrator.

—Douglas Grigar, The Grendal, Canyon City, Colo.

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Can you do this with your heat press? Learn how by reading the informative Q&A below. Q: I have a customer who wants a wrap-around design on a T-shirt. I only decorate with heat transfers, but I know there’s gotta be a way! Any ideas?

A: The lightning design shown on page 50 was done using the Roland GX-24 cutter, a Teflon pillow, cold-peel CAD-cuttable material, and a 16 X 20 inch heat press. You might notice if you examine the photo that the part of the design that extends onto the sleeve is pressed over top of a seam.In any case, here’s how it was done.

Step 1: The design is sent over to the cutter and cut out of heat transfer CAD-cuttable material. When doing vinyl cutting it is required that you create a mirror image of the design to be cut, because the adhesive is on the top side of the material facing you, not facing the carrier paper.

Step 2: The resulting oversized print is then trimmed with scissors and the excess material is weeded away from the carrier sheet. So now you have a lightning bolt on carrier paper. The design is larger than the heat press so it will require more than one heat-press application. (The real key to doing an oversize wraparound like this one is to use a cold-peel material. Cold-peel materials can be reheated without any negative effects. Hot-peel material cannot be reheated without possible problems. Plus it’s very difficult to peel half the design while it’s still hot.)

Step 3: Position a pillow inside of the shirt and turn it so the side of the shirt is facing up. Line up the lightning design and press the first application. This heat seals about 60 percent of the design to the shirt. You can start at either end of the design, just don’t start in the middle. Lift up the shirt with the pillow still inside and move it so the unsealed portion of the design is under the heat platen. There is some overlapping but, again, with cold-peel materials, it’s okay to reheat an already-sealed part of the design.

Step 4: Once the shirt cools, peel off the backing paper. The cold-peel material also seals very nicely over the side-seam of the shirt. When screen printing a wrap-around design, the seam can sometimes cause problems, an issue you avoid with heat-seal graphics.

—Josh Ellsworth, Imprintables Warehouse, Masontown, Pa.

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Q: I am having problems with my exposures. I can’t get the image to spray out without “scraps” stuck in the mesh, even though it’s exposed completely. I have to underexpose and carefully blot and baby the screens to prevent scumming and delamination when I develop the stencil. Even with all this care the stencil has breakdown problems when I print. What am I doing wrong?

A: It is likely your positives. Far too many printers suffer with poor positives, using inexpensive laser printers and translucent paper vellum, or try to use standard transparency film in their inkjets from the local office supply. The film or paper is often not as clear or transparent to UV light as it needs to be, and the black will suffer from holes in the print or be far to transparent to block enough light for a good exposure. Many will tell you it is the black of the positive (referred to as D-Max) that is the important thing, while others will say it is the clear of the film (referred to as D-Min) that does the trick. Both are correct but both are missing the main thing: It is the contrast from one to the other that is important. To solve this problem you will need to upgrade to a better way of making your positives, such as a special package inkjet, high quality ink, and RIP (yes you must have the raster imaging processor), or one of the more expensive film-output devices.

—Douglas Grigar

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Q: How do I learn this vector-graphics program? I’m just not getting it! I need to be up and running now and don’t have the time for this frustration!

A: The first answer is that there are many training programs for learning both vector graphics programs and Photoshop, in DVD, Internet and book form. Be aware that these graphics programs have a large learning curve. Every time you purchase a program it will come with a manual; you learn the program just as I and many artists have done: with mouse in one hand and manual in the other, one step at a time. Even a novice will be able to produce simple art within just a few hours of practice. With a second look I would also point out that you may be barking up the wrong tree. If you do not have the time for working with graphics, why are you trying to be an artist? There are several graphics services available on-line that advertise on the Internet and at trade shows that will produce excellent vector art and email the files directly to your inbox. Also, you may want to consider one of your local area freelance artists; many are surprised at how reasonable the charges are, and costs of the services are something that you pass directly to your customer (with a markup, if you wish).

—Douglas Grigar

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Q: I am about to upgrade from my hobby-level screen-printing equipment and want to know the best way to buy new stuff. Any advice?

A: First I would suggest that you attend a large regional or national trade show that will have most if not all of the manufacturers’ equipment on display, and give them all a good “kick in the tires.” Once you decide what brand you like, there are several ways to save more than just a few bucks on your new-equipment needs. One way is to find several dealers of the same equipment brand on the Internet and get quotes on prices from as many as possible. One of the best ways is to pre-order equipment from your manufacturer and take delivery of that equipment at your next regional screen-printing show, saving shipping costs and likely getting a significant discount. You can find out if your manufacturer will be at your regional show by checking the show exhibitor list or calling them directly about their plans. Printwear Shows are listed on the website: nbmshows.com.

—Douglas Grigar

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Issues with reclaim? Interested in simplifying the process? Q: I am currently using the traditional multi-chemical screen-cleaning method with an ink degrader, emulsion remover, stain and ghost remover (when needed) and a degreaser, and wanted to know if I can skip or remove a step or two to save time and money.

A: First, skipping an important and needed step will not save you time. What will happen is that you will end up spending much more time on problems caused by a process that produces a less than optimum product. The second point is also one of the nice things about this industry: That is, we have new ideas and products every few months. Chemical products are one area of the industry where lots of work and development is aimed and now there are combination products that will do two or more steps in one. At the same time, there is confusion as to what the products do, so it is up to you to research the product to see what will be accomplished with its use. Several products now combine an emulsion remover and a degreaser in one step, so there currently a misconception out there that you may not need a degreaser step. You do, but there are lots of combination products that do effectively combine two applications into one step.

—Douglas Grigar

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Because the results of under-flashing are so obvious, printers are a little less familiar—and slower to recognize—the results of over-flashing. The Q&A on page 51 addresses this issue. Q: Is it possible to over flash cure?

A: Yes, definitely. As the problems of under-flashing are obvious, the more common tendency is to over-flash. A flash cure typically should be six to eight seconds. That is the time required so that ink does not pick up on your finger, but the ink might be slightly tacky or malleable. If the ink is cured even a second or two longer, it is cured more than necessary. Then more colors are printed with flash curing after some or all of those colors. The accumulation of heat exposure fully cures the first and possibly subsequent layers of ink. Wet ink will not bond to fully cured ink when the wet ink itself is cured. So the garment can look and feel great leaving the print shop, but the ink will come off the garment after repeated washings. The solution to the problem is to monitor total exposure to heat. An automated flash dryer that moves the heat away from the garment after a pre-set number of seconds will greatly help to achieve control over exposure times.

—Roger Jennings

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Q: I have a clam-shell heat press and I am using it to apply plastisol screen-printed transfers, but am finding that the designs are coming off. Can you provide a trouble-shooting checklist so I can figure out what I am doing wrong?

A: There is a recipe to follow whenever you are using a heat press. Its ingredients consist of temperature, time and pressure. The first thing to check is the temperature. You can purchase heat strips from your supplier. Put the strip on the platen and lock down the press. If you set the press for 375° and the heat strip measures 350, you know you’ve got a temperature problem.

If the temperature is off, contact the manufacturer who will either teach you how to calibrate your press or have you return the press for factory calibration. In a pinch, you can raise or lower the temperature by the amount the heat strip says the press is off as a temporary measure to fix the problem until you can get it properly adjusted.

Time is the second thing to check. Most transfer manufacturers will give you a window of time to apply a transfer. It might range from 8-12 seconds, for example. Experiment to see if more or less time makes a difference. Transfer manufacturers provide a range because the amount of time depends on what make heat press you are using and what type of substrate you are embellishing (cotton versus polyester, for example). If you are putting a bright-white or gold design on a black shirt, you want to stay on the lower end of the time range. If not, you may develop strikethrough. Strikethrough is what occurs when a garment is pressed for too long. This drives the transfer too far into the garment. The result is seeing the garment color through the transfer. This may turn your white transfer pink on a red shirt or gray on a black shirt.

Pressure is the most confusing element of heat-seal printing. A lot of manufacturers use a psi measurement (pounds per square inch), which is easy to adjust and monitor on a pneumatic air press because there is a pressure gauge. However, on most manual presses this is very hard to measure. If the press has a digital pressure display, you at least have a reference point as the gauge will reflect a number between one and nine. What the operator needs to do is observe what amount of pressure gives the best results and record that number. Without a gauge, this is done strictly by feel and usually denoted as light, medium, or heavy.

There is a pressure knob on a heat-transfer press that can be turned clockwise or counter clockwise to apply more or less pressure. This knob will need to be adjusted as you switch from doing a thin T-shirt to a thick sweatshirt. Ideally, a recipe book is kept by the press and the proper time, temperature and pressure settings are recorded each time a new transfer/garment combination is successfully handled. This cuts down on experimentation and misprints as the same successful settings are used every time.

—Ben Robinson, Stahls’ Hotronix, Charmichaels, Pa.

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Q: I sometimes get some fearsome holes in my embroidered garments. Very costly. What causes this and how can I prevent?

A: To prevent holes in the garment, make sure you are using the right backing and that they are hooped together. Using adhesive spray or a water activated backing that adheres to the back of the garment will provide a more stable surface for sewing. Make sure the hooped garment and backing are riding smoothly on the throat plate. Use the proper backing for the job. If the backing is too thick, the needles can flex and tear the fabric. If there are holes in the corners of the letters, make sure the point of the needle is not damaged and that it is the right size for the thread and the right point for the fabric. If the needle is not installed or seated correctly, damage to the fabric can occur.

Don’t pull the fabric in the hoop or stretch it too tightly when hoping. Stretched fibers can be damaged during stitching, creating holes. Make sure you are using the smallest hoop possible and that the inner and outer rings match. Use the proper size needle for the job. A needle that is too large will create large entry holes in the fabric. Check the table top and hoop rings for rough spots that can tear the fabric. Check the bobbin and make sure it is inserted correctly, is spinning, and that the spring is adjusted correctly. Check the design for multiple stitches in curves and corners. Make sure you turn off the short stitches in your digitizing program so the stitches will not penetrate the same area repeatedly. Don’t over-atrium the back. Clipping threads in the design area can loosen stitching or cut lock stitches.

—Helen Hart Momsen

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With the ever-increasing quality of our industry’s equipment, hot and cold spots on a heat-transfer press are less common than they on below addresses these maladies. Q: What causes a hot or cold spot on a heat press? How can you test for this? How does this affect the results when heat sealing something? Can it be fixed?

A: What usually causes a cold spot on a heat press is poor element design or if the manufacturer did not put enough elements per the amount of mass aluminum in its casting. A bad element also can cause a cold spot. Most manufacturers X-ray their press before they sell it to identify a weak spot. Once the element is cast in, though, it can’t be fixed. You have to get a new press.

A hot spot is caused when the element is too close to the surface or there are too many elements in one spot. A lot of the major suppliers warrant the press against hot and cold spots so, if you find one, contact your manufacturer.

—Ben Robinson

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Q: I’m having some mysterious problems and a friend is trying to tell me they’re bobbin-related. So what’s the story? How important is the bobbin?

A: Having trouble with the bobbin thread? Change the bobbin. A nearly empty bobbin will lose tension. A dropped bobbin may not be round and will not run smoothly. Trouble with broken/frayed bobbin thread? Check the throat plate and the hook for burrs, scratches or nicks.

If bobbin thread shows on the surface, check for lint under the leaf adjustment spring. Check everywhere that the thread passes on the way to the pigtail. When stitching thin fabrics, bobbin thread can show on the top. Slide an extra piece of backing between the throat plate and the hooped goods. The thicker substrate keeps the bobbin thread on the bottom.

If you have to adjust tensions, tighten the bobbin if it is showing on every needle. If it is only showing on one or two needles, loosen the top tension. If the bobbin thread appears too narrow on all needles, the bobbin tension is too tight. If it is only narrow on one or two needles, the top thread is too loose on those needles.

If the bobbin thread is too wide on all needles, the bobbin is too loose. If it is only wide on one or two needles, the top tension is too tight or the thread is caught somewhere. Check the thread path first—only then loosen the top tension.

If the bobbin thread varies in width, the bobbin case is dirty, the needles are worn, the thread is caught or is spooling off unevenly, or there are knots in the thread. If the top thread is too loose and the bobbin thread is too tight, the upper thread will be pulled down and loops may result.

—Helen Hart Momsen

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Got an embroidery job to perform on silk, satin or other super-fine fabric, and fearful of ripping it to shreds? Fear not . . . but do check out the Q&A below. Q: I am doing embroidery work for a customer’s wedding. In addition to monogrammed towels and matching his-and-her robes, I have been asked to create a satchel made out of satin. Any tips on how to embroider on this delicate fabric without damaging it?

A: Embroidering on delicate fabrics such as silk, satin, taffeta and even delicate cottons can be nerve racking because the cost of making a mistake on such expensive fabric. But with the right combination of stabilizer, thread and needles, you can make sure your project flows smoothly. Here are some tips to follow:

1. Choose a needle that will not leave a large hole in the fabric. You want to choose one with a super sharp point and a slender body.
2. Prep the fabric. With silks, a common problem is needle sheering or running. I recommend backing delicate fabrics with a material such as a V-stretch tricot interfacing that will serve as a protective barrier without changing the drape or the face.
3. Choose an appropriate stabilizer. For silk, batiste, and other woven fabrics that are stable, a medium tearaway works best. For fabrics that stretch or shift, a tearaway with a light fusible coating is ideal. It will prevent the fabric from stretching during sewing. Open, lacy type fabrics need a water-soluble tearaway. A water-soluble is easily removed from around embroidery without distorting the fabric or the stitching.

Other key points to remember when embroidering on delicate fabrics are to give the embroidery design enough stabilizer for the stitches to form in, so the delicate fabric will not have to do any of the heavy lifting. It is always better to use multiple layers of stabilizer rather than one big heavy piece.

—Kay Brooks, RNK Distributing (parent company of Floriani Embroidery Commercial Division) Knoxville, Tenn.

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Q: We’d like to start outsourcing certain services offshore, but isn’t that un-American? Or, at the very least, hard to do?

A: There is nothing un-American about trying to improve your bottom line or trying to provide a service for your client. So get over that. Anyway, you are probably already outsourcing right now. When the receptionist calls in sick and you call a temp agency, that’s outsourcing. When you get an order for 1,000 printed shirts—folded, tagged and bagged—and you don’t provide those finishing services, you ship your printed shirts to a company that does and build that fee into your pricing for the 1,000 shirts. That’s an order you’d have lost if you did not outsource.

But what I’m guessing you’re really asking about is more along the lines of finding a permanent low-cost solution for something you are doing right now, or want to do. And, chances are, you’re thinking of India or China. But there are also many other countries providing a wide array of services . . . including the US. Stay-at-home moms in the Midwest will answer your phone for you and provide customer service. Did you know that? Just like programmers in China will digitize embroidery overnight for your Tajima. So think local before you go international.

That said, I believe there are three key points to outsourcing success: networking to find the right provider, developing a process for working together, and managing the process and its costs. If you can’t do these things, you will fail and likely lose your client when you can’t deliver on those 300 embroidered polos you promised because your embroidery program is somewhere in Shanghai. So let’s take a closer look at those three keys:

Networking—This is why you go to tradeshows. To make friends with friendly competitors who will share sources with you. Or you can Google the Internet and find 1,000 outsourcing companies in India. Or was it 10,000? And don’t worry, good places won’t cheat you. But you have to know who to contact and you have to check references.

The process—If your sales people can’t get artwork from the client on time as it is, then you will fail miserably trying to then get that artwork off to China for the digitizing. Do it right in house first, then you’re better able to do it right when dealing with 15-hour time differences.

Managing—Go ahead and send your money to pay for the services provided over there in India and pat yourself on the back how successful you were at outsourcing. The benefit is that if you have 20 designs to perform today and only 10 to perform next week, you’re not paying for your artists to twiddle their thumbs. But did you first understand your current labor costs and benefits yesterday to know if the outsourcing and the learning curve associated with it are paying for themselves tomorrow? Maybe during the downtime, your artist was updating your website or developing marketing materials. Who will do that once you replace that live body with outsourced artist laborers in Russia?

I have found outsourcing an excellent way to boost production during peak times and to expand into new areas, but only when approached prudently. Good luck to you.

—Anne Kalin, owner, LYNKA, Krakow, Poland

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Q: I’ve seen advertisements for numerous business-management software titles ranging from accounting programs to sales leads, web-based subscriptions to managing the work flow through my shop. Are these programs a help or a hindrance to running a decorated-apparel business?

A: You should periodically take a step back and consider the business-management functions—accounting, prospecting, operations, pricing and inventory control, to name a few—that you are currently performing manually, and record the amount of time you spend doing so. Rank each business function from most to least time-consuming. Create another column and rank on a scale of five (high) to one (low) the importance of each function. Now, take the top ranking task and ask yourself, “If I could significantly reduce or eliminate the amount of time to perform this function—without losing any control, accuracy or other impact on the business—with the use of a business-management software program, what would I do with the time I am able to save?” If you answer involves freeing you up to tend to more meaningful, profitable or productive activities, find a business-management software program that buys you that time.

Don’t automatically default to a software program for a business function you don’t presently understand or perform until you understand how, why and how long it takes you to complete that task. Be sure the system you have in place presently works—albeit inefficiently. If you try to automate or add technology to a process that produces garbage, you will, with a computer program, do no more than produce garbage faster.

There are many good programs out there now and many more being developed every day—some of which are designed specifically for our industry. Most of them offer free or low-cost 30 day trials. Test drive the ones that will save you the most time or offer add-ons that provide you information at a touch of a key or mouse that would have taken you hours to produce yourself. Buy into only the ones that will realize the time savings you initially sought. Good luck.

—Vince DiCecco

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Q: I learned from your trade-show seminar that I should have a written annual marketing plan. My business is embroidered golf attire and promotional products. What is the fastest way to jump-start my marketing plan?

A: Your marketing plan—which, by the way, shouldn’t be more than about five pages long—should be focused on the five Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, Placement and People. The key to effective marketing is ready, aim, fire—in that order!

Invest time in zeroing in on what it is your business does better than any of your competitors. I call that your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is more than just doing the usual things better than others. It should:

• identify and address your best customers’ strongest unmet needs;
• have immediate face validity in the eyes of your target market; and
• be innovative, creative or so different that your competition will not know how to provide the same thing or won’t be willing to provide it or can’t afford to offer it.

Jump-starting your marketing plan begins with identifying your UVP and having it be the cornerstone of each of the sections of your plan. For example, if the clearly superior quality of your goods is your UVP, be sure the Product, Promotion and People sections of your marketing plan fully leverage your competitive advantage.

The “aim” portion of effective marketing refers to clearly defining the geo/demographics of your best or target customers. Take time to identify your top 10 or 20 customers and describe them demographically—how old are they, where do they live, how do they make buying decisions, what lifestyles do they lead and so on. You will see obvious patterns form for some of your demographic categories. Once you’ve identified people who are pre-disposed to buy from you, buy again, buy more and/or buy something different, go out and get your name in front of prospective clients that look, sound, feel and smell like your current best customers. Good luck.

—Vince DiCecco

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Q: I’m legally changing the name of my company from My Name & Associates (a sole proprietorship) to something more eye-catching or memorable. Should the name of the company tell exactly what the business is about?

A: I am a proponent of helping your prospective customers find you in the easiest possible way. If that means ending your business name with “Embroidery and Screen Printing,” so be it. The beginning of your company name can be cute or creative to denote its personality, but consider this. Let’s say you choose for the name of your company “Design by the Numbers,” because your surname is Numbers, how am I to know what you design? By the way, I googled “Design by the Numbers” and found out there’s a plumbing design firm and an Instrumentation and Control Systems company by that name.

I’ve actually been introduced to a married couple that own a company called WAWPUF. Try to tell me what they make, sell or do? When I asked, I was told WAWPUF stood for Whatever Anyone Wants to Pay Us For. Now I was still uncertain of what they did, and a little worried. Turns out they are an outsourcer specializing in hand assembly. I am still not quite sure what they assemble by hand, but the point is, look how long it took me to figure out what they did. Most prospective customers will not ask the second question. So, when naming or re-naming your business, invoke the KISS method—keep it short and simple. Good luck.

—Vince DiCecco

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Q: How can a small business that does not engage in e-commerce use the Internet to affect its reputation and sales?

A: Before the proliferation of the Internet, positive or negative experiences with a company only went as far as a customer’s immediate circle of friends and family. Today the ‘Net is brimming with blogs, forums, customer review sites and personal pages—the likes of MySpace and Facebook—where anyone can tout the delight they experienced dealing with a great business, or anonymously ruin the reputation of a good company with a bad review for the entire world, or at least the visitors to that particular web page, to read.

On average, a well-satisfied customer will tell a half dozen people of an enjoyable shopping or dining experience and recommend others shop or dine there too. Should that experience be a disaster, that same person may tell a half dozen times six people of the way he was mistreated and make sure his family and friends never patronize the establishment. Add the Internet and those numbers can be multiplied several times over.

I am often asked if a business should have a web presence. A few years ago, I replied, “I don’t know. Would your ideal customers or prospects find you via the Internet? If so, you should have an easy-to-find, easy-to-navigate website. If your best customers typically find you by other means, why spend the money on a website no one visits? You know, a poorly designed or constructed website may do more harm than good.” That was then. Today, I say a company can ill-afford to not be somewhere on the Internet.

The key is to try to generate more positive comments about your company than negative ones. And resolve yourself to the fact that it is difficult to stop someone from posting libelous/slanderous things about your company. If you have a website, host a guest book where favorable comments can be posted. Review it daily to be sure negative comments are removed and handled on a case-by-case basis. Even if a disgruntled customer does not sign his comment, most website-hosting services can put you in touch with the person who penned the opinion. Good luck.

—Vince DiCecco

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Q: Can I run my business successfully without borrowing money?

A: Yes, but it’s not easy. Besides, borrowing money and then repaying the loan in a timely fashion helps your business earn a good credit record and sometimes customers will obtain a Dun & Bradstreet report on your company before they consider you as a viable potential supplier.

That said, too many decorated-apparel business borrow money and invest in equipment, computers and such before they’ve secured their first customer order. Sometimes the smarter thing to do is broker/outsource the goods and services you want to offer and build up your customer base before investing in the purchase of production equipment. The profits you make from orders you sell can sometimes bankroll any future equipment purchases or leases.

Short of borrowing money or hitting the lottery and starting a business, there are grants available from various government agencies to assist a start-up company, provided their business concept is sound and feasible. Good luck.

—Vince DiCecco

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Q: I am trying to decide between a clamshell and a swing-away press. What are the pros and cons of each?

A: In order to choose between a clamshell and a swinger style press, you need to look at the applications with which you’ll be dealing. Are you doing a lot of layout work which involves positioning of CAD-cut or die-cut letters and numbers for team uniforms? If so, I recommend a swinger. If you are doing a lot of work such as plastisol transfers or inkjet transfers, we recommend a clamshell because, in most cases, you can generate higher pressure with a clamshell than a swinger. Some heat transfers, such as puff, require a little more pressure and clams are easier to lock down because you can get better leverage.

Another reason to choose a clamshell press is because

it is space saving. You need nearly twice as much space for a swinger so, if you’re a small shop with limited space or you are taking it out on the road to events and have limited counter space, the clamshell is more compact.

If you are concerned about weight, the swingers are a heavier built because of their cast backbone. Most clamshells weigh about 25 percent less than swingers. Swingers also cost a bit more. On average, a swinger will be in the $1,500 range and a comparable size clamshell press will be in the $1,200 range. These two presses are comparable in quality and features, but a swinger is slightly more expensive to manufacture.

—Ben Robinson

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What’s the story with all-heads-down manual printing? Does it cost more? Is it worth it? Answers —straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak—are in this Q&A..

 

Q: I am looking at buying my first manual press. I noticed that some manufacturers offer an option called all-heads-down. What is this and what are the advantages?

A: An all-heads-down machine refers to a press where all the print heads can be lowered and locked into platens at the same time without forcing or twisting the mechanism. This requires one of two styles of press. The “fixed and aligned” style means the heads and platens are in correct mechanical alignment. The “floating head” style has the ability to lock into the platen regardless of the alignment. The locking mechanism “floats” or “self aligns” to the platen. So on a six-station, six-color press, you can lock down one or more of the six screens in any combination.

A similar machine configuration would be called a multiple-heads-down machine. This style does not allow you to have all the heads down, but more than one at the same time. For example, on a four-station six-color press, two of the print heads could be lowered or on a four-station eight-color press, four of the print heads could be lowered at one time. The floating head or fixed-and-aligned style works on a multiple-heads-down machine.

The production speeds that can be achieved on an all-heads-down machine are quite impressive with enough people. Take a three-color job using a six-color press, three printers, and a person to load as well as a person to unload. After the initial set-up and populating of the press, each rotation of the platens produces a finished three-color shirt. Up to 250 shirts per hour could be achieved. If you add another color and another press operator, instead of dropping, the production stays at 250 per hour.

There are two drawbacks to using this technique. The first one is it’s difficult to find that many people who can all work together in unison around a machine. If you do, you should start a basketball team. The second drawback is, if you need to add a flash or two, you have to add open stations and the press could get big.

Another consideration when you have more than one operator on a press is each person may have a slightly different printing technique so you may get different results because of the lack of consistency. All the operators need to print with about the same amount of pressure and other technique characteristics.

Another factor on an all-heads-down press is that each platen and print head can be a single-color print station. That is, on a four-head, four-station press, you could potentially have four operators each printing a single-color job. The press doesn’t need to rotate so each operator can work at his/her own pace. On a non all-heads-down or non multiple-head-down press, you can lower only one head at a time. A typical press operator works alone on the press or has a helper to stand at another station and load and unload shirts for him or her. If a single-color job is printed, the press operator can print so fast that, with a separate person loading and unloading, it’s possible to put out as much as 250 shirts per hour.

The option to put multiple or all of a machine’s heads down will cost more in machinery and possible labor, so ask yourself if it’s something that will benefit your shop.

—Mark Vasilantone, Vastex, Allentown, Pa.

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Q: I sometimes feel I don’t know much about my customers. Should I be collecting more information from them? And why? And how?

A: A survey sheet is a wonderful way to build a database of information that can enhance your marketing. Offer a dollar off the bill or a small gift in exchange for filling in the information.

• When you get a new fishing design ready, send it out to the fishermen on the list.
• Have a private showing for any school teachers or administrators on your list to show them what you can do to enhance their school’s image.
• Send a reminder to a customer you haven’t seen in a while, with a special “re-acquaintance” discount.
• Keep track of the colors, designs and styles your customers like—use the information to market new garments to them.
• Use the survey to profile your customers and rent a mailing list that reflects the same tendencies.
• Keep track of repeat customers and plan rewards.
• Use a fishbowl or a sign-in sheet to produce a mailing list. Ask for business cards. If there is something special you can do with them (luggage tags?), do it and give them a gift (after copying the information into your files).
• Send out unique offers. Anyone can have as sale. Embroidery is special; make your offer reflect that.

—Helen Hart Momsen

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Direct-to-garment printers can be used to print on hard goods such as golf balls and ceramic tiles. However, the durability is only good enough for novelty items, not something that will be used, meaning you should not play golf with the golf ball.

 

Q: I’m interested in adding a direct-to-garment printer to my business. I know that these printers can print on 100 percent cotton and cotton blends, but I’m not clear on what else they will print on. Can they print on polyester or not? What about leather? Hard goods?

A: Direct-to-garment printing was conceived mainly as a cotton-direct process. It does give decent results on cotton blends; however, the higher the cotton content of the garment the better. Printing on higher polyester content garments requires special pretreatment that helps with bonding the inks to the polyester. This process, while not perfect, will greatly increase the washability of your prints on high polyester content garments.

Cotton/poly blended garments are generally ordered for one of two reasons: either they are cheaper (which should set off an alarm in the first place) or because they “breathe” better. If the customer wants better breathability, direct her to a high-quality, ringspun cotton garment in the 5- to 5.5-ounce range. She will find the shirt more comfortable than a 50/50, and it will hold the direct-to-garment print much better.

In regards to printing on non-textile items, this is accomplished by a pre- and post-treatment process, basically encapsulating the ink between the two treatment layers. As the process currently exists it is meant for doing novelty items that will not be “used.” What I mean by “used” is you’re not going to actually golf with the ball or put the tiles up in your bathroom. Great results can be achieved on coaster-type stone tiles as they are porous and tend to hold the pre- and post-treatments well. Be certain to let your salesperson know at what level you want to focus on non-textile items as he may be able to direct you to a better method for providing this service.

Finally, concerning leather, since it is a natural substrate, it is printable. However, it is a hide and not a knit product, so you will not get the same type of penetration that you would on a T-shirt. I have had mixed results when printing on leather, based on the grain. White ink does not currently give desirable results on leather.

The bottom line is that you should purchase a direct-to-garment printer for its true purpose: printing garments. Any additional items that the machine can print should be considered a bonus, not the driving force behind the purchase. Direct-to-garment printers, while versatile, cannot be everything to everybody. Besides, if they could easily print on everything with minimal hassle, everybody would already own one. Use your spare time with your direct-to-garment printer to experiment with some of the fringe items the machine can print, become an expert, and carve out your own niche. Happy printing!

—Don Copeland, SWF East, Tampa

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Q: I’m a little worried about various kinds of liability when filling custom orders—you know, cancelled orders, damaged goods, like that. How can I protect myself and stay out of trouble?

A: Add some clauses to your paperwork such as:

• All cancellations are subject to a restocking fee if no work has been done to the goods.
• If the goods have been embellished, there is no cancellation and payment in full is required.
• If our company is unable to meet the agreed deadline for any reason, the liability is limited to the amount of any rush charges. The cost of goods and embroidery shall be paid in full.
• Delivery is based on normal projections and company is not responsible for any failure due to extraordinary circumstances.
• Unless agreed upon in advance, the balance of the purchase price is to be paid at the time of delivery in cash, certified check or money order made payable to our company.
• Company assumes no liability for the shipper.
• Company does not assume liability for damage suffered by the customer in the event of late delivery including lost profits, loss of sales and extra shipping.
• Customer agrees to pay interest fees, collection fees, and legal and court costs incurred in collection of this debt.

—Helen Hart Momsen

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From screen-printed to die-cut to CAD-cut, there’s a variety of options when it comes to heat-applied graphics. Enough to make this discipline a viable one through which to enter the industry? Q: I’m just getting started in the imprinted-apparel business and debating between direct screen printing and transfers. What are the pros and cons of transfers?

A: Save money. By using gang sheets (a sheet printed with more than one image) and quantity price breaks you can save money by using transfers.Gang sheets are especially economical when doing sponsors because six sponsors can fit on one sheet, then be cut apart for use.

Provide better service. With screen-printed transfers you can order the shirts and prints at the same time and get started as a partial shipment arrives.This really helps with back orders.The part of the order that has arrived can be completed and the back order can be pressed when it arrives.With direct screening it is only economical to start printing when all your apparel has arrived.

Reduce inventory. With transfers you can print on demand.You won’t have sizes or colors hanging on a rack that won’t sell. Display a sample with color and style choices and press your order in seconds.

Fill-ins are easier. By ordering at price breaks, you will have extras on hand for easy fill-ins.So when Johnny loses his jersey, you can fill his order in seconds or, if your customer comes back for “just one more,” it is easy and profitable.

Quality. Transfers are screen printed onto a stable release paper to get optimal ink coverage and crisp lines.

—Sue Wilcosky