Adding Digital Printing to Your Embroidery Shop

Putting together a business plan is an ideal way to determine if adding a digital direct-to-garment printer makes sense for your embroidery business. June 18, 2010
By Don Copeland, Contributing Writer

If you’re an embroiderer, adding direct-to-garment decorating technology to your shop is probably one of the simplest things you can do from an operational standpoint. In fact, it’s akin to adding a singlehead embroidery machine — to put it rather simply, you’re just adding another machine that hooks up to a computer and produces fantastic-looking decorations.

From a business standpoint, however, things aren’t quite that basic. Any time you change your business model — by focusing on new market segments, for instance, or by offering different services, as is the case when you add direct-to-garment technology — you need to develop a plan to help ensure that the change is a successful one.

The Right Perspective
It’s easy to understand why you would want to add direct-to-garment technology to your embroidery shop. It is fairly easy to use, especially since you’re already familiar with the concept of preparing designs digitally for production on a machine connected to a computer. And while this reason alone isn’t enough to add direct-to-garment printing, let’s be honest: It doesn’t hurt that the process is clean and practically odor-free, unlike screen printing.

Further, you’re adding new technology that has a minimal footprint, with many machines only taking up a 2' x 2' space. Add in a heat press and a table to hold it all, and you’re ready to roll. What’s more, direct-to-garment decorating lets you handle the types of orders that you might otherwise have had to send out to a contract screen printer, as well as orders that were not cost-effective for embroidery. It can give you independence — no more relying on third parties to handle non-embroidered jobs.

But while all of these reasons for adding direct-to-garment decoration are definitely valid, there’s something to be said about looking at the process in less-specific terms. When it comes to your business’ success, what matters isn’t so much the process, but the fact that it’s apparel decoration. Your business is about having the flexibility and versatility to handle whatever kind of apparel decoration needs a customer brings your way.

This is the same kind of open-minded, broad business thinking that has spurred the ongoing success of powerhouses like Starbucks — which branched out from coffee into offering CDs — and Wal-Mart, which extended its reach into groceries and prescriptions. Adopting this kind of one-stop-shop, if-they-want-it-we’ll-do-it perspective will go a long way in ensuring your business’ success, whether you’re adding direct-to-garment decorating or any other process or service.

The Right Decisions
Adding a new technology to your business means you may be dealing with new suppliers — or at least getting new types of equipment from your existing suppliers. In either case, choose your vendors carefully, as they are essentially your tour guides into what is, at least at first, uncharted territory for your business.

Look for time-tested suppliers who have a track record of success. In the same way that you probably wouldn’t purchase a vehicle from an automotive dealer who had just opened his doors, you’ll want to steer clear of fledgling companies lacking in experience with direct-to-garment equipment. It’s easy to be attracted to the low prices that these companies offer to lure customers, but when it comes to making an investment in your shop’s equipment — and in its future — it simply doesn’t make sense to partner with an unproven company that can’t properly support its products.

Even established companies can be unprepared to offer adequate support if the technology and equipment is new to them. Companies that may have years of experience selling supplies and/or manual equipment, like screen printing presses, may have great customer service, but may not be ready for the challenges faced with digital equipment.

You should be equally deliberate in considering the types of customers and niches you’ll pursue once you’ve added direct-to-garment technology. It’s not enough to simply add a piece of cool, sexy new equipment; you have to know precisely which customers will want products decorated by that equipment. The hottest new technology in the world is useless if the machinery is just sitting idle in the back of your production floor, not turning out orders. Whether you pursue family reunions, Little League teams, construction companies or local restaurants, the point is to determine your prospective customer base.

If you’re unsure which niche market to pursue, think in terms of people who have a common interest. From dog lovers and boat owners to video game aficionados and crazy cat ladies, people who are passionate about a particular subject or hobby generally make great niche markets — in part because their love of that special thing makes them more than happy to spend money on it. Dog lovers want T-shirts emblazoned with a snapshot of their pet pug, and boat owners want caps with a picture of their watercraft — and direct-to-garment technology can help you create those items.

Once you’ve chosen the target customers, you’ll then need to determine how you’ll reach them. Will you launch a marketing blitz that includes fliers, postcards and a new advertisement in the phone book? Will you offer samples to existing customers? Will you hang decorated samples in your shop’s showroom? Whatever steps you take, map them out as part of your marketing plan so that you know precisely how you’ll reach your desired customers.

The Right Timeline
Your business plan should include ample time to get up and running with your new direct-to-garment equipment. The machinery is simple to use, but it’s never a good idea to start selling output before you’ve got a handle on how to get the most out of the equipment. Allocate time for testing the equipment with a variety of graphics on different substrates.

It’s critically important to know which garments work best with the process, because you actually make the lion’s share of your profits on the substrate, not on the process itself — something that’s true of direct-to-garment technology, screen printing and embroidery alike.

Order a dozen red shirts in a dozen different brands from your T-shirt distributor and see which works best. (Red shirts have an especially reactive dye, making them good candidates for your testing.)

Another timing question: When should you actually purchase the equipment? In other words, when do you have enough business to warrant purchasing the machinery? You can answer that question, at least in part, by looking at the value of the business you’ve been turning away or sending to a contractor. If you’re turning away, say, $21,000 in screen printing orders that could be handled with direct-to-garment equipment, it’s not hard to justify the purchase.

That’s only part of the answer, however. Another way to determine whether it’s time to take the plunge is to look at your sales during the last few years. If they’ve stalled or decelerated, it may be a good idea to jumpstart revenue by adding a new decorating process.

You also can answer the question by looking at your equipment payment and figuring out whether you’re likely to land enough new business to cover it. For instance, if you’re looking at a lease payment of $400 monthly, can you decorate enough garments with the new equipment to generate that amount of money? If you figure a profit of around $5 per shirt, you’re looking at around 80 shirts per month, or 20 per week. For some shops, that’s a quantity that can be attained extremely quickly; in fact, some decorators have paid for their machines in a matter of months.

These back-of-the-napkin equations don’t even account for the halo effect the new equipment creates — the business that you generate on other products and services just by having direct-to-garment technology. For instance, a customer may place larger embroidery orders because of his higher satisfaction in doing business with your newly versatile shop.

Besides all of these “big-picture” considerations, you’ll also want to think about the myriad practical considerations, like where you’ll place the equipment and whether your shop has suitable humidity levels. (Humidity can affect ink flow, which, in turn, can affect image quality and machine performance.) The area also should be clean so that the equipment isn’t getting mucked up with dirt and debris. Other practical considerations include the cost of consumables and other supplies, as well as a heat press, if you don’t already own one, and the physical layout of the work area for your new equipment.

Remember, success isn’t just about purchasing the hottest new piece of equipment, even when it’s one as versatile and powerful as a direct-to-garment printer. That’s because, ultimately, it’s not the machine that matters most — it’s the business plan built around it.

Don Copeland is digital products manager for SWF East, Tampa, a company that offers the DTG line of digital direct-to-garment printers. Copeland has been in the digital graphics end of the screen-printing and sign industries for the past 18 years. In addition to selling embroidery machines and software, he is responsible for research and development of new digital decorating products, evaluating equipment and supplies, and testing of inks and substrates. For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Don at dcopeland@swfeast.com or visit swfeast.com or dtgamerica.com.



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