When it comes to launching a successful custom T-shirt line and building a brand name, there can be a very fine line between going places and going nowhere. We deal with this type of client on an everyday basis. It’s not uncommon for them to reach out to us not only to produce a great product, but also seeking superior direction. Some of the graphics that these guys come up with is nothing short of amazing. That being said, most of the start up lines don’t end up going anywhere. I like to sit down and talk to them face-to-face and really get to know them in order to understand their vision and where they’re trying to get to as well as how they plan on getting there. I can’t even begin to remember how many times I’ve told these young guys that the most important component when trying to launch their clothing line is marketing. They can have the best looking logo and artwork around but they have to be able to create customer awareness and let people know it’s out there.
When it comes to marketing oneself, there are certainly no guarantees. Anything you try is going to be a calculated risk. Whether it ends up being successful or not is relevant not just to how little you spend, but how much you get back in return. After all, I would gladly pay $1 million a day in advertising. If they gave me a $2 million return in profit. It’s all relative.
You don’t always need a very elaborate piece of artwork in order to be successful either. For example, look at Nike. They turned a simple one color swoosh into a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s as simple as you can get, but everybody seems to want them because they marketed it superior.We are a St. Louis screen printing company that continually sets ourselves apart from the rest of the local competition in our industry. Most other St. Louis digital T-shirt printing companies are able to do a decent job when it comes to the simple one or two color application. We, however, take great pride in being able to take on a lot of the different jobs that the other screen printing companies don’t want any part of. In other words, we’re not afraid of the hard, difficult jobs, especially when it comes to custom embroidery. For example, this process all starts with creating the software that tells the computer how to sew it. A fantastic digitizer has the ability to take what appears to be a flat looking image and make it appear three dimensional by using certain types of stitches and throwing them in various directions.
There is a lot more to it than just owning the right equipment as you have to know how to use it correctly. There is a tremendous difference between one individual’s work and another and our digitizer has decades of experience and has won several awards distinguishing himself. He is the best I’ve ever seen and this is why we use him. He is capable of replicating the most difficult logos for custom embroidery.