Wearables - Advertising Specialty Institute

[ WEARABLES
SALES FORECAST]
Wearables
Sales
Forecast
See the results of our exclusive survey and
the strategies that will have you primed for
success in 2011.
By C.J. Mittica, Robert Carey and Daniel Walsh
Research by Larry Basinait
W
e touched on the leading fashion trends you need to
know for 2011. But how are your sales going to look?
What markets are peaking? Which product categories will be your strongest sellers?
Those answers and more are here, in our first-annual
Wearables Sales Forecast. Our comprehensive survey gives you
the lowdown on what apparel distributors and suppliers are
expecting heading into next year. (Be sure to go online to www.
wearablesmag.com to see the full report.) Also, we’ve armed you
with smart strategies for the upcoming year – everything from
handling online competition to creating more apparel programs.
The message couldn’t be clearer: Go get ’em in 2011.
48 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 WEARABLES • wearablesmag.com
Increase the Size of Your Apparel Orders
T
he average size of a wearables order in 2009 was
$287 less than a general
promo products order.
How to lessen the divide? Start
by asking the right questions,
suggests Anita Brooks, owner
of On the Gulf in Gautier, MI
(asi/202900). “I think one of the
biggest things is just asking,” she
says. “Sometimes we become a
little myopic. When we deal with
old customers, sometimes we just
stick with the same old things.”
In other words, the best way
to increase the size of wearables
orders is, quite simply, to try.
When some salespeople know
a sale is definite, they take what
they have instead of pushing
higher. “It’s so easy, when you
get an order, to say, ‘Yes,’ and
‘Thank you,’” says Marc Held,
national sales manager for Bodek
and Rhodes (asi/40788). “You’re
excited. I don’t think enough
people stop and ask, ‘Hey, have
you considered this?’ and look to
upsell.”
Lagging Behind
Average wearable order
$682
Average advertising
specialty order
$969
Held looks for sales options
ranging from logical to off-thewall. He says he goes by this
strategy: “Give them three or
four options you like, and give
them one option they’ll scratch
their head over.” Why pitch
them the head-scratcher? “Your
competition isn’t selling them,”
he says. So that means you might
get the sale. Take a tie-dye shirt,
for example, which is created
by hand and is a solid seller for
Bodek and Rhodes, according to
Held. Plus he likes them, which
helps make the sale easier. “If
you like it, your enthusiasm will
show,” he says.
Your pitch doesn’t have to
include a crazy choice – just
something that can also be
viewed as new to your client.
Brooks recalls one client who
wasn’t doing any business in
wearables. Then a pitch was
made, and so too was a sale. A
client like that may be doing
business with a distributor in one
area but not in another.
Embroidery is particularly
common for this kind of situation, as many companies take
their garments to a local embroiderer – who Brooks says may be
subpar. She says this is an area
that distributors can push in on,
and she sticks with Trademarks
Embroidery (asi/91755) in order
to show a better product and
position herself as an expert.
“A lot of times, it’s not being
afraid to step back and be that
leader for them,” she says. She
once pitched Konica Minolta on
how good its logo could look, as
Two Additional ways
to increase orders
1. Be an expert. Position
yourself as a qualified voice
on what will provide your
clients with the best product,
as opposed to merely coming off like someone trying to
make a buck on a sale. They’re
concerned with making their
business the best it can be. If
you concern yourself with the
same thing, you’ll align yourself more with their needs.
2. Exploit market gaps. If you
see something that no one
else is offering, consider floating it as an option. If you’re the
only guy in town with a certain
product and people need that
product, you’re the only place
to go.
opposed to how it was looking.
The company was impressed
with the better quality, and
Brooks got the deal and increased
orders as a result.
Frozen Margins
Overall, margins are not expected to change dramatically over
the next 12 months. For three of the major apparel categories,
respondents feel margins will stay the same.
T-shirts
Outerwear
11%
17%
27%
Wovens
56%
75%
18%
71%
11%
13%
Increase
Decrease
Shirt to Sell
63% & 53%
Percent of respondents who believe that
T-shirt and polo sales, respectively, will
increase in the next 12 months.
Remain the same
wearablesmag.com • WEARABLES NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 49
[ WEARABLES
SALES FORECAST]
How to Handle Online Competition
O
nline competition is
poised to be a huge
challenge to selling
wearables next year.
Specifically, threats will come
from companies that are no more
than a website. And they will
represent the biggest challenge
to those who are merely selling a
commodity.
However, smart distributors
know that the way to beat online
companies at the sales game is
to provide the buyer the services that a website can’t. Tom
Havens knows that. “If you had
a top 10 list of concerns facing
my company, I’m not sure the
Internet would be on that list,”
says Havens, the president of
Catalyst Marketing (asi/159067)
in Seattle.
The Internet can be many
things: a communications medium,
a sales tool, a research library, a
means for playing games – but it
requires something behind it, driving its usage. It doesn’t have to be
an amorphous mass or entity that
can compete with you.
Keep It
In-House
Nearly half of
respondents
do their own
decorating, as
opposed to
using a supplier
or contract
decorator.
Those online companies certainly will try to compete with
distributors. If you’re simply
selling items with no added
services, then things won’t be
easy in the modern economy,
Havens says. “If all you’re doing
is selling promotional products,
then you’re in for a long road,”
he says. Those distributors have
to worry about Internet-based
competition because they simply
push product and don’t concentrate on being a full-service provider. Internet-based competition will have them beat because
they have much less overhead.
“If all a customer wants to do is
get a mouse pad with a logo on
it, he can go to a thousand different places online and buy it,”
Havens says.
Online vendors cut out the
middleman, put their catalogs of
materials online and allow endusers to buy direct. The way to
compete with that is to offer
more than just products without
guarantees or fulfilling customer
service. For Promotional Con-
50 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 WEARABLES • wearablesmag.com
19.2%
Nearly one-fifth of
respondents cite
the economy as
their greatest challenge in 2011.
6.2%
5.0%
The
economy
Online
competition
49%
Decorate
in-house
Inventory
concerns
siderations, that’s simply getting
things right. “I heard the horror
stories,” says Jeff Marks, general
manager of Promotional Considerations (asi/300810) in Richmond, VA. “Like, ‘I ordered 500
black shirts with a navy imprint,
and you can’t see it. I have an
event in five days. Can you fix
it?’ And I say, sure.” That’s not
as easy when a client is ordering
from a faceless, online catalog.
BrandName
Buyers
17%
Have the
supplier
decorate
34%
Hire a
decorator
Major Obstacle
Nearly six in 10
respondents
find that brand
names aren't
important to
their clients.
When Havens started Catalyst 11 years ago, he wanted to
form what was essentially a
marketing company that crosses
over into promotional products.
It’s a one-stop shop for all sorts
of marketing needs. “Most of
our customers are understaffed
and overworked, and they’re
stretched really thin,” he says.
“What we bring in is in-house
design, in-house creative and
strategic consulting.”
Naturally, the websites of
Catalyst and Promotional
Considerations are far more indepth than the shells that some
companies have for websites.
Promotional Considerations has
a series of videos by different
speakers that serves as an introduction to its website. Catalyst
has a wide variety of features on
its website – too many to list.
The key is to remember that
the Internet is a tool – one of
many available for use by businesses, but certainly one of the
most important selling tools in
the modern marketplace.
42%
Important
58%
Not
important
➠Learn it live!
Want to know more about apparel programs?
Then be sure to attend “Sell Apparel Programs
to 3 Hot Markets” at The ASI Show Orlando
(Sunday, January 23, 1:30 p.m.). You’ll leave
armed with the tools to encourage year-round
sales in these markets.
Create More Apparel Programs
A
pparel programs:
Simple, straightforward and unappreciated? Apparently so,
after distributors remarked that
clients look for them for service,
price and creativity instead of
their ability to run an apparel
program. So are the programs
that difficult? For Taraynn Lloyd,
director of marketing at Edwards
Garment (asi/51752), the key
is understanding exactly what
clients want. When asked for
tips on putting together apparel
programs, she doesn’t rattle
off answers, but rather a list of
questions – questions that should
be asked of clients right away.
For example, take a restaurant
that needs uniforms. “What’s
the end-user’s style and image
policy?” Lloyd asks. “What’s their
brand strategy? Are they trying to
brand it with the same colors of
the restaurant? Is it an American
restaurant? What are the colors
that are going to harmonize with
the image?”
Knowing the roles is vital,
Lloyd says, and her questions go
on:
If there are different roles
the buyer has to outfit, such as
hostesses, bartenders and waiters,
should those groups get different products? Are staffers prone
to getting dirty? Then maybe
you should suggest material
that washes easily and is stainresistant.
Is safety a factor? Choose
clothing accordingly.
Are there seasonal changes
that affect weather and temperature? Then maybe they need a
warm-weather shirt and a coldweather shirt.
88%
How long do they want this
program to go on? That will
factor in when choosing available colors and replacements for
later. “You also want them to look
similar. If a person has been there
over a long period of time, you
want the colors to still look the
same,” she says.
Those questions are key not
only for a distributor to tailor
their apparel program for a client,
but to also get the client to realize
that a dedicated program may be
in its best interest. “I think that
oftentimes, distributors don’t ask
More To Sell
Service is by and far the top reason distributors
believe their clients do business with them.
Apparel programs are next to last.
44%
29%
19%
Service
Price
Creativity
Selection
8.5%
Apparel
programs
5.9%
Other
enough questions on the front
end,” Lloyd says. “They should
bring in samples that the purchaser can touch and feel. If it’s in
the right size, that’s great, because
they can try them on.”
The Icebox (asi/229395), an
Atlanta-based distributor, has an
agency-style approach and often
deals with larger companies.
That means answering requests
for proposals (RFPs) and finding
out that RFPs are out there to
begin with. The key thing is to
know what your company can
handle and what the client wants,
without overreaching to pull off
the job. “The biggest pitfall, I
would say, is there are companies
that will pitch to win no matter
what,” says Adrian Sasine, director of marketing for The Icebox.
“They will pitch the lowest price
no matter what and then figure it
out later. We don’t do that. We
figure it all out up front.” This
way, The Icebox doesn’t have
to come back later to change
orders after it realizes it can’t do
the work the client wants at the
quoted price. It gets it right the
first time.
Performance Power
54%
54% of
respondents
expect
performance
sales to increase
next year.
30%
30% say eco
sales will
increase.
wearablesmag.com • WEARABLES NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 51
[ WEARABLES
SALES FORECAST]
Ways to Sell More Accessories
79%
Failure to
Accessorize
19%
Percent of respondents
who believe sales of
accessories will increase in
the next 12 months.
the product if they don’t see it.
And if anyone is considering an
accessory, they’re looking at a
larger item anyway,” she says.
That means multiple potential
sales on the same call, sometimes
for things that clients might not
even think of. “Along with that
accessory, what do you do with
your cell phone when you’re not
on the cell phone? There’s an
accessory for that,” she says.
The trick is to be willing to try
these other items. “It’s easier for
distributors to sell a shirt because
they’re more comfortable with
it,” Everakes says. Lose that discomfort, and there could be more
sales on the horizon. Eventually,
those accessories could become
a viable and equal part of your
sales. “If I had a buck every time
someone came up and rubbed our
bamboo blankets, I’d be collecting dollar bills,” he says. “We
wanted to try something new.”
80
80%
among other pitchers.
Susan Gagainis, owner of ProVisions (asi/202900) in Mequon,
WI, says that because accessories
are different from standard shirts,
distributors need to present
them to a client more often than
other items. “You have to show
a client or prospect the item, in
my experience,” she says. “With
accessories they can’t visualize
100
other than T-shirts, which are
most common. “If a distributor is
going to see one of their clients,
and everyone’s showing shirts,
they’re going to get shirt shock
– that may be the best way to say
it,” Everakes says. “You’re bringing them something different.”
That’s what accessories can do
– change things up and make the
potential client remember you
Bag and Tag It
23%
40
60
Bags and hats dominate the
accessories market
19%
13%
9.8%
7.2%
20
14%
Bags
Hats
Other
Scarves
Watches
Sunglasses
Ties
Jewelry
0
W
earables come in
varieties other than
shirts.
It’s too easy
to overlook all the accessories
available in the marketplace, and
just concentrate on bags and
hats (by far the two most popular options). So what else is out
there, and how do you sell it?
Wolfmark (asi/98085) began as
a tie company, but branched out,
as ties are less common in some
lines of work. “As long as they’re
calling us for ties, we figured out
what other items can we throw
in,” says President Bruce Everakes. “About 10 years ago, we
started to expand into blankets.”
Now Wolfmark offers everything
from blankets and fleeces to vests
and scarves. “We have a lot of
accessories that other people
don’t have,” Everakes says. Wolfmark carries accessories because
people will buy them – but first,
clients need to know about the
products. Wolfmark does this
via an online store and by simply
telling the clients about these
other products. Sometimes the
supplier will even include free
accessories with an order for
other products.
For Wolfmark, it can be easier
to stand out in the promotional
apparel world simply because
the supplier offers something
It’s too easy to overlook all the accessories available
in the marketplace, and just concentrate on bags and hats.
52 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 WEARABLES • wearablesmag.com
Across the Map
Did you know rhinestones are big in Texas and bags are unpopular in Massachusetts? Our geographic data tells all.
(Numbers are the percent of respondents and the percent difference from the national average.)
Bags: 61.4% sell bags.
Percent difference: -18.9%
CANADA
Manufacturing: 39.3% sell
to the manufacturing sector.
Percent difference: 10.4%
Antimicrobial: 15.9% believe
antimicrobial is important to
clients. Percent difference: 9.6%
NORTHEAST
MIDWEST
WEST
Retail: 46.4% sell to the retail market.
Percent difference: 21.3%
Service: 96.4% say clients work with
them because of service. Percent
difference: 8.3%
SOUTHEAST
SOUTHWEST
Education: 66.2% work in the education
market. Percent difference: 10.7%
PACIFIC
Rhinestones/Crystals: 19.6% use rhinestone
decoration. Percent difference: 9.7%
Embroidery: 47.9% use
embroidery for decoration.
Percent difference: -25.1%
Embroidery: 73% use embroidery for
decoration. Percent difference: 9.2%
Apparel Programs: 1.8% operate apparel
programs. Percent difference: -6.7%
wearablesmag.com • WEARABLES NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 53
[ WEARABLES
SALES FORECAST]
Look on the
Bright Side
From the highest highs to the lowest lows,
there are opportunities within any market.
Our hot-markets data shows which industries
are surging and what chances await.
By Robert Carey
W
hen distributors set their sights on
education, it’s not schools they see
so much as banks, since the education market continues to represent an unyielding source of sales. “The biggest upward trend
the past few years has been in the educational
market,” says Jerry Scher, vice president of The
Roe Company (asi/309700) in Englewood, NJ.
While Scher’s client base is diversified across
industries, he finds that education thrives
regardless of the circumstances. Says Scher:
“Schools might buy a little less quantity or use
items that are a little less expensive than we saw
in the past, but apparel is a central category to
this niche regardless of economic conditions.”
Actually, education isn’t totally immune to
economic realities. Some negative changes
include: grade-school budgets being squeezed
as many districts operate under voter-mandated austerity plans; university administrators
reducing purchases to safeguard against shrinking endowments; and government funding of
universities becoming less robust as legislatures
address large budget deficits.
On the other hand, Laura Ransbottom, president of P-F Unlimited (asi/288860) in Tulsa,
OK, finds that some of these measures have
actually resulted in opportunities. “My reps are
54 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 WEARABLES • wearablesmag.com
seeing more school-spirit stores in the schools,
and even initiatives for clubs that typically did
not have their own apparel – the chess club,
etc.,” she says. “All the extracurricular groups
are more proactive with spiritwear because so
many have to fund their own activities now.”
The Moneymaker
Education
55.5%
Apparel quality is important (but not overly
important) when it comes to the education
market. “The items they use are not top-shelf,
mostly T-shirts and polos that are one or two
levels above the most inexpensive options,” says
William Goforth, CEO of Pine State Enterprises (asi/295970) in Berkley, MI. But even
if their tastes aren’t overly exotic, “They are
still buying the standard stuff, and this niche is
keeping my business moving along,” says Brad
Akers, owner of Tip-Top Branding (asi/344851)
in Chicago, who has several smaller universities
as clients. “I see no signs of them pulling back.”
Accordingly, to drive interest and raise
margins, distributors should concentrate on
trendy cuts and unique decoration. “The
variety of decoration is what is driving sales
of many items,” Ransbottom says. “So the
most important thing is the availability of
different styles and decorations.”
Here are some other tips on selling to the
education market.
Think small. Akers continues to find success
with smaller universities because they typically
do not invest their endowments as aggressively
as many larger schools do. As a result, the
stock-market turmoil of the past three years
likely hasn’t affected their finances as greatly.
Grade-school cool. Distributors like
Goforth and Vickie Jackson, president of ProMotivators Inc. (asi/301452) in Alisa Viejo, CA,
have typically eschewed grade-school-level
clubs and fundraisers because of their low volumes, but they are beginning to change their
tunes. “I guess you have to go where the business is,” Jackson says, “so I am moving more
in that direction – and I have landed a lot of
school-related fundraising work lately.”
Team first. Athletic squads always need
apparel, and John Furnish, vice president of
business development for The Promotional
Specialists (asi/301163) in Markham, Ontario,
➠Learn it live!
Interested in targeting the financial market? How
about health care? What about nonprofits or safety
programs? You can learn about all these and more
in our Hot Niche Markets track at The ASI Show
Orlando (Sunday, January 23-Tuesday, January
25).Whatever the market, you’ll emerge with winning tips to properly tailor your sales pitches.
continues to see good momentum in this
niche, with everything from woven shirts and
high-quality jackets for coaches and booster
clubs to travel bags and hats. He finds there’s
even demand from the central offices of the
larger youth hockey and soccer associations
he serves. “One year ago, this stuff was not
moving like this,” Furnish observes. “Maybe
people are finally feeling comfortable enough
to make these purchases again.”
Narrow your product options. For distributors who want to tap into education, but not
get overwhelmed, Jackson advises presenting a
solid but narrowed range of ideas to keep it targeted. “Don’t give every prospect in this niche
a whole new set of products to choose from,”
she says. “They don’t need differentiation to
the level that corporations do.”
Money in the Middle
Distributors continue to preach the merits of a
diversified client base, and not every business
can specialize in major markets like education
or associations for a simple reason: The competition is cutthroat.
The good news is that the markets in the
“Broad Middle” – manufacturing, nonprofits,
health care, retail and restaurant/travel/lodging – have been sitting on cash and waiting for
the first hints of a sustainable economic turnaround. They’re getting close to unleashing
what could be a considerable amount of money
directed at marketing initiatives throughout
2011.
In fact, some distributor firms already see
clients making such a move, like Stolz Mead
Global (asi/337115) in Columbus, OH. “These
firms had a fantastic 2010 and are taking advantage of that momentum,” says Co-Owner
Robert Knable, who counts several consumer
products companies among his biggest customers. While some gravitate toward lower-cost
items like T-shirts, innovative decoration will
continue to lure them. “The all-over printing has become much easier to do, giving us
more opportunities with these types of clients,”
Goforth says.
And don’t discount the push for companies
to attend more trade shows. “Business seems
to have finally turned the corner; it’s on the
upswing right now,” adds Goforth, whose distributorship deals with a slew of manufacturing reps. “They are doing more dress shirts for
the showroom, and for the trade shows they’re
attending again.” One of Furnish’s clients
recently ordered dress shirts in two colors as
well as a quarter-zip pullover for the first time.
“We’re even seeing an uptick in woven shirts,”
he adds. “I don’t really know why, but just about
every client has asked for some.”
Jackson sees similar growth at Pro Motivators, which gains much of its work through
ad agencies. “Things are picking up a lot this
year,” she says. “The marketing budgets for
high-tech, consumer tech, entertainment and
other segments are getting the green light
again, and the fashionable brands like Ogio,
Nike and American Apparel are what move
here in California.” Brand names continue to
move the needle for corporate clients, especially on the restaurant and retail-storefront
segments, which use them for internal use as
well as client gifts.
But make no mistake: Sectors like manufacturing and retail have been hit hard and could
use all the help they can get. Distributors can
work their way in by acting as a full-service
provider. “We no longer simply procure prod-
The Broad Middle
28.9%
Manufacturing
Nonprofit
25.9%
Health care
25.6%
Opportunities Arise
While these markets constitute a small portion
of a distributor’s business, these wearables-lean
segments do offer potential for opportunistic
businesses. Here are some market-specific tips.
25.1%
Retail
Restaurants/
travel/lodging
uct,” Knable says. “We sell graphic design and
concept, too, so that we can take a client from A
to Z on a project. Companies used to have five
or six people working on these things, but that’s
been cut back to one or two people. So it makes
sense for us to take on as much as we can.”
Virginia Piendak, CEO of The Richey
Company (asi/308200) in Carrollton, TX, has
shifted the firm’s focus in order to get more
total business from each client in this segment.
“Because of what happened over the past few
years, clients have more complex needs, and
we’ve had to evolve so that our services resonate with them,” she says. “We’re moving into
dimensional promotions, we’re helping sales
forces more, we’re offering strategic capabilities rather than being seen only as a promotional firm that does fulfillment. We have to be
a wide-ranging, solutions-based business.”
Here are some other trends occurring in
these sectors.
Out with the unisex. Ransbottom has witnessed a push for women’s-specific clothing in
everything from special events and entertainment to the conference and trade-show circuit.
“We have gotten more requests for women’s
cuts in the past 18 months,” she says, pointing
out that “trade shows for nonprofit and trade
associations have a lot of women attendees.”
Colors. “Women want things that are resilient and easy to care for,” Ransbottom says,
“but they don’t want to do navy and gray all the
time. They’re looking to pick up some color,
be a little more bright and stand out a bit.”
Upselling. Many distributors have convinced clients to move from performance shirts
and polos to performance outerwear. Knable
has gotten a few clients to “go more upscale
with jackets; Columbia is a popular choice.”
Adds Furnish: “We had seen a lot of people
trade down in their per-unit purchases, but that
is turning around, and we’ve had a big bump in
outerwear that we didn’t anticipate.”
21.4%
wearablesmag.com • WEARABLES NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 55
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
[ WEARABLES
SALES FORECAST]
Financial. Despite the beating that the finanrecognition events, and clothing has always
cial and banking sector has taken in the public
been a staple for those. They use the bettereye, it has emerged as a resurgent dark horse.
quality polo shirts and jackets, and brand
Financial
11.1%
Dick Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities,
names like Nike and Cutter & Buck.”
told CNBC viewers in late August to expect “an
Construction. Clearly, the new-construcexplosion in bank acquisitions” in late 2010 and
tion market is quite weak, given the state of
10.3%
Technology
into 2011. That’s when the minimum-capital
both the residential and commercial real-estate
rules are supposed to be set, and banks that can’t
meet the standards will be ripe for takeover.
Wearables reader service numbers
Government
9.8%
For products in editorial content
What does this mean for distributors? Lots of
Suppliers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . RS #. . . . . . . . Page #
goods will be needed to fulfill big rebranding
AJM International. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
efforts, right down to the local branches. “We
Alpha Shirt Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Utilities
6.3%
Alternative Apparel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
lost a banking client last year,” Akers says, “but
American Apparel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117. . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 45
they came back to us under a different name, so
Apparel Star. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Ash City USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94. . . . . . . . . 17, 20, 40
they needed all new items.”
Pharma 1.0%
Bag Designs USA Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . 127. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Jackson suffered some harsh losses with the
Bela-Alo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Blue Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
reorganization and rebranding of CountryBodek and Rhodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 116. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
wide Financial. “But I have a lot of contacts in
Boxercraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
finance who have moved around the industry, 0ated challenges
2
4for distributors.
6
8But pharma10
12Brandwear Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Broder Bros. co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
and I will just follow my contacts,” she says. “I focused distributors such as Scher manage
Buffalo Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Carhartt Workwear and Haws USA. 125. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 46
have done business for 20 years mostly by refer- to find rays of light. “We are still dealing in
Charles River Apparel. . . . . . . . . . . 126. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
rals, so people who moved on or were even laid apparel with these firms, from the standpoint
Days Off Designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
DayStar Apparel Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . 113. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
off have found a new company, and some of of internal usage as opposed to promotional
Dickies Occupational Wear . . . . . . 109. . . . Cover, 4, 44, 45
purposes,” Scher says about The Roe Compathem are already calling me.”
Dunbrooke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Dungarees LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pharma. In the pharmaceutical industry, the ny’s clients. “They do run a lot of meetings and
Edwards Garment Co.. . . . . . . . . . . 118. . . . . . . . . 18, 20, 45
rules governing promotional items have cre- events for their own people, both training and
EMT Easy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Looking Up
Market Spotlight: Associations and Clubs
During the worst of times, associations and clubs weren’t just struggling with budget constraints. They were confronted with the fact that in dire economic conditions, people just
don’t make as much time for side hobbies. “A lot of networking groups had cut down on
events because they weren’t getting much participation – people were pessimistic about finding work,” says Anna Johnson, owner of Super Embroidery and Screenprinting (asi/339634)
in Phoenix. “And the fraternal organizations, which trend older, saw their audience hanging
onto money more tightly, too.”
But with signs pointing to a slow but steady economic rebound, people are starting to
attend events again, and apparel is being used for giveaways at monthly, seasonal and annual
affairs. “With the Masonic lodges, the Elks clubs, the VFW chapters and others, there’s some
demand again for polo shirts and jackets – but definitely nothing
Associations/ expensive,” says Sherrie Davis Perlman, owner of Lee Davis Associates (asi/176750) in Philadelphia. Johnson observes that “some
Clubs
groups have cut the number of steps required for membership, and
they’re reaching out to the 30- to 40-year-old crowd to get the next
generation of members, so they need items like apparel and hats.”
The one segment that seems to hold the most promise right
now? Civic groups, such as chambers of commerce, rotary clubs and business-improvement
districts. “I’ve seen a jump in events such as Main Street fairs or open houses, the weekly car
or motorcycle shows, and similar events,” says Johnson. She adds that the host organizations
are using T-shirts as a giveaway to entice businesses to participate, and then selling the rest
among the crowd. Screen printing and direct-to-garment printing are strong in this sector, as
are American-made goods, which support the mission of these groups.
54.5%
56 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 WEARABLES • wearablesmag.com
Eternity Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Executive Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Fields manufacturing Inc.. . . . . . . . 129. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
FIEL-Fairdeal Import & Export . . . 130. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Gempire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Goodview Industries . . . . . . . . . . . 121. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Heritage Sportswear Inc. . . . . . . . . 108. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Illinois Glove Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Jacobson Hat Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Lakeside Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Mega Cap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
MV Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Neet Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Nissin Cap & Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Numo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Occunomix International . . . . . . . . 150. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Outback Trading Co. . . . . . . . . . . . 142. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Pacific Sportswear & Emblem Co.. 103. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Page and Tuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Par One Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Philadelphia Rapid Transit . . . . . . . 138. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Piel Leather Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
PVH Career Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . 134. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Rothco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100. . . . . . . . . 41, 43, 44
S & S Activewear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Serena Enterprices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Staton Corporate and Casual . . . . 120. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Stormtech Performance Apparel . 139. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Suntex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
TQM Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Turfer Sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Vantage Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Vitronic Promotional Group . . . . . 111. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Wolfmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101. . . . . . Cover, 41, 43
Woolrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
markets. Even home-improvement business is
down because consumers are no longer borrowing against the value of their properties to
finance projects. But James Waskey, sales manager for AdForm (asi/104977) in Baltimore,
says that “as bad as 2009 was in this segment,
we’ve seen it coming back somewhat this year.
It won’t get to 2008 levels for another year at
least, but that does not mean there’s no business out there. Construction firms go through
clothing pretty quickly.” Their preferred items
include sweatshirts and resilient outerwear in
colder months; in summer, T-shirts are needed
for employees and for promotions, plus polo
shirts for management.
Real estate. While the residential real estate
market seems to have bottomed out, the commercial market is in a precarious position right
now. Executives at The LeFrak Organization,
one of the biggest real estate industry players,
predicted in late August that the other shoe has
yet to drop. This will hurt not only construc-
tion firms but also realtors, as defaults rise again
and space remains vacant. “I think that there
were a lot of firms that squeaked past foreclosure the first time around, but they can’t hang
on for the length of this recession and will have
to default,” Waskey says. On the other hand,
Knable has found a few companies in this niche
that actually get busier as things turn sour. “We
picked up a firm that specializes in managing
bank-foreclosed properties across the country,
and we are acting as a one-stop shop for them,”
he says. “We are doing a few things for them
that we had not done for anybody in the past,
so it’s been good for us.”
Utilities. The energy niche is rather interesting these days, as the increasing diversity
of fuel sources creates a myriad of opportunities depending on your region of the country.
“Natural gas is big business here,” says Ransbottom about the Tulsa region, “but lately
the interest in wind energy has been picking
up a lot more, too.” A huge natural-gas find
coming next issue
across Pennsylvania and New York last year
could mean an increased need for apparel
for energy-firm workers going into that area,
while distributors in coastal regions should
keep tabs on wind-turbine projects being
developed in their area.
Government. The good news with the government is that it was set to spend an additional
$787 billion in recovery funds in 2010, with
the goal of awarding 23% of it to small businesses. However, the slight bump you may have
received from the government may take a hit
with the end of the federal government’s stimulus. Plus, the increased attention paid to deficits on state and municipal levels likely means
that apparel will not be high on the purchasing
lists of those who have used it in the past. Seek
out high-profile initiatives that are announced
in the news or elsewhere, but beware that the
purse strings may be a little tighter. n
C.J. Mittica is editor, Robert Carey is a contributing writer
and Daniel Walsh is a staff writer for Wearables.
what’s coming up in the January Wearables
Awarding
Experience
Where do the best products
in the wearables industry
come to compete? Right
here, in our annual Apparel
Design Awards. Come see
which companies come
out on top – and find some
awesomely innovative items
for your next sale.
Mixing It Up
Embroidery, screen printing and appliqué are fashion-friendly on
their own, but even more powerful when put together. We give you
the scoop on mixed media and how you can sell it to your clients.
Performance of a Lifetime
Your clients can’t get enough of performance fabrics, which
makes the category a consistent source of sales. Be sure to
check our primer of the essential information you need to
know about performance garments and technology.
Mad Hatters
Baseball caps, ski
hats, fedoras, beanies, berets, straw hats,
visors, cowboy hats
and more – the varieties of headwear are
endless, and we give
you the lowdown on
the most popular hats
in our hot product
showcase.
And much,
much more!
wearablesmag.com • WEARABLES NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 57