Impressions - March 2013 - (Page 30)

Impressions talks to players in the resort wear market to ﬁnd out about the state of the industry and how to break in to the business By Michelle M. Havich r esortwear doesn’t just mean a bikini at the beach or a parka for swooshing down the slopes. It also is that souvenir T-shirt with the logo of a favorite vacation restaurant, or the Mickey Mouse hoodie a grandfather buys for his granddaughter as a memento of their Disney vacation. With winter winding down, it may be time to think about spreading your apparel offerings to include resortwear. It’s important, as with breaking into any market, to do your homework to see if it will be a proﬁtable move for your screen printing or embroidery business. To ﬁnd out about the state of the resortwear market, along with tips on how you can break in or stay strong, we spoke with Seth Bussert, owner, Screen Graphix Inc., Comstock Park, Mich.; Erich Campell, embroidery digitizer/designer and e-commerce manager, Black Duck Inc., Albuquerque, N.M.; Chad Joyner, art director, Outhouse Designs, Austin, Texas; and Sharad Mehta, president, Screenworks USA Inc., Orlando, Fla. an outlet to be more creative, we started designing our own graphic T-shirts and offering them up to various bricks-andmortar stores around the area, as well as the lakeshore. There is an abundance of various outdoor, summer activities in Michigan, including mountain biking/trail riding, hiking, sand dune motorsports, ﬁshing, rafting, horseback riding, etc. And we can’t forget golf, as well as all of the typical watersports people do around the country. Winter activities and resorts are a very small part of what we do, the work slows down tremendously and most stores hibernate throughout the winter. Indoor water parks always are looking for fresh new designs and they are open year-round, which helps with keeping the company busy during the cold season. Mehta: Unlike other sellers to wider resort markets, we primarily have been selling to theme parks and attractions for about 12 years. We happen to be located in Orlando, Fla., where more than 50 million tourists visit theme parks. Joyner: More than anything else, we’ve noticed simple designs on ﬂashy, bright neon colors are extremely popular right now — and not just at the tropical-resort level. Neons seem to be doing well everywhere. IMP: How did your company enter the resort market, and who are your target customers? Bussert: Just a couple of years ago, as Joyner: Back in 1985, owner Scott Jackson ﬁrst entered the resort market by visiting beach vacation destinations and selling custom graphic tees out of the trunk Campbell: Though design styles ﬂuctuate over time, resortwear seems to favor a certain retro/nostalgic feeling. I have to think that it is borne somewhat of the idea 30 Impressions | March 2013 of his car. Today, we sell to a wide variety of resort markets, primarily in Texas, New Orleans, and various beach destinations. Campbell: Our company really entered the resort market by being contracted as decorators by resortwear distributors. As such, most of our business in resortwear is directly contracted. That said, we have, at times, sold our own resortwear into the local tourist market in New Mexico. IMP: What are some new design trends in resortwear? Mehta: We see neon colors as strong and continue to see burnouts and slubs in blanks. Sublimation also is strong for us and we continue to offer various ink treatments, including ﬂock and foil — at times, together in the same design. impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - March 2013

Impressions - March 2013
Table of Contents
First Impressions
From the Show Director
FYI
Product Gallery
ISS Conferences
Fun Fashions for Her
Permanent Vacation
Should You Start A Preprint Line? Part 1
The 5 Worst Growing Pains for Apparel Decorators
Shop Spotlight
Embroidery Design & Digitizing
Embroidery Production
Screen Printing Graphics & Design
Online Directory
Screen Printing Production
Tech Tips Screen Printing
Digital Decorating
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - March 2013