We spent a couple days in Orlando attending the Surf Expo
and the Imprinted Sportswear Show which were co-located in the ORL Convention
Center last week. The hundreds of surfer dudes, awesome ski boats,
skateboarders and strolling bikini models quickly convinced us that our best
beach days are past but we still gathered priceless information on what we can
target, and perhaps even more info about what will never work for us. Both are
good to have.
Over the years it has seemed like every submission we
receive suggests that their art, among other things, would be good for apparel.
Which in reality means tee shirts (and sweats and caps). Unfortunately, people,
that falls into the "easier said than done" column:
The decorated tee business is weird. It’s a big industry
but the VAST majority of it is local, both in subject and production, and often
it all gets lumped into a category commonly called “resort”, where the tee
decorations can cover not only regional locales but schools, sports, outdoors
anything, hobbies, lifestyle subjects, humor, pets, brands and more. There are
thousands of what are called “apparel decorators” ranging from one man shops up
to big factories capable of pumping out thousands of shirts. Over the last
few years large POD websites utilizing direct-to-garment printing, along with
improved technology that’s easier to learn and use have brought stiff new
competition to the game while at the same time order sizes and market times have
been dropping. Sound familiar? Most decorators (who sell wholesale) sell
their tees to boutique level stores and that basic model has not changed for
years. They print up samples, take them to shows (or use catalogs) and only
produce what is ordered. By necessity. Decorated apparel is difficult because
of the inventory challenges – there are many sizes, colors, styles and fabrics
to deal with even for a tee shirt, and it is impossible to guess what will sell
and what won’t with enough accuracy to keep you in business - so they don’t.
It’s also hard for the retailers as they need to lay in an inventory with
significant space requirements, and if it does sell well the most popular
designs/sizes sell out first so they need to reorder frequently to fill in the
gaps. And then there’s that whole trend problem…
Mass market tees are a bit different, they are almost
always brand based and often produced overseas in a large run from cheap stock
so they can be sold for ridiculously low prices. Tough business to get in or to
be in.
So, what does this mean for a potential licensor?
Basically, it is difficult (at best) to make decent money licensing onto
decorated apparel unless you have a large platform and the potential for brand
status. There are still a few decorators out there who will license individual
designs and they are very picky about what they choose. We sat with one (a
client) at the show chatting about how the biz has deteriorated over the years
– like many licenses, it now pays a few hundred dollars instead of a few
thousand. But, they do keep selling and it all adds up, so not all is lost!
I quote: “Back in the 80’s and 90’s we couldn’t do
anything wrong, but now – now we’re just trying to figure out what’s next and
keep the doors open”.
Yeah, ain't it the truth.
