This year’s State of the Decorated-Apparel Industry report reveals somewhat dampened enthusiasm among apparel decorators and distributors, though many still expressed a positive outlook. We checked in with Wearables readers to get their personal read on the industry’s future and their place in it.

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Apparel decorators, we want to hear from you! How are you feeling about the future of your business and the industry as a whole? Optimistic? Worried? Your answer may appear in our annual State of the Industry issue. #embroidery #screenprinting

A post shared by Wearables Magazine (@wearablesmag) on Sep 17, 2018 at 7:34am PDT

Dennis Bruso, East Coast Printers: As a whole, I see the industry as strong and getting stronger. For traditional businesses, it’s a very scary time. That can be attributed to the growth of the soul-less internet and the willingness of online companies to accept low margins that cannot support a brick-and-mortar establishment.

To succeed, one must be able to react to the market. That can be in any of several ways. You can be competitive on price, you can have a product no one else has or you can provide a level of service that isn’t matched by internet sales. We have chosen the latter direction as our means to success. Instead of reducing prices to compete against the online companies, our prices have steadily increased. We want to educate our customers along the way. A well-informed customer is a happy customer and provides the best and most effective form of advertising. Understand your customer, provide what’s best for them, make it profitable and you’re on your way.

Everyone sells the same products. It’s the service that counts. If you think you’re selling T-shirts, you’ve completely missed the boat. You must sell yourself first.

Shelly Aberson, Aberson, Narotzky & White (asi/102267): Decorated apparel is here to stay. Just take a walk and you see logos on everyone, everywhere. People expect to have a shirt from a place they’ve visited, an event they’ve attended or a company they work for. Go into an airport, and you see computer bags, polo shirts, all with company logos. I don’t see that changing any time soon.

The quality of decoration has become more important, and people are demanding better quality merchandise, which is being answered by our industry with new fabrications and name-brand choices. One of the challenges I see is how fast clients want delivery. You can get an Amazon package the next day, and that type of service is expected even with the custom products our industry offers. As supplier companies merge, offering less personal service and less competitive pricing, this could be a challenge for what smaller distributors might be left in the future.

If new companies want to have a shot. They need to find a nitch and focus on it. Mom and pop shops can survive, but they need to make sure to be more personable than ever and back up any mistakes.

— Howard Potter (@AP_MasterImages) September 17, 2018

Darine Garcia, Morgen Marketing: I’m feeling inspired, energized, passionate, fired up. Yes, there are challenges ahead in the decorated-apparel industry, but that’s one aspect that motivates me and my team to keep pushing forward with our mission of “Fresh ideas. Today and tomorrow.” It’s a fitting motto in a time of rapid change, as clients have more web access to logo-branded apparel. It’s dizzying with all the product options consumers have in reach with a simple click of “Buy Now”. Of course, there’s a huge downside to that simplicity. A customer service rep chatting about a virtual product online may be helpful, but that brief text session doesn’t allow for an organic relationship to develop over time.

Companies that establish and maintain solid connections with clients are critical for continued success. Morgen Marketing will continue to provide its clients a level of detail, knowledge, apparel tactile experiences and personal one-on-one communication that no virtual assistant, distant customer service representative or bot is able to provide.

We will continue to listen, learn, teach, inspire and collaborate. We will continue to guide our clients, facing industry challenges and evolving as necessary, to exceed the expectations of our current and future clients.

Andrew Sequeira, Sparkle Plenty Designs Inc. (asi/88442): Our industry, like most others, will lose some business to e-commerce (Amazon, in particular). It’s all too familiar, and you can place a custom design order without leaving home. My bigger concern regards pricing. I see this in our specific business (rhinestone/bling design). Some decorators have decided that the cheapest possible price is the way to earn more business. This, in turn, creates an expectation with distributors who will more often choose by price alone. They want great service, quick turnarounds and quality products, but they don’t want to pay for it. When price alone rules, quality and service eventually take a hit. This isn’t how I choose to run my business, because quality and reliability count the most.

This print industry is growing and developing in new ways technologically. #WearableTech is now being embedded and customized onto apparel, and #3DPrinting is more commonplace. Although these seem like niche markets, it's safe to say there is tremendous growth potential here.

— Flashion⚡️Statement (@FlashionWear) September 20, 2018

Karen Habe, Quality Punch: I believe the future of the decorated-apparel industry is BOOMING! It’s forever evolving. From thread and software to machines and lasers, there’s always something new that adds to the excitement of decorating. The challenge is for decorators to keep updated. We enjoy the challenge of keeping up, thrive on the competitiveness of the industry and are excited about new products coming in.

Danny Henderson, Proforma Graphic PrintSource (asi/300143): For us, I feel very optimistic about the future with apparel. This year, I’ve had clients ask for higher quantities and want to move forward with different decorating techniques, instead of just the typical screen print and embroidery. I would say apparel is probably my largest selling category and it has continued to grow for us. We’ve done a lot of custom sublimated orders, water-based ink, and started a few more e-commerce stores that are very heavy in apparel. I’m definitely looking forward to the future. The only challenge is finding the right decorators who can do all the different processes locally for us.

Kearrie Cooper, Tri-Mountain (asi/92125): We’re excited about the future of decorated-apparel; the industry is skyrocketing. With several types of decoration methods, customers have a wide range of options. At Tri-Mountain, we’re a one-stop shop, and our customers take advantage of this. We’ve noticed the request for decorated garments has increased over the past few years.

A potential challenge for suppliers is, over time, there will be a growing number of suppliers providing decorating solutions. So competition will ramp up. This is good for non-decorating distributors, however; they’ll be able to shop around for their business. Overall, we’re optimistic. There’s a lot of decorating business to be had in the industry, and we’re prepared with the in-house solutions and personnel needed to meet the growing demand.

Randy Carr, World Emblem (asi/98264): Thanks to technology, the costs of production have gone down. But to stay in the business, apparel decorators must learn to decrease production time as well. We have a strong customer base. We believe it’s also important to have a diverse product offering. This is why we’ve launched our latest decoration, FlexStyle, over the last year. And there’s more product launches to come. We’re organizationally aligned and have a very clear map of the future.

Debra Romalia, Stahls’ (asi/88984): All indications show full steam ahead for the decorated-apparel industry. Advances in digital advertising are driving sales opportunities into hyper-targeted audiences that were never possible before. These advancements across digital platforms are driving demand for mass customization like never before. The outlook is bright as equipment and adhesives advance to allow branding on nearly any type of item. 

While there’s growth available in all areas, traditional decorating methods that can be heavy on overhead (due to skilled labor requirements and space) are being challenged by leaner technologies that are easy to learn, stand up and scale. Heat printing is in a healthy spot as large and small companies identify and adopt the technology as a key part of their future decoration plans.