The Case for Adding Apparel to Your Print Services

Print service providers (PSPs) are constantly finding ways to evolve their operations and expand their services. After all, being a “one-stop-shop” seems to be all the rage right now, and if your shop wants to be considered one– consider adding apparel under your umbrella of services.

And if your shop doesn’t know where to start, don’t worry. We took the liberty of chatting with three wide-format shops that have added apparel to their operations in the last few years so that you can hear their journey into the apparel segment.

Think of Your Customers 

For Decal Impressions in Cincinnati, Ohio, President Bryan Vielhauer says customer satisfaction was the main reason for adding apparel and embroidery to his shop two and a half years ago.

“We have a lot of competition in the wide format, sheetfed print frankly garments and so forth. And instead of being unable to offer an end-to-end solution for our customers, we just felt like we had the people here to do the work. They're very passionate about keeping our customers happy, and it just seemed like a natural fit,” Vielhauer says.

Similarly, Custom Graphix Signworks, based in Phoenix, Arizona, also added apparel because it wanted to serve its existing customer base better.

Credit: Custom Graphix Signworks

“The customers that buy large-format printing, the majority of them need apparel as well. Because we're dealing with nonprofits, we're dealing with churches. We deal with schools, government agencies, festivals, and all nonprofits. And all of these also need apparel printing,” Mladen Mirkovic, owner of Custom Graphix Signworks, says.

And yes, while adding a new service can appease your existing clients–think of the potential it holds to attract new ones. Mirkovic and Vielhauer agree that since offering apparel and embroidery, their customer bases have grown– and it’s even helped their existing wide-format offerings.

“That's why it goes so well together because the customers that come in from Instagram, Facebook, or Google for apparel see what else we can do, and they say, ‘Hey, can we order some decals? Can you print the backdrop for my show that's coming up trade show?’’ Mirkovic says.

But to attract new customers or make your current clientele privy to everything you do as a shop– you have to communicate, says Chris Wallace, the owner of Durham, North Carolina-based Performance Print Services.

Whether it's via social media, foot traffic, or newsletter blasts, Wallace believes it’s vital for print shops to constantly market themselves and make their services known to anyone and everyone they can.

“I preach this all the time, and you know I preach it to myself too because you know we get caught up in this. You know we're a printing company, and we can do all kinds of things that you would think about in terms of printing. But making sure that we tell our customers everything we do is vitally important to expand what we do with any number of customers,” Wallace says.

It Doesn’t Happen Overnight 

While these shops have been happy with the results, they’ve seen from adding apparel to their shops, these results didn’t just appear in their laps. Finding the right solutions and equipment took time, effort, and research.

Veilhauer jokes that after you purchase enough wide-format equipment and go through the trials and tribulations of new machines, you become “calloused” to the growing pains of new equipment and learning how to use it. But for him, he says understanding the price structure was one of his biggest obstacles.

Credit: Decal Impressions

“It was definitely a challenge. We did a lot of research trying to select the right, the right equipment, the right software that fit within our workflow,” Vielhauer says. “Plus, when you're in wide-format, and you're used to printing on stuff that costs pennies per square foot, then you get into getting that $45.00 jacket, and when somebody says oops, you know, you lost a $45.00 jacket.”

Mirkovic admits that when Custom Graphix Signworks first began doing apparel, he didn’t research nearly enough. He saw a DTG machine at a tradeshow and fell in love without realizing there was a whole pretreatment process that he was entirely unfamiliar with. After about a year of trying to perfect DTG, Mirkovic says his shop switched to heat transfer and eventually DTF.

And to that, Mirkovic urges anyone looking to branch out into apparel to research before diving in.

“Do your research. Research, research, research. Every shop is different. Don't jump in right away to high-capacity equipment unless you have the work for it,” Mirkovic says.

And while we’re on the topic of resources and researching, tradeshows like the PRINTING United Expo are a fantastic resource if you're trying to do your research. On the expo show floor, you can see these machines run in real-time and even spend some time in the show’s “Apparel Zone.”

Don’t be Afraid to Outsource

If you have a smaller shop or are not ready to invest in new equipment, outsourcing is a great solution– and that’s been the case for Performance Print Services.

An embroidered polo that Performance Print did for a client | Credit: Performance Print Services

“We do use some local, you know, embellishers for, you know, any embroidery that we need to be done or any silkscreen work that we've done need done and also full color directed garment as well,” Wallace says.

Mirkovic also advises that if you’re a smaller shop just getting started, consider wholesaling apparel until your business drives the demand to invest in equipment.

So, Why Apparel?

Suppose you’re wondering why apparel might be an important service to add, especially if your shop is already wearing a few different hats. In that case, the answer is two-fold: Branding and having the ability to call your operation a “one-stop-shop.”

Customers are always looking for new ways to brand themselves, and the ability to print or provide apparel will open up an opportunity for you to brand yourself.

“One of your biggest advertising opportunities is your own people. If my employees are wearing a performance print services T-shirt and they leave here and on their way home, they go to the grocery store and pick up some items, or they leave here and go to a happy hour with their friends, they're wearing our sign. And so that generally will spark a conversation,” Wallace says.

As for being a one-stop shop, Mirkovic believes that the ability to customize graphics sets him apart from his competitors. He says that his customers love that they can order banners, flags, and 60-embroidered t-shirts all at once.

Vielhauer believes that if you want your business to stay relevant, you must add DTG, DTF, embroidery, etc.

“You have to be involved in so many different aspects of serving your customers and helping them. I feel like apparel is just a tremendous value, and it establishes your company as a full-service provider; it creates a different depth of relationship with your clients,” Vielhauer says.