Increase Profits with Team or Sport Uniform Orders

September 3, 2010 · Leave a Comment

By Paul Sabatini

In a previous blog I noted the team sports that are on the rise. I thought I would share some suggestions on how to increase your profits with Soccer and Ice Hockey uniform sales.

First of all it is not just uniforms; you also have accessories, fan wear, and non apparel items.

When you are organizing an order for the local soccer or hockey team, be it high school, recreation, or travel; just don’t stop at the jerseys. With our CAD-PRINTZ digital transfer line of products there is no end to what you can decorate or provide.

Some great add on sales (profits) for these types of sports are team stickers for water bottles and water bottle carriers or helmets decals. You can also provide outdoor/indoor fan recognition with bumper stickers, window decals and banners. Wall graphics are also great for home or school recognition.

You can also make the coach or manager of the team a shirt for putting in their order with you. I would suggest doing something on the left chest. Once they have the garment and wear it to the field or rink; parents and players will ask them where they got it. CAD-PRINTZ Digital Transfers are great for this. You can order just one and you have an unlimited amount of colors that only need one application. What I mean is, if your design has 1 or 50 colors in it, you only have one piece of media to apply. You can even upload your artwork right to us and you’re ready to get started!

All of the mentioned above are great add on sales or opportunities for you to expand your offerings.

Helpful selling tip: When you complete a uniform order for your customer include a small sample on a water bottle or throw in a sticker or window decal of their teams name or logo. Let them know that you can offer this for them and they will come back to order.

Decorate more than Team Uniforms

A…B…C, It’s Easy as 1…2…3!

September 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The basics of Pre-Cut Lettering and Numbering.

By Peggy Elliott

Stahls' Kick Press

Stahls’ ID Direct™, known for years as Stahls’ Lettering, invented die cut lettering back in 1932, the same year the company was established. The original kick press (shown on the left) was the first die cutting press used in the company. You can imagine the manual labor involved in operating this press. Today, many cutting methods are used to create letters and numbers and therefore, are now called Pre-Cut Letters and Numbers. Using pre-cut letters and numbers is one of the oldest methods of heat printing in the industry. Today, it’s still the quickest, most inexpensive way to letter and number apparel using your heat press. With an average name consisting 7 letters at a price of 5.5 cents per letter, that’s about 40 cents to put a name on a shirt! Save even more by purchasing letters and numbers by the kit. At that price, just think of the profit potential.

Advantages, Tips & Tricks:

Choose any size…from 5/8” to 12”.
Keep kits of letters and numbers in stock in popular school colors so you can offer customized garments on demand. Instant sales!
Be unique and combine materials, try 3M Scotchlite™ Reflective on Thermo-FILM® OR Thermo-FLOCK® on Thermo-FILM®.
Need to number 1-20 consecutively, order a team pack.
Use letters and numbers to personalize pre-printed apparel, add birthdates, favorite numbers, year, nicknames, or initials.
Always display a sample garment or two of what you can offer your customers.
Double up, create a two-color names and numbers and double your sale!
Go beyond the t-shirt craze…decorate other items such as beach towels and visors. Photo shown with Thermo-FLOCK® lettering.

Fun facts:

The first die cut item produced on the kick press was the famous winged horse for Mobil Oil Corporation.
The most popular styles have been and continue to be Pro Block and Varsity.
Since its’ invention in 1977, Thermo-FILM® is still the #1 heat transfer material in the World for Team Uniforms. It applies in a mere 6 seconds and is superior at blocking dye migration on polyester jerseys.
2” & 3” are the most popular sizes for putting names on the backs of jerseys.
Letters and numbers from Stahls’ ID Direct™ have been seen on team uniforms on thousands of fields and courts and in arenas across the World, including many major league and Olympic teams.
Over the years, customers have asked for all kinds of sizes and additional styles, so we expanded our offering with custom letters and numbers.

Thermo-FLOCK example

Customized Hooded Sweatshirt with 2 Color Heat Transfer CAD-CUT® Flock

August 31, 2010 · 7 Comments

Capitalize on Fall/Winter Business by showing heat transfer flock applications with your heat press.

Last week’s Tip Jar Tutorial taught you all about the offset setting on your vinyl cutter and when you need to change it. We mentioned specifically that you would need to adjust the offset when changing out blades to higher degree angles. The reason to switch to a higher degree blade is to cut the material that headlines this edition of Tip Jar – CAD-CUT® Flock.

So get your 60 degree blades out, adjust your offset to .40 if you have a Roland GX-24 cutter and let’s get crazy with a two color heat applied flock application. If you don’t have a GX-24, no worries – almost any type of cutter can cut this material.

This tutorial is jam packed with tips from none other than our newest CADCUTdirect.com team member, Ed Kent. Ed brings a unique style to our team and has designed this garment from start to finish. He reached into deep into his arsenal and brought out not one, but two teflon pillows to help with the application. You’ll see him do a two color sleeve print and also use the pillow to make the front of the hooded sweatshirt easier to heat press.

Ed also has pulled a Tip Jar first, you’ll see it at the end of the video along with his million dollar smile:)

Before we start the video here are some fast facts about our new CAD-CUT® Flock: