ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich.—Stahls’ ID Direct delivers www.CADCUTdirect.com, a new site for Stahls’ customers and decorators looking for more information on the benefits of CAD-CUT materials and technology. The website offers how-to videos featuring industry expert and Printwear columnist, Josh Ellsworth, online CAD-CUT selection assistance and lab-certified materials for safety, performance and durability.

An Internet search for the origin of the expression “work like a dog” returned only speculation as to the time period the phrase was first used. Certainly, it was long before Lennon and McCartney used it in the song A Hard Day’s Night in 1964. Dogs were the first domesticated animals that were put to work—pulling milk carts, for example—for their human masters and from that era surfaced other sayings such as “a dog’s life” (early 16th century) and “dog tired” (1800s).

Technology has presented the promotional-apparel industry with what might be the “greatest thing” since . . . well, since the machine that slices bread: the digital direct-to-substrate printer. It was an instant hit when first introduced at trade shows several years ago, and its popularity has grown steadily since.

Perhaps the technology’s greatest appeal is the opportunity it presents to expand a business in such simple ways. It allows the screen printer to produce short runs, enables embroiderers to offer printed shirts at reasonable price points, and increases the offerings of specialty shops and advertising-specialty distributors. All such things equal added business opportunity.

I remember as a young girl trying on my mother’s high-heeled shoes in an effort to mimic her style and feel more grown up. Today, I often find my own five-year-old daughter swiping my shoes, scarves and sweaters, wishing to look fashionable and more grown up as she totters around in my heels and sweaters, paired with little-girl leggings.

Sure, your customers could be off to Vegas, Aruba or the French Riviera. Still, in these times of stressed economies, increasing fuel costs and abbreviated vacations, who is to say just how the traditional resort scene is going to fare? Instead, what say we focus on the “resort market” as we find it in our own neighborhoods? It doesn’t have to be a mega-hotel with thousand-dollar rooms; truly, the definition of “resort market” lies in the things people buy when they find themselves in a retail outlet, having been brought there for reasons other than routine shopping.

The word on the street is . . . our economy is suffering. Duh! People are cutting back and many embroiderers are worried that any level of recession will cause their corporate customers to expand the definition of what they deem “non-essential.” A bleak picture? Yes, but not without silver linings.

An embroiderer lives in two worlds. On one handⁱ we are the buyer and are looking for bargains: the best shipping, just-in-time inventory control, and not a lot of pre-buying and storing of essentials such as backing, thread, needles and so on. On the other hand, we are the seller, and our clients are looking for the best prices in order to continue to use our services.

Are you among the growing number of businesses that can list multi- or mixed-media presentations among the products you provide? Mixed-media presentations are extremely popular, profitable and exciting personalization methods and there are questions being asked about the processes more and more frequently.

Mixed-media is a combination of any number of decorating processes that provide variety and excitement. These are simple alternatives to the everyday methods most decorators use. The process I’m going to discuss in this article is the combination of embroidery with heat transfers. It has also been called transbroidery, but however you decide to market it, the process is a simple way to increase your profit and attract new customers.

TREVOSE, Pa.—BroderBros. Co. adds several fleeceⁱ styles to its Total Team Guarantee (TTG) selection of Gildan and Jerzees products and adds Hanes and Outer Banks styles to the TTG selection. The three-prong TTG program includes a price match guarantee, order fulfillment and packing guarantee and in-stock guarantee for its Alpha, Broder and NES divisions. New styles will be added to the in-stock guarantee, which previously applied to only the top three Gildan products in select colors. The in-stock guarantee states that if the company is out of stock on any applicable items, the customer will receive a five percent off coupon that can be used on any order. Visit www.broderbros.com/guarantee.