Custom Apparel Startups

How to hire an expert:

- Accountant CPA

- Business Consultant  

- Ad Agency

- Marketing Guy

- Social Media Pro

Make sure you have a good reason to hire someone or a company.

First 3 things:

1. What problem are you solving? or What are you trying to accomplish?

2. Why are you hiring outside for this?

3. Statement of work/Job description

Choosing a Vendor:

1. Send each prospective vendor your SOW

2. Ask them to respond in writing how they can help

3. Ask them to say your SOW back to you (be sure they actually understand it)

Get referrals:

- Good reviews are great, but a referral from a successful business owner (your trust) is worth the most.  

Pricing:

- How do you know you are getting a good deal?

- Get quotes from other companies

- Ask them to explain their value for their pricing

General tips for hiring contractors/companies/ outsourcing:

- Don't let price dictate your decision. Expensive doesn't equal good, and cheap doesn't mean it's the best value.  

- The best salesperson doesn't mean they offer the best service.  

- Don't get sucked into a contract right away, push for an opportunity to exit if they don't meet your expectations.  

- Never take the first price they offer.  

- Where is the work done? On-shore, off-shore, their full-time employees?

- Make sure you like them! 

Planning:
We all try to brainstorm together about what videos we need or think yall want to see, sometimes we ask!
We get blanks ordered and prepare artwork for the video. We have lots of equipment so we like to get artwork that is great for that process (example, embroidery = digitized logo, DigitalHeat FX = colorful graphic with negative space, sublimation = colorful photos and portraits) One common factor = LOTS OF COLOR

Testing:
We do a test run which usually results in bloopers, we aren't making t-shirts or sublimating mugs every day or even every week, so mistakes happen. We often do new things in our videos so we don't have solid instructions to follow so trial and error happens.
We also experiment with different pieces of equipment which can alter the process. example - using the galaxy press instead of the hotronix, etc.

We have been saving bloopers and documenting mistakes, because ultimately they happen and any apparel decorator is going to have mistakes.

Equipment:
Currently using iPhone 11 pro
ring light and softbox light
lavalier mic that has a receiver that plugs into the phone
DJI osmo gimbal BUT I have been using a tripod more often when I know I won't be moving around a lot

Format:
1. 90% of the time we shoot horizontal because we use one video in a ton of different places (youtube, social, websites)
2. BUT if making videos specifically for social, shoot vertical

Where our videos go:
Youtube is fun for creating a channel and gaining a following
Vimeo is a great place to home videos if you are adding them to your website or want to share links
Why share a Vimeo link and not a youtube link: Once someone lands on a youtube video you have no control. They will be shown other videos and ads. So most likely they are going to start clicking around and wont be watching your video for long.
Vimeo doesn't have all that going on. They have a specific video screen and you can control what pops up on screen when your video is over.

Social:
Upload videos directly into social, vertical is best, quick clips, eye-catching footage, short
increase video engagement by asking question in the video post or just post something that encourages replies (opinions, need your help, what's your favorite, what do you want to see next, etc.)

Editing:
Camtasia
Adobe Premiere (advanced)
Final cut (advanced - mac)
iMovie

Common mistakes:
Lighting
Shaking
Poor audio

So hopefully if you were curious about how we produce our videos we answered some of your questions and hopefully this encouraged you to start taking some videos of your work, show face, add a personality to your business.

This has been Hannah Rago and Jes Santiago

And as Mark likes to say have a great business!

Resources:

Episode 118 | Social Media Skills - https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-118/

Episode 137 | Marketing Playbook - https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-137/

DigitalHeat FX Videos: https://digitalheatfx.com/videos/

Avance Videos: https://avance-emb.com/embroidery-videos/

Custom Apparel Startups Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/689272454512942

How to Start an Embroidery Business

In many ways, it's just like starting any other custom apparel business. Or any business at all. But we DO suggest that you look at your business backwards, or at least in a kind of reverse order from what many experts suggest.

Some suggest you start with buying an embroidery machine - and that seems just wrong, though we do have some very high quality embroidery machines for sale 🙂.

So here are our inverted steps to How to Start an Embroidery Business:

What do you want to sell or make? - because that's where your business idea started.

- Is it embroidered shirts and polos
- Athletic wear and letterman's jackets
- Do you want to make gifts and keepsakes
- Wedding favors
- Linens and specialty draperies
- Custom blankets or baby accessories?
- Uniforms?

List the people, companies you'll be selling to - which is important, because you're going to base a lot of decisions on what you're customer will want, expect and pay for. And different people want, of course, different things.

- Service company owners will want something very different from high schools
- Expectant Mom's will not be keen on buying from someone that specializes in uniforms
- Wedding planners may pay more or less for quality goods than someone wanting to but embroidered car mats

Imagine the products those people will buy, and what they'll pay for them:

- What do company polos go for in your area?
- How much will a hair salon pay for custom aprons?
- What is the going rate for a letterman's jacket
- Or a horse blanket?
- Or a wedding table runner?

In other words, the first 3 things you need to know are:

1. What do you want to sell/make
2. Who are your customers going to be
3. How much will they typically pay for what you're going to do

Next you'll want to do the Math to make sure you're business makes sense.
You already know what your product(s) will be and how much you can charge.

What will it cost you to make and sell them? Or = How much can you make?

- How much does the blank item cost, wholesale? In other words, the pillowcase, table runner or polo you'll be embroidering on.
- How long do think it will take you to make each one? Which leads to how many can you make per hour.

Now subtract your sale price from your materials price and get your gross profit number per item.

Example: If you sell something for $25 and it costs you $12 in materials to make, that's a $13 gross profit.

The fun part you can do next is to figure your potential income, but multiplying that gross profit by the number of the items you can embroider in an hour. In this case, we can imagine it's 5/hour.

So the potential gross profit in THIS business is $13 x 5 = $65/hour.

Sales and Marketing Plan to execute the above

- Word of mouth
- Local outreach
- Online sales

Administration Planning

- Taxes
- Bank accounts
- Legal stuff

Art Creation: http://coldesi-graphics.com

- Who is the artist?
- If not you, then who / where?
- If you, should it be you?

Supply Partners: http://colmanandcompany.com

- What are you going to buy
- Who are you going to buy it from

Equipment: http://avance-emb.com

- What do you need to do all this?
- Do you need more than just embroidery equipment?

Run your numbers

- Does it all work out?
- What might you need to improve?
- If not, go back and rework things.

Do it!

Resources and Links:

Avance Embroidery Machines - http://avance-emb.com
ColDesi Graphics & Digitizing - http://coldesi-graphics.com
Colman and Company Wholesale Apparel - https://colmanandcompany.com/wholesale-blanks.html

Top Shopping Cart Options for Embroidery Businesses - ColDesi: https://coldesi.com/2014/04/top-shopping-cart-options-for-embroidery-businesses/

CAS Mini Cast – Marketing In Facebook Groups - Custom Apparel Startups: https://customapparelstartups.com/minicast3/

Episode 29 – Make More Money Next Month – Creating Active Word of Mouth - Custom Apparel Startups: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-29/

Networking for Custom Apparel Podcast Episode Video: https://youtu.be/2kR0ro6eyfw

Why $75,000?

Because according to the article "how much is enough" and the Princeton study they reference there, for most people $75K/year is enough to be worry free. They surveyed people at different income levels and by and large, the people that made less reported to be less happy and happiness didn't increase much at larger amounts.

Depending on almost everything of course - location, family size, etc.

And the $75K is also right in the middle of what is typically considered "middle class" in America.

These articles are talking about top line income - and we'll do that too, but we'll also talk about how much PROFIT you'll make at various sales levels.

Because I think that knowing these numbers will help you figure out your own.

So - if you buy into all this - what do you have to do in the customization business to make $75K?

First - we'll run a few scenarios for you - having to do with sale price, cost of goods sold, et.

Most of our digital t-shirt makers make $12 or MORE for every shirt they sell. Here's how the numbers work to get you to $75,000 per year!

Average profit per shirt $12.00

$75,000/$12 = 6,250 shirts

365 Days/6,250 = 17.12 shirts per day

or 2 week vacation and 5 day work week = 25 Shirts a day

Is making 25 shirts a day realistic?

Doing it alone, it's realistic to break up 2 shirts a day into this:

Production - 2 hours

Sales - 2 hours

Marketing - 2 hours

Paperwork - 2 hours

How do you get to 25 shirts a day?

Marketing:

1. Get your google / facebook / bing info set up for searches
2. Join groups / clubs
3. Up-sell customers
4. Sell through ebay / etsy (if you have good ideas)
5. Be sure you have some niche markets to sell to
6. 90% of our custom t-shirt business customers make ALL their money through word of mouth
7. Ask for referrals

Sales:

1. Get in the car with samples
2. Make phone calls
3. Talk to people / socialize
4. Ask for business
5. Be sure people know what you do
6. Wear what you do

Paperwork:

1. Build into business costs to have a CPA
2. Learn how to do it yourself (if you are good at that thing)
3. Don't let it pile up
4. Do things legally (if not sure hire someone - build that into cost of business)
5. Know your numbers!

Production:

1. Make your room work for you
2. Practice makes perfect
3. Don't give up
4. Stop chasing crazy ideas and focus on a few things you can do well
5. Up-sell more prints on a shirt or item, more money... less garments
6. Sell things that are easy to do. e.g. can coolers, mugs vs a hat with 4 locations of logos for $12

Remember to get to 75k... you have to do these simple things:

1. Leverage YOUR social network to build a business that YOU control.
2. Work hard on sales and marketing... don't just sit there
3. Get production down to a science
4. Do the paperwork right and know your numbers

Easy! There is not "best". There's only best for you.

1. Best for your plan

2. Best for your products

3. Best for your budget

Lets break this down by first determining:

1. What do you want to sell?

2. Who do you want to sell to?

3. Where do you plan to fulfill orders?

Things we aren't asking yet:

1. What is your budget?

2. Which technology have you 'heard' is best? what are others doing?

3. What do i need to invest in besides a printer? e.g. heat press, etc

Now based on the above here are the facts on printing technology

DTG (like the G4 and Epson F2100)

1. Quality of print 10/10 - colors, feel, wash, etc

2. Works on Light and Dark garments

3. Dark shirts - cotton only, Light shirts -cotton & poly (ish)

4. Full color digital prints (tons of colors)

5. Essentially Fade to nothing gradients

6. Prints WHITE

7. Space Requirements - Printer, heat press, table and pretreat

8. Production Cost - very low

White Toner Transfers

1. Quality of print 8/10 - colors, feel, wash, etc

2. Works on Light and Dark Garments

3. Works on cotton, poly & blends (almost all)

4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)

5. Does not fade to nothing (hard stops)

6. Prints White

7. Prints on tons of hard goods

8. Space Requirements - Printer, heat press, table

9. Production cost - moderate

Sublimation

1. Quality of Print - 9/10 - Colors, feel, Wash

2. Works on light colors only

3. Works on poly only

4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)

5. Fade to nothing gradients

6. Does not print white

7. Print on tons of hard goods

8. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table

9. Production cost - moderate / low

Print & Cut System - Roland VersaStudio BN20

1. Quality of Print - 7/10 - Colors, feel, Wash

2. Works on dark and light colors

3. Works on cotton, poly and blends (almost all)

4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)

5. No Fade to nothing and generally requires a border / bleed

6. Vinyl is white, so doesnt print white, but is vinyl

7. Creates stickers which can be used on hard goods

8. Great sign production

9. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table

10. Production cost - moderate

Cutters

1. Quality of Print - 7/10 - Colors, feel, Wash

2. Works on dark and light garments

3. Works on cotton, poly & blends (almost all)

4. Single colors / pallets

5. Must layer to achieve multi-colors

6. No fade outs, all hard stops

7. Vinyl had white, but a limited # of colors (100s?)

8. Can print solid color or multi-color stickers

9. Glitter!

10. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table

11. Production cost - low to moderate

So at this point in time lets chat examples

Now bringing up budget:

Since you know your plan and what technology you want, the budget can come into play.

If you have a solid business plan and reasonable credit... they are all affordable.

If you are looking to pay cash, then budget comes more into play.

Is there one tech you prefer you cannot afford?

Can your business plan use one technology to build to another?

Now that you have an education, you should learn more. Go to https://coldesi.com/

The other options is to call a ColDesi pro and get some recommendations. When in doubt consult the experts.

This podcast is inspired by a recent article post on https://coldesi.com/ called 5 Ways to Make Custom T-shirts at Home | ColDesi: https://coldesi.com/2021/01/make-custom-t-shirts-at-home/

Related Podcasts:

Episode 149: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-149/

Episode 101: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-101/

Episode 136: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-136/

Products Mentioned:

G4 DTG Printer: https://dtgprintermachine.com/dtg-g4-direct-to-garment-printer/

Epson F2100 DTG Printer: https://coldesi.com/epson-f2100-dtg-printer/

Sawgrass Sublimation Printers: https://coldesi.com/2021/04/sawgrass-printers/

DigitalHeat FX White Toner Printers: https://digitalheatfx.com/compare-digital-heatfx/

Roland VersaStudio BN-20: https://colmanandcompany.com/roland-bn-20-versastudio-print-and-cut-system.html

Graphtec Vinyl Cutter Bundles: https://colmanandcompany.com/cutnpress.html

We are on the cusp of a customization boom. Public places are re-opening at different speeds and events are being scheduled. These parks, festivals, sports, etc are all being scheduled.

What does this mean for YOUR business?

There is an opportunity for a surge in custom shirts, hats, mugs, etc. It's up to you how to evaluate that opportunity and how to benefit from it.

premarketing for specific events

How to outreach to customers so they know you are there when they are ready.

Which one are you?

What are the next steps?

What will be the next big event or series of events by you? Sports, school events, concerts, Renaissance Festivals, business openings (restaurants, paint ball, mini golf)

Do you sell something that would be for these potential customers? T-shirts, Mugs, signs, etc.

There are 3 strategies to have here.

A. The financially conservative approach

Pros - Little risk to spend money on inventory, staff or time preparing for things that may or may not happen

Cons - The biggest risk is missing out on the boom. Your competition will get this business and you will ride behind their wave

B. Investment of time, but little money

Pros - You are still financially conservative, but are more prepared. When the time comes to act, you will be more prepared than much of your competition.

Cons - You are spending time on a what if, instead of a what is. You still can lose out on the biggest boom of the business when it hits. Someone else gets that.

C. Investment of time & Money

Pros - When the peak hits you are going to be ready. You are most likely to get the maximum potential out of the surge. Could be a 'game changer' for your business growth

Cons - There is always a what if. You can take on debt and not get the expected reward. You will need to devise a plan (what will I do with these mugs?)

2021 will present new opportunities and new challenges. There are signs that a boom is coming. How long will that last? what is the opportunity in your area/niche? What risks will you take?

As a small customization business are you poised to have your greatest year ever in 2021. In this episode, we will discuss WHY this is true and HOW to make it work for you.

Trends stack the cards in your favor.

What do we expect to trend in 2021:

1. Working remotely - 42% of the US workforce is working remotely now (Stanford University Study) - Many businesses will bring employees back in in 2021, but many will not. (it saves them money, they might see more efficiency, etc etc)

2. Small shopping - it's VERY cool to shop and support small businesses (59% of consumers surveyed in Salesforce’s report would rather buy from a small business than a large corporation)

3. Largest online sales ever - online sales are surging for all the obvious reasons. Its been growing year over year for 20 years and this year creating a new shift.

4. Social Media - Love it or hate it, social media is still growing and being adopted in all age ranges from kids to boomers.

How do these trends specifically mean a customization business like yours will thrive?

Working remotely:

You CAN work remotely. Unless you have very large industrial equipment most things ColDesi sells can fit through a regular doorway and plug into a regular 110 outlet. Your staff can operate your equipment from various locations, or if you are a home-based business you might have already been working from home!

There will be a new standard for looking good on camera for companies in 2021. Fine during the spring/summer of 2020 it was fine for business people to show up to video meetings in ball caps, messy bun hair or their Sunday PJs look. However, that is shifting. More businesses want their staff to look good on camera. THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN. - Market 'uniforms' for working at home. Company logo hats, embroidered polos, logo mugs, etc. Anything that is 'on camera' is a branding tool. Even logo signs they can hang up in the background.

Small Shopping:

People are loving helping their community. Buying from small businesses, eating from local farms, drinking local beer, eating at locally owned restaurants. YOU ARE A LOCALLY OWNED SMALL BUSINESS. This is your time to advertise locally, get your google maps set, attend any local events, etc. Be sure to let everyone know when they buy a shirt from you, they are helping someone in their community.

Build new local relationships - when you eat at a local restaurant, let them know you are a local embroidery shop. When you shop at a locally owned hardware store, let them know you make custom aprons. Build these relationships. Join local business owner groups, etc.

Largest Online Sales Ever:

Online sales always grow and 2021 will be a new record. SO GET ONLINE. How? Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, Facebook, your own website, forums. Make it easy for people to buy online.

Sure up your remote selling capabilities. Get an app so people can pay invoices on their phone. Have a way for people to interact with you via text/DM. Clean up your email signature, re-check how your emails and pages look on mobile, ask for feedback.

Social Media:

Get on there in any creative way possible. Share the best work you do. Share customer testimonials. Share videos of your work. You don't need to act like an influencer, give motivational talks or make jokes. Just share what you do and what people think of you. Remember that it's not about likes, it's about when BUYERS look you up, the impression they get.

Join groups - Facebook, linked in, online forums. Be active and drop your business name or links when you can (and when allowed) - Also be an expert without the need for a sale.

Like, follow, and interact with others. If you sell car t-shirts, follow car people. Comment, like, and share their stuff. Eventually, this can lead to a relationship or sales. ("hey, interested in a t-shirt business partnership" "yea, I know you, we interact on my posts all the time")

Special Note about Maps and GMB:

2 big new changes are:

2021 is really a great opportunity for the small customization business.

We’re going to divide this podcast up into 2 sections today.

First, we’ll talk about Contact Pages themselves, which ARE important.

Then we’ll talk about Thank You Pages – often overlooked but even MORE important, we think, than ty pages.

So – what’s a contact page and why do people use them? Or more importantly – why do YOUR customers use them?

If you have an ecommerce site they probably use them:

Or – they’re trying to sell YOU something – which is why having Captcha is important.

You can use your contact form to do more than just capture information so you can call someone back. You can also:

Elements of a good thank you page:

Something more – Reviews, Personal Message, Pics of happy customers, etc

Thank you form are important!

Never use the standard TY page. Those pages are opportunities to make a further sale! also, don’t just have a simple pop up that says “form been submitted

Contact and TY pages are a huge opportunity for you to engage with the people who WANT to talk to you!

Resources:

DigitalHeat FX Contact Page Example: https://digitalheatfx.com/contact-us/

Good article on Contact Page options: https://www.ventureharbour.com/15-contact-form-examples-help-design-ultimate-contact-page/#:~:text=Contact%20Form%20Design%3A%2015%20Best%20Contact%20Page%20Examples,TopTal%209%20Pixpa%2010%20Yummygum%20More%20items...%20