Screen Printing - February/March 2018 - 4

EDITORIAL INSIGHTS

VALUE IN ARTISTRY
In our industry, quality work still matters - for now.

n our previous issue, we told the story of artist Dave Gardner, who pioneered simulated
process printing 35 years ago. The innovative, photorealistic look he achieved with his
unconventional techniques didn't explode until the early '90s, after he had partnered with
Jon Weiss at New Buffalo Shirt Factory and the pair cracked the licensed sports market.
The story mentioned that Gardner and Weiss had an unusual financial arrangement
but didn't give the specifics. They should surprise you: Gardner was paid $3000 for
each set of art and separations he produced, as well as a 50-cent royalty per piece for
jobs exceeding 6000 units. Remember, this was a quarter century ago when the dollar
was worth a little less than half of today's value and the going rate for the production
work was about $1 per piece. The royalty amounted to almost a third of the sale for
orders that took off. And in the company's heyday, a lot of orders did.
It was a business built on design as a core strategic strength, during the preInternet age when desktop publishing was still wearing training pants. The landscape
changed rapidly. Gardner remembers spending $180,000 on his first flatbed scanner
and $22,000 on his first Mac as he transitioned away from the darkroom. "Every artist
I hired was right out of college and I would spend two years developing them before I
expected to earn a return," he remembers. "Five years later, my studio was competing
with a freelance designer sitting in his basement, working on a Mac that was 10 times
more powerful than mine and cost a tenth as much."
But digital prepress was just the beginning. Fast forward another 20 years to the
emergence of the online apparel platforms that are now disrupting this industry's entire
channel of distribution. Customers with little to no design skill are encouraged to create
their own artwork using generic templates that prioritize production friendliness, not
innovation. The users aren't sufficiently discouraged from taking artwork that rightfully
belongs to others, a situation that Shop Talk columnist Andy MacDougall has admirably
chronicled over the past year.
So we shouldn't be surprised that what appears to lie on the horizon is the era of the
"McShirt," a time of little differentiation in the decorated apparel we wear. As Gardner
says, "The market decided it wanted it cheaper, not better. Good became good enough."
As depressing as these developments may be, it's important to note that there are
still great designers and craftsmen whose businesses leverage their unique skills. One
of them shares a wealth of knowledge about his superlative specialeffect printing techniques in this issue. But it will take a fundamental
rethink across the entire value chain - from the brand owners
and merchandisers down to the decorators and especially the
consumers - for design to regain the intrinsic value that made
companies like New Buffalo Shirt Factory possible.
Weiss recalls that when they entered into their partnership,
Gardner asked for a $10,000 signing bonus. Though New
Buffalo was only a $200,000 company then, Weiss agreed
without hesitation. "I went down to my local credit union and
borrowed the money. I saw the value." Do you? Perhaps the
"killer app" for your business won't be a piece of software, but
someone sitting in your art department right now.

STEVE DUCCILLI, ASDPT

SCREENPRINTING

www.screenweb.com

EDITORIAL
Steve Duccilli
Senior Vice President of Content
steve.duccilli@stmediagroup.com
Anya Rao
Associate Editor
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Adrienne Palmer
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Kelly Farrar
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Barbara Montgomery
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - February/March 2018