Get the Most Bling for Your Buck with Rhinestones

Margins on this popular decoration will vary with the application method.
June 1, 2008

The Tajicam from Tajima USA Sales & Support by Hirsch, Hauppauge, N.Y., is an automated hybrid rhinestone applicator. The machine can apply two colors and two sizes of rhinestones in the same design, with an optional four-color/size capability.

By Will Curtis

Rhinestones represent a great profit opportunity for today's apparel decorating shop. If you are currently decorating apparel using embroidery, screen printing or heat transfers, adding some bling should be a no brainer. Simply affixing some of those shiny beads instantly adds value to everything from jeans and T-shirts to hats and handbags.

There are many application technologies available, and picking the right one for your shop depends on the volume of rhinestone decoration you intend to generate.

New rhinestone application technologies have made the production process simple and, depending upon scale, cost- effective. This has paved the way for sometimes-surprising profit margins. An everyday pair of jeans that retails for $40 could sell for as much as $120 as a personalized piece of hot, rhinestone-studded couture.

That's good business! Of course, not every decorator is in the retail channel where those types of markups can be found. However, no matter what your customer base, an end user will have a higher perceived value for rhinestone- decorated apparel, and will pay a premium for those products.

APPLICATION CHOICES
If you've made the decision to offer customers rhinestone decoration, you now have to gear up for the application. You have a number of choices: application by hand in your shop, ordering rhinestone transfers from a third party or purchasing an automated machine or system for high-efficiency, in-house application.

I can't recommend putting rhinestones in place one at a time by hand. This is just not a practical business solution for a custom apparel decorator doing even modest volume. It's tedious, slow and sometimes messy. Further, the results can be disappointing, as they are only as precise as the applicator's hands.

Outsourcing rhinestone transfers is your second choice. Most rhinestone transfer wholesalers offer thousands of standard designs. Ordering custom transfers to add individual names to an order of hoodies for a cheer squad, for example, will cost more. You just have to decide how much rhinestone-derived margin you will eat up by ordering custom transfers.

Ordering custom transfers is fairly simple for anyone accustomed to creating artwork for screen printing. Essentially, you e-mail a design or designs in EPS or line art format to the wholesaler or another decorator shop with in-house automated rhinestone application. Turnaround times will vary, of course, and can be as long as two weeks. Once the transfers arrive, you apply with a heat press and package the finished job for your customer.

The third option is to invest in an automatic rhinestone machine. You could spend anywhere from about $6,000 to $60,000-plus, depending upon the technology used and the production speed of the machine.

Meanwhile, cost for materials is negligible. Hot fix rhinestones come in a dazzling array of shapes, sizes and colors. You could spend as little as 50 cents for rhinestones to do a small design, or as much as $20 for a large, complex design, especially if you use the highest quality Swarovski brand crystals.

Keeping your designs in-house requires selecting the right technology. The primary choices right now on the market include hand applicators, semi-automated techniques and fully computerized machines that produce transfers to apply rhinestones directly to fabric. Let's examine the most important points of each.

HAND APPLICATORS
Decades of publicity surrounding the Bedazzler have been nothing less than spectacular. The Bedazzler has become a pop culture icon based on years of late-night cable TV advertising and has even been featured on NBC's reality show, "The Apprentice."

More than any other device, the Bedazzler has helped promote rhinestone personalization as a desirable look. And like a field of similar rhinestone hand applicators, it could be just what your apparel business needs. It's inexpensive and easy to use. Choose from hundreds of pre-printed patterns or make your own. Then it's just like the commercial says —just place, push and pop each rhinestone into place.

The downside to hand applicators are exposed when creating a large or complex rhinestone design. Much like placing them by hand, it's just not easy to achieve a consistent look. It often lacks the crisp, clean, professional look that customers want.

Production speed is the other drawback. If demand for rhinestone- decorated apparel picks up, you might find yourself placing, pushing and popping all night long. These machines were designed for craft applications, not a high-production environment.

On the other hand, a hand applicator could be ideal for a shop just getting started or only producing a few designs per week. Cost can be less than $100 for the least expensive models and up to about $600 for electric models that use ultra-sonic technology to melt the glue on the back of the individual rhinestones.

COMPUTERIZED MOTIFS
The most advanced rhinestone machines on the market are fully automatic and, depending upon brand and model, can run unattended or require an operator. These computer-driven machines give you total control of the process and can deliver outstanding results at commercial production speeds.

One example of a computerized motif machine is the CAMS Hotfix, distributed by SWF/MESA Distributors Inc., Fort Worth, Texas. The machine automates the entire process and includes proprietary computer design software. Once the design is created, the machine picks the appropriate rhinestones and places them in position with tremendous speed and accuracy. It is rated at placing up to 70 rhinestones per minute.

All you have to do is press a transfer sheet over the finished design, then heat press the stones onto your garment.

Not surprisingly, this state-of-the-art rhinestone technology is expensive. Computerized motif machines — which are available from Austrian, Korean and Chinese factories — cost $30,000 to $60,000, depending upon brand, features and software. Sometimes, you also have to purchase a separate air compressor.

If your demand is extremely high, or mass production is your game, a computerized motif machine could be the ticket. Nothing on the market will crank out rhinestone designs faster.

HYBRID SOLUTIONS
There are some desktop machines on the market that bridge the gap between hand application and computer-aided production.

One such system is the Roland EGX-350 desktop engraver bundled with EngraveStudio software. It creates accurate rhinestone designs at production speeds that fall in between hand applicators and computerized motif machines. You can expect to crank out a few pieces of personalized apparel every hour. (Editor's Note: Full disclosure, the author does promotion for Roland Corp. products in the decorated apparel industry.)

The workflow is straightforward. Import your artwork into the proprietary software, which automatically creates a rhinestone template design. Based on that, the EGX-350 engraves holes into plastic, creating an actual template. An operator puts the template into a shallow pan and sprinkles hot-fix rhinestones over the holes. Using a simple back-and-forth movement aided by a small brush, rhinestones will automatically fall into perfect position.

At this point, you press a transfer sheet over the finished design and heat press the hot-fix rhinestones onto your garment. Just close the lid and open it back up.

Sold as the R-Wear solution, it is priced at about $7,000. R-Wear offers precision hands-free application with digitally accurate rhinestone placement. The moderate production speeds might make this a good choice for shops with demand for short-run custom pieces.

Customer demand is the most important factor when selecting the right rhinestone solution for your shop. If you take hundreds of orders for custom rhinestone apparel each month, a computerized motif machine will pay for itself quickly and keep your customers coming back for more. Any machine that can do that is a winner!

Will Curtis is a writer and printing industry consultant who lives in Fort Collins, Colo. For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Will at will@ wholeproduct.com.

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