Blog - AssociationStores.com

11Jul 2020 by mattbaehr

What You Need to Know About Embroidery

Embroidery

When it comes to work uniforms and branded apparel, most people think of embroidery. Embroidery is when you decorate your item using a needle and thread to make your design. The final product has depth to it and doesn’t just sit on top of the shirt like screen printing. . Embroidery tends to be much more of an art than a science, which means that it takes a lot more than just a needle and thread, or even a sewing machine to do a good job. The Embroidered Design Itself When getting something embroidered, you're going to hear the term digitized logo. No, that doesn’t mean your logo as a digital JPG or PNG file. You need a digitizer to take your JPG logo and convert it into a series…

07Jul 2020 by mattbaehr

Should Our Online Store Be Open 24/7/365?

Branded Apparel

When most associations look to have on online store for their members, they assume that the store should be available all the time. If a member wants to buy a shirt, we need the store to be up and running when that desire strikes. There is a lot to be said for that thought process. You can’t make a sale if there isn’t anything there to sell. However, what if that “always there” mentality actually keeps people from purchasing? It’s very easy for someone to just put off the purchase since they know the store is always there. “Eh, I’ll do it tomorrow.” But what, as Garth Brooks once said, “If tomorrow never comes?” The Alternative Deadlines make people act. Have you ever noticed that? The IRS has famously given…

05Jun 2020 by mattbaehr

Different Types of Association Stores

Branded Apparel

As an association professional, you have to wear many hats. One of those hats might be around selling branded apparel to your members. It’s a great non-dues revenue source that also helps instill loyalty, provides brand recognition and can promote member recruitment and retention. There are several ways you can manage this process depending on your association. Traditional Method This is where you go and buy a bunch of shirts in a variety of sizes in order to maximize quantity discounts. This ensures you get the cheapest price per shirt. You put them in your webstore or have them at your conferences. Members buy them. You package and ship. Pros: Cheapest price per shirt because you bought a bunch at once, meaning solid non-dues revenue Cons: You had to lay…

04Jun 2020 by mattbaehr

What is Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV)?

Vinyl

If you’ve tried to buy a decorated shirt, you may have had someone suggest using vinyl or heat transfer vinyl (HTV) as a way to decorate. HTV is opaque, solid, and usually comes in a roll or sometimes a sheet. The vinyl is on top, with adhesive on the back, with a carrier sheet underneath. Your design is then cut using a vinyl cutter hooked up to your computer like a printer. The cutter has a small blade that penetrates the vinyl, but not the carrier sheet. Once cut, you peel away, or weed, the unneeded vinyl, leaving only the design to heat press to the shirt. Advantages No minimums – since you are running your design through the cutter, you can cut out just one design. Therefore you don’t…

02Jun 2020 by mattbaehr

What is Dye Sublimation Printing?

Dye Sublimation

Dye Sublimation printing, or dye sub for short, is the preferred decorating method when you want to embed an image in polyester. Similar to DTG, ink is being absorbed by the substrate and the image becomes part of the substrate. You are actually dying the image onto the item as the ink is absorbed by the substrate. Dye sub printers can be super large for sign jobs, or no bigger than your home printer for shirts and other smaller jobs. An image is printed onto special transfer paper using dye sub inks. Sublimation is when a solid (the ink) turns to gas without hitting the liquid phase. When you place a dye sub print on a shirt, then hit it with high heat on a heat press, the ink changes…

02Jun 2020 by mattbaehr

What is Direct to Garment Printing?

DTG

Direct-to-garment printing, or DTG as you will often see it, is a way to decorate items by applying water based inks directly to the item. You are actually dying the image onto the item as the ink is absorbed by the substrate. There are large DTG printers that are essentially your home printer (major brands are Brother and Epson) but much larger and with different inks. Advantages No minimums - one of the biggest pain points when people by custom shirts is running into minimums. This is usually because of the labor and time involved in building screens to screen print shirts. But since DTG shirts are usually printed one at a time, there are no minimums to worry about. A shirt is loaded into the printer, The design is…

01Jun 2020 by mattbaehr

Why Should You Invest in Association Branded Apparel?

Branded Apparel

If you were a small business owner, investing in corporate branded apparel would be a no brainer. It makes you a walking billboard for your small business while also inspiring confidence in your business. People generally just trust someone in a uniform, including a branded polo shirt. But you are an association, so does the same hold true? You bet it does! Let’s start with the easiest example of why you want association branded gear: staff identification. If you are at your annual meeting or other conference, you want your association staff to be easily visible to members. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is through branded shirts with consistent colors. It is very easy to say in your marketing materials and at the opening…