Gearing Up for Mass Customization of Apparel

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1 feature These colorful Castelli cycling jerseys were made with dye-sublimation transfers printed on the Roland Texart RT-640. Gearing Up for Mass Customization of Apparel No matter which method you use for garment decoration, now is an exciting time to be in the business particularly if you have a smart business model, marketing savvy and access to fantastic, original designs. New opportunities and technologies for garment decoration are emerging because we re in the early stages of a huge shift in the way people discover and buy clothing. Instead of buying mass-produced clothing off the rack in mall department stores, a growing number of buyers are looking online and other places for comfortable, affordably priced garments that reflect their individual tastes. According to The NPD Group, a market research company that advises retailers and manufacturers on how to identify market trends, the percentage of online apparel sales in the US grew from 11% in 2011 to 19% in Online sales accounted for about $90 billion of the $218.7 billion in total sales of men s, women s and children s apparel in The apparel industry is being pushed and pulled in different directions by consumers who are demanding something different and looking to less traditional buying channels to find it, said Marshal Cohen, Chief Industry Analyst, The NPD Group. Maturing Millennials have a stronger shopping voice than ever before, but teens are showing a lack of passion for fashion and Baby Boomers are feeling forgotten. The who, what, where, when and how of shopping are shifting as apparel consumers express their different desires in retail. Additional research conducted by global e-commerce companies and suppliers in China found that 54.6% of women in the 18 to 35 age bracket buy their clothes The apparel industry is being pushed and pulled in different directions by consumers who are demanding something different and looking to less traditional buying channels to find it. By Eileen Fritsch, Industry Author Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment SGIA Journal Fall

2 The heat transfer used to make this shirt was output on a Roland VersaStudio BN-20. (Courtesy of Roland) online. Women in this age group favor clothes in the $20 to $50 range and want garments customized by changing out some of the design details. Because of the growing demand for customized and personalized apparel, industry analysts expect the global demand for decorated apparel to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.92% from 2016 to Of course, this type of projected growth will attract all sorts of new players, including Amazon. In 2015, Amazon rolled out its Amazon Merch business for print-on-demand T-shirt publishing. Earlier this year, they signed a deal with Kornit to purchase multiple direct-togarment and textile printers. How Amazon s entrance into the T-shirt business will affect existing garment decorators remains to be seen. Keep in mind that Amazon also sells art online, but they haven t yet destroyed every other business that prints and sells art. In fact, some galleries and artists use Amazon as just another platform to sell original works and reproduction prints online. W hile many consumers love the convenience of ordering products through Amazon, others still like the experience of buying shirts directly from local artisans and makers. Some need to feel a printed garment before buying it. Many schools and community groups also prefer doing business with local vendors who might sponsor their teams, events and fundraisers. To compete with Amazon, it s becoming clear printers must focus on services that Amazon can t provide. Supplying the Demand A Roland Texart RT-640 dye sublimation printer output the transfer papers used to produce these colorful socks. (Courtesy of Roland) 6 SGIA Jour nal Fall 2017 As the US economy shifts from supplyand-demand manufacturing to a datadriven demand-and-supply scenario, the manufacturers of printing equipment, inks and garments are innovating like crazy. They also are developing products to serve transitional trends such as adapting global distribution processes to local and regional markets, glocalization, and fast fashion, in which apparel production is expedited to get new trends from the runways and into stores more quickly. Brands and designers now understand that textile production can be much closer to the consumer, said Sharon Donovich, Product Marketing Manager for Kornit Digital. Apparel producers want to be able to react much more quickly to changes in customer requirements. Everything is going to be data driven, says Donovich. Fashion brands with short supply chains are increasingly using data to influence the production of their collections. Both apparel brands and retailers are using data to track regional and generational differences and changes in consumer tastes. Global apparel companies are retooling their supply chains to provide more ecofriendly, end-to-end local solutions. And fast-fashion companies understand they must be both efficient and sustainable in how they manufacture their garments, said Donovich: They need the proximity production and efficient processes that digital printing offers. Some demand for customized apparel will be produced by decorating pre-sewn, finished garments. But short runs of fast fashion or performance apparel will often be digitally printed in pieces on wide-format rolls of fabric. The printed pieces will be cut and sewn to make the garments. This type of production will make it possible to manufacture garments on demand, in the exact sizes and colors a consumer requests. Equipment that is already being promoted to fashion brands include Kornit s A llegro end-to-end digital textile printing system and Epson s highperformance dye-sublimation printers for fast fashion. Other manufacturers of roll-to-roll printers for fashion applications include Mimaki and Roland. Mimaki makes 72inch wide printers for textile printing or rollto-roll dye sublimation printing. Roland s Texart system can print four or eight colors, including fluorescent yellows and fluorescent pinks that can make performance apparel and sports uniforms stand out. Innovations on Display The 2017 SGIA Expo featured hundreds of products for garment decoration whether you use screen printing presses, direct-togarment (DTG) printers, dye sublimation printers and/or heat transfers. Many innovations were related to the efficiency of the decoration process, but some innovations will enable you to address different consumer preferences for how a garment looks, feels and endures repeated washing. Many consumers a lso want to k now their garments were produced in an environmentally sustainable way. Here are a just few innovations displayed at the SGIA Expo. While we can t mention every product shown, this overview can provide context for understanding the huge variet y of products being introduced for garment decorating each year. Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment

3 Screen Printing Screen printing firms were the first to create relatively small runs of decorated apparel for musicians, colleges, sports teams, resort visitors, hobbyists and fans of various movies and cartoon characters. They are incredibly resourceful in solving production challenges and were the first to experiment with heat-transfer printing and early forms of sublimation printing. Now they recognize the appeal of DTG. Screen printing is still the preferred method for producing large-volume work, because the cost per garment is significantly less than direct-to-garment, says Taylor Landesman, Vice President of Lawson Screen & Digital Products. DTG shines for low-run, high-color work and the growth of DTG has supplemented traditional screen printing. Today, Lawson, M&R, Brown Manufacturing* and other companies make products for both screen printing and DTG printing. We have seen a huge boom in demand for custom, one-off T-shirts with the rise of online T-shirt sellers, said Landesman. With an effective approach to online marketing, small start-ups using DTG printers in their homes or garages can compete with established T-shirt decorators. But there has also been a resurgence of interest in screen printing as a hands-on craft. Some young entrepreneurs have opened screen printing studios to print T-shirts and gig posters for local bands. They have helped generate interest in retro garments with the classic look of a simple screen-printed design on a soft, cotton garment. To help more people build screen printing businesses, Lawson showed their completely modular and customizable Proton press. It can start as a one-color/ one-station bench-model press and be expanded up to a six-color/four-station carousel press or production floor-model press. It received a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year Award in the Screen Printing Manual Garment Press category. To help all sizes of screen printing businesses be more competitive, a lot of effort has gone into automating the tedious processes of making and cleaning screens. With less human labor involved in the screen printing setup processes, companies are saving money, reducing errors and achieving more consistent quality. Automated computer-to-screen (CTS) systems can now be used in small- to medium-sized shops that make as many as 10 screens per day. In addition to saving Roland s fluorescent yellow dye-sublimation inks were used to create this sports jersey. (Courtesy of Roland) Roland HeatSoft Satin transfer paper was used to create this image. (Courtesy of Roland) Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment SGIA Journal Fall

4 on film costs, shops with CTS systems can register multi-color work quickly and reduce exposure time to an average of five to seven seconds. The Lawson Ajax Developer and Screen Reclaimer allows shops of all sizes to automate screen developing and reclaiming. Depending on the model, these machines allow a single operator to develop or reclaim screens, says Landesman. After the operator loads the screen onto a track, pinch rollers move it through a chamber with a multitude of sprayers. The screen is automatically ejected and ready for the next stage: During an eight-hour shift, a single operator can process at least 350 screens. The process eliminates the need for special training, reduces fatigue and keeps potentially harmful chemicals contained and available for reuse. Lawson received a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year Award for this product in the Screen Printing Post- Press (Clean/Reclaim) category. At the SGIA Expo, M&R showcased the world s first all-in-one CTS imaging/ UV-LED exposure systems, the i-image STE series. Screens pass in and out beneath a fixed array of printheads and UV-LED lights. STE generates images on screens during the inward pass and exposes them on the outward pass. When used in conjunction with M&R s UNI-KOTE Automatic Screen Coating Machine and ECO-RINSE automatic screen-rinsing system, a single operator can coat, image, expose and rinse up to 400 Tri-Loc-ready screens in an eight-hour shift. The i-image STE Computer-to-Screen Imaging and UV LED Exposure System won a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year Award in the Screen Printing Pre-Press (Exposure/Imaging) category. Screen printing companies that use DTG printers for short-run jobs have discovered that automated pre-treatment sprayers and conveyor dryers for DTG printed garments can dramatically increase the productivity of DTG printers. Conveyor dryers also improve the feel of garments output with DTG printers. For DTG start-ups that don t have room for a conveyor dryer, Lawson developed the Digi-Dry box to properly dry water-based digital printing inks. Brown Manufacturing Group won a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year Award in the Screen Printing Curing and Drying Equipment category for their FireFly and Vega combined curing system. A Vega UV LED curing unit can be programmed to cure either screen printing inks or digital inks before the garment enters the compact Firefly drying unit. Screen printers should also be aware of an important innovation that enables screen printing presses to be used for mass customization of T-shirts. Digital screen printing technology (DST), has been used in Europe for the past several years. It is being offered in the US by ASA Print Technologies. It involves screen printing a white underbase beneath a four-color design printed with toners on the DST transfer release liner on OKI C910 or RICOH PRO C5100S printers that have been approved for the DST process. Release liners for HP Indigo presses are also available. DST transfers can be used with any type of textile and withstand high-temperature washing, industrial washing and dry cleaning. The transfer remains soft and flexible and can even be used to decorate spandex. DST makes a variety of white underbase inks, as well as white and clear printable and powder transfer adhesives for different types of garment decorating requirements. One of the white inks can be used to make EcoTex-certified transfers without APEO, PVC or phthalates. According to Direk Chowdry of ASA Print Technologies, the process allows us to have very bright images on black garments. Anyone who can do one-color screen printing can use the DST process to make garments with four-color images. Big corporations can make 1 million or 2 million different T-shirts without the cost of making multiple screens for each shirt. The DST mass-customization process is faster, less expensive and more versatile than current DTG technology. DST in Denmark used the screen printing inks to make variable-imagedata T-shirt transfers with images printed on an HP Indigo 5600 digital press. The project was part of HP s collaboration with Diet Coke to demonstrate how consumer packaged goods could be customized for each customer. A design studio used the HP Indigo Mosaic Application to automatically generate more than 2 million designs that could be used to decorate bottles, billboards, T-shirts, bags and glasses. But the DST process isn t just for big companies, and it s not just about customization. With the DST transfer process, startup screen printing companies can print full-color designs without having to learn the intricacies of four-color process screen printing. This enables them to compete with start-up shops that use DTG printers. The process can help all screen printing firms optimize their production and improve profit margins. The process can reduce lead times while delivering high quality images and responding to changing customer requirements. Direct-to-Garment Printing Direct-to-garment printing is the technology most associated with ondemand printing of customized garments. The inkjet-based process can quickly and cost-effectively print a few full-color, customizable garments at a time. The process provides infinite design flexibility without setup costs or minimum order quantities. Manufacturers and suppliers are working hard to improve the speed, automation, versatility and reliability of DTG printing with more robust printheads, better inks and easy-to-use software for everything from process control to garment-business management. Kornit makes a complete line of DTG printers for everyone from entry-level users to high-volume garment decorators and apparel manufacturers. Kornit s Vulcan is the fastest direct-togarment printing system in the market, capable of producing up to 250 high quality garments per hour, with dark and light garments printed at the same speed. The Vulcan is Kornit s response to the challenges of mass customization, in both cost efficiency and productivity, said Kornit s Sharon Donovich. She says high-volume screen printing companies that are struggling with less profitable, shorter-run jobs will be able to increase profits by converting some work to digital printing: The Kornit Vulcan Printer is ideal for runs ranging from 50 to 300 garments where quality, speed-tomarket and cost-reduction are significant factors. The Vulcan won a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year award in the DTG (color shirt not white) category. More compact models of DTG printers make it easier for individuals to launch T-shirt printing as a standalone business or allow sign shops, in-plant print shops, or commercial printing firms offer short runs of T-shirts for new business openings, trade show booths and other special events. The Epson SureColor F2000 DTG printers raised the bar for high-quality imaging on white and dark garments. They were the first DTG printers engineered and built entirely by Epson. Epson SC-F2000 printers are used in a variety of businesses, including higher- 8 SGIA Journal Fall 2017 Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment

5 volume screen printing businesses and art studios that were already familiar with Epson print quality. Some artists not only want to print their digital art for wall display, but also as T-shirts. Ricoh, which acquired DTG pioneer AnaJet, now offers two Ricoh-branded DTG printers: the RICOH Ri 3000 and Ri Using Ricoh s industrialgrade printheads and Ricoh s economical garment ink, these printers are designed to be efficient, flexible and highly productive. A print can be finished in as little as 27 seconds on the RICOH Ri 6000 or 51 seconds on the RICOH Ri The ink is then cured via heat press or conveyor dryer. Users can print directly on shirts, socks and thicker garments such as hoodies with zippers. Designs can be easily previewed and modified based on the color of the garment fabric. Designs will look the same on the screen as they will on the garment. Optional Spark software offers personalization features and special effects as well as a customizable proposal system for quickly generating quotes. We wanted to make DTG printing both as flexible and as streamlined as possible, said John Fulena, Vice President, Commercial and Industrial Printing Group, Ricoh USA. Branded garments are one of the most popular graphic-arts applications in the world. He says offering branded T-shirts is a good way to encourage customers to return to your print shop for more work. Ricoh USA s business development and consulting services make it easy for sign shops, copy shops, in-plant print shops and small businesses to diversify into direct-to-garment printing (and other types of digital printing). Ricoh USA provides a single source of comprehensive training and technical support for all the printers they offer, including cut-sheet, continuous-feed and wide-format production printers. The Freejet 330TX Plus DTG printer from Omniprint International is a singlepass DTG inkjet printer. The garment remains in a fixed position while the white layer and color layers are applied simultaneously in a single pass by the print bar. Because the garment doesn t move during printing, high-resolution prints of up to 5760 dpi can be achieved. The Freejet DirectRIP technology and Gamut Plus Inks can print on white and dark poly, cotton and poly/cotton shirts. This printer was named Product of the Year in the Direct-to-Garment Printer (white shirts) category. The Kornit Vulcan printer won a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year award in the Direct to Garment Printers (dark garments) category. (Courtesy of Kornit Digital) The Epson SureColor F inch dye sublimation transfer printer won a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year Award in the Roll-to-Roll Dye Sublimation on Textile category. It can support the fast, reliable production of fashionable apparel on polyester fabrics. (Courtesy of Epson) Roland VersaStudio BN-20 desktop-printer/cutter can print and cut full-color heat transfers. (Courtesy of Roland) Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment SGIA Journal Fall

6 Another innovation designed to take steps out of the DTG process is RTP apparel. Developed in conjunction with the pre-treatment experts at Image Armor, these ready-to-print T-shirts are pretreated with a coating that will help take the guesswork out of printing images on white or dark T-shirts. Garment decorators can use OKI s new Pro6410 NeonColor textile transfer printer to output super-bright fluorescent designs that can be transferred to light and dark backgrounds. (Courtesy of OKI) The RICOH Ri 6000 Direct-to-Garment printer uses Ricoh s industrial-grade, self-cleaning printheads to print designs directly on shirts, socks, and other apparel. (Courtesy of Ricoh) The transfers used to create this fashion apparel were printed with dye sublimation inks on the Roland Texart XT-640 dye-sublimation printer. (Courtesy of Roland) Dye Sublimation for Apparel Dye sublimation starts by printing images or patterns in reverse onto a transfer paper with sublimation inks. For garment decoration, the print is then transferred to a polyester knit fabric via a heat-transfer press. Images can be transferred directly to finished garments such as T-shirts or to rolls of fabric that will be cut and sewn into garments. The dye-sublimation inks penetrate the surface of the fabric so that polymers in polyester fabric bond with the ink. Because the colors are permanently fused with the fabric, the fabric feels soft and natural and the images won t fade even after multiple washings. The dye-sublimation process is perfect for performance apparel, team uniforms, athleisure wear (such as leggings), fast fashion and high fashion. The decorated fabrics can also be used to make handbags and caps. Recent advances in dye sublimation include faster printers, better transfer release papers and inksets designed specifically for neon colors in athletic wear. Improvements in software and heat transfer presses are also continuing. Epson s SureColor F6200, F7200 and F9370 printers were designed specifically for fashion, fast fashion and high fashion. They are engineered to deliver speeds up to 1,169 sq. ft. per hour, making it possible to increase daily production without a lot of floor space. Epson received a 2017 SGIA Product of the Year Award in the Roll-to- Roll Dye Sublimation on Textile category. Designers who want to incorporate high-contrast, neon-bright colors in cycling jerseys, sports jerseys and fashions can use a Roland Texart RT 640 dye sublimation printer with fluorescent yellow and pink inks to create high-contrast colors that create a neon-like glow on dresses, cycling jerseys and sports jerseys. More powerful software, such as the ErgoSoft Roland edition software bundled with Texart printers, enables novice-to-advanced printer users to successfully create professionallooking fabrics. At the SGIA Expo, Fisher Textiles introduced rolls of dye-sublimatable fabric for athletic apparel made from 100% recycled polyester. ETP 4310 Uni is made 10 SGIA Journal Fall 2017 Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment

7 from REPREVE recycled yarns. It can be used to make products such as basketball uniforms and sports uniforms. It has been treated with a moisture management chemical that wicks perspiration away from the body, dries quickly, controls odor and promotes comfort. It received SGIA s 2017 Product of the Year Award in the Media Textile Apparel category. Apparel manufacturers who use this fabric can get REPREVE hangtags that note that the garment was made from recycled plastic bottles. Yarrington Mills Corp. also showed fabrics for sublimated athletic apparel at the SGIA Expo. BODY FLEX Performance Spandex is available in different weights for football, wrestling, cheer, lacrosse, compression and cycling. Their Spun Poly/Spandex Single Jersey T-Shirt Fabric has the feel of a soft cotton T-shirt. Recommended uses include sublimated tank shirts, short and longsleeve T-shirts, campwear, fanwear and shooting shirts. POWER STRETCH MicroPoly/Spandex Doubleknit can be used for creating yoga pants, leggings, football pants and cheerleading uniforms. Many startup garment decorators use smaller-format, versatile dye-sublimation equipment to decorate finished garments. For example, the desktop Sawgrass* SD Virtuoso SG400 and SG600 product decorating systems can be used to create one-offs or small runs of dye-sublimated T-shirts, sweats, shorts, socks, polos and beanies. The eight-color SubliJet HD- FLEX ink set includes CYMK plus orange, blue, fluorescent yellow and fluorescent pink inks for super-bright sports, fashion and safety apparel. Vapor Apparel s Solar Performance dye-sublimatable T-shirts can help keep you from getting sunburned. In addition to moisture-wicking technology, these lightweight T-shirts feature UPF 50+ protection. Decorate long-sleeve T-shirts to create sun-protective garments for fishermen, runners, beachgoers, boaters and other outdoor enthusiasts in sunny locales. Other innovations at the 2017 SGIA Expo included Image Right Sublimation Paper for more consistent color quality on photo-quality transfers. Coastal Business Supplies recommends using its ArTanium sublimation inks with their wide selection of sublimation imprintables. Heat Transfers Heat transfers were the original method for making one-off prints for decorated garments. Anyone with a small-format heat press could buy an adhesive-backed heat-transfer film and make customized garments, such as sports team jerseys with the player s name and number. Today, heat-transfer printing continues to be an easy, cost-effective way to enter the garment decoration business. Heat transfers are particularly popular in small enterprises that use inkjet print-and-cut devices to make stickers and decals. We introduced our HeatSoft materials to make it easier for sign shops and other print-service providers to add apparel decoration to their product offerings, says Lily Hunter, Product Manager, Textiles and Consumables, Roland DGA. But products such as Roland s VersaStudio BN-20 desktop printer/cutter and R-Wear Studio are attracting a new breed of makers and home-based businesses. The heat-transfer process can be used to apply cut vinyl or graphics that have been printed onto transfer films with screen printing presses, inkjet printers, or tonerbased presses. Transfers can also be used to add special effects such as rhinestones and foils. While some heat-transfer films can still feel like stiff, thick plastic, these films are primarily made to be extra durable and abrasion resistant for sports uniforms and similar applications. Other materials on the market are thinner and more flexible. In terms of inkjet-printable heat transfers, recent advances include the increased availability of non-pvc-based heat transfer materials, which has come about mainly because companies that make apparel and accessories for children must meet CPSIA certification requirements. There are more printable films on the market that have a soft hand, so it doesn t feel like you re wearing a piece of plastic, added Hunter. Along with the comfort factor, you want to have the stretchability these films offer, especially if you will be applying them onto Spandex. It s important that the decorative material stretches with the base fabric. The industry is also working to develop a more universal hot melt adhesive that can be used on a wider variety of fabrics. Products showcased at the SGIA Expo included Roland DGA s HeatSoft SATIN heat transfer media. This inkjet-printable polyurethane media can be transferred to cotton, polyester and poly blend materials to create customized apparel that has a soft hand. It is easy to weed and transfer to the transfer mask. HeatSoft SATIN isn t as high-sheen as our original HSM3 high-gloss matrial, says Hunter. It meets the needs of garment decorators seeking more of a screen printed This stylish swim shirt was printed with transfers from a Roland Texart RT-640 dye sublimation printer. (Courtesy of Roland) Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment SGIA Journal Fall

8 look. HeatSoft SATIN is CPSIA certified, so it s safe for use in the production of apparel for children under 12 years old. Images transferred with HeatSoft SATIN can withstand up to 25 wash cycles. It is compatible with Roland s VersaStudio benchtop print-and-cut machine as well as VersaCAMM, SP-I, VersaCAMM VS-I series and TrueVIS printers. Another innovation on display was the HotMark Revolution line of transfer films from Chemica US. This versatile film can be applied to cotton, nylon or polyester and remains thin and stretchy. It s available in more than 25 colors and can be used to decorate garments with company logos and lettering. This product won a 2017 Product of the Year Award Media in the Heat Transfer Vinyl/PU/Specialty category. To speed the transfer process and reduce issues with heat-sensitive fabrics, Stahls introduced the Hotronix Bottom Heat Press Platen. A heated bottom platen allows for a lower application temperature on the top platen for reduced scorching and improved adhesive melting. Stahls also announced AquaTru Dye-Block heat transfer ink to stop dyes from migrating when transfers are applied to dye sublimated garments or heat-sensitive fabrics used in team apparel. OKI demonstrated four textile transfer printers, including the new Pro6410 NeonColor printer for printing transfers with eye-catching fluorescent effects. Will Garment Decoration Go In- House? The market for printed textiles and decorated garments is so massive that it s unrealistic to expect that on-demand garment printing will be the exclusive domain of print-for-pay service providers. As garment decorating processes become more automated and easier to use, some printers will undoubtedly be installed at sites where the apparel and promotional products are manufactured or sold. For example, some DTG printers might be used in university and corporate print shops or resort gift shops. Big apparel companies, fashion brands and design studios may also bring garment decorating equipment in-house. Epson and Kornit are actively raising awareness of mass customization by showing designers and brands what s possible with dye-sublimation printers, textile printers and DTG printers. Earlier this year, Epson sponsored a Digital Couture Project fashion show during Fashion Week in New York. Students from Philadelphia University s Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce created and printed a collection of four designs, using an Epson SureColor F-series dye sublimation printer. Other creations by fashion designers throughout Latin America and the US were also displayed. At the 2017 Avanpint USA digital textile printing show in New York, Kornit Digital teamed up with designers from the Nuprimary and Electra design firms to show other designers, fabric buyers, fashion professionals and manufacturers how quickly a design could be created, scanned and output onto T-shirts on Kornit s Storm Hexa DTG printers. They also demonstrated how in-house textile production allows manufacturers to quickly assess which designs work and don t work. According to Kornit, some big apparel brands have already purchased Kornit equipment so they can custom decorate fabrics and garments, get to market faster and reduce their fixed costs. Ultimately, all types of businesses in the garment decoration supply chain will be forced to reinvent themselves for the demand-and-supply economy. Donovich believes that print-for-pay providers of garment decoration services that are early adopters of print-on-demand technologies will be in the best position to benefit. Creating the Demand With so many changes occurring in apparel retailing, it s hard to know for sure what the garment business might look like 10 or 15 years from now. Currently, there is plenty of demand for custom T-shirts and athleisure apparel that is stylish and comfortable enough to wear outside of the gym. According to the NPD Group, the market for athleisure apparel reached $45.9 billion in Decorated T-shirts and other forms of branded apparel continue to be extremely popular promotional giveaways for companies, organizations and event organizers. When attending a Digital Summit conference that extolled the miracles of online marketing, I found it ironic that event organizers gave me a one-color screen printed T-shirt as a memento (and offline promotional tool). And, every member of the bridal party at my daughter s wedding had two sets of screen printed T-shirts: one for the bachelorette party and one to wear in the getting-ready room the day of the wedding. The online company Custom Ink deserves a lot of credit for creating a burgeoning demand for custom T-shirts. Founded in 2000, Custom Ink was one of the first web-to-print companies to run TV ads on broadcast networks. Today they continue to urge people of all ages to order T-shirts for all of life s events. Custom Ink s long-term goal is to create at least one custom T-shirt a year per person in the US. So far, they have printed more than 60 million T-shirts. One thing smart marketers like Custom Ink have learned is that consumers don t all act alike. Data analytics are proving that different design trends catch the attention of different groups of consumers in different parts of the country. Some people love full-color dye-sub printed T-shirts. Others prefer the look and feel of simple screenprinted graphics on soft, cotton garments. You no longer must be a big, multinational brand to influence consumer tastes. Just as hundreds of local craft beers have stolen market share from the bigbrand breweries, apparel micro-brands can develop loyal fans and brand evangelists. As an independent garment decorator, buying equipment and materials will be just the beginning. If you know what type of designs and garments will make up your main breadand-butter market, focus on mastering the garment decorating method that will best serve that market. You might also want to consider equipment that lets you make other products besides apparel. Unless you already have a big community of followers for your art, the hardest part of starting a garment business may involve creating and promoting a collection of products and designs that will attract an audience. You have dozens of channels for promoting yourself, but millions of other marketers vying for each consumer s attention. But in the globally connected world of social media, we never know where the next million-dollar apparel design trend will come from. It could come from a big brand with millions of dollars to spend on designers and agencies. Or, it could come from a few small-town artists with a screen printing press, DTG printer, or dye-sub printer and 20,000 enthusiastic Instagram followers. In the era of mass-customized apparel, customers will decide what they want. Eileen Fritsch is a Cincinnatibased freelance writer. Contact her at eileen@eileenfritsch.com 12 SGIA Journal Fall 2017 Visit SGIA at SGIA.org/Garment