Blog posts of '2017' 'June'

I cannot believe it but there are companies out there that will, for a fee, sabotage the search engine ranking of your competitors website. They achieve this through various methods. This is an email sent totally unsolicited to 100 prospective clients by a company specialising in recovering Google rankings for those affected:

The worrying results were that 61 out of 100 companies replied, an extremely high reply rate for such a spam like email. Of those only 2 rejected the offer outright with some choice words, well deserved, 11 politely declined the offer, 19 wanted some more information and horrifyingly 29 accepted the offer immediately and asked for payment details.

Just goes to show how on the ball you have to be in thsi day and age.

As we alluded to in our very first blog it was the constant inexorable march of technology that took us from general jobbing printers to a company that prides itself on being a total one stop shop for your printing and promotional needs.

The words "digital this" or "digital that" could well be amongst the most overused phrases of our current era but nevertheless they are here to stay. For many years silk screen and embroidery were the choices for branding clothes, then we developed die cut vinyl, heat transfer and dye sublimation. Now there's a new kid on the block in the form of Direct to Garment, a digital process making short run, high quality, full colour decoration an economically viable proposition.

Large format digital printing has been around for some time now in the exhibition graphics world making visually stunning exhibition stands easily achievable and at the right price.

Now the latest area to feel the digital printing presence is the promotional products industry. Pens that normally had to be pad or screen printed can now be digitally printed in full colour on the entire circumference of the pen. To quote one of the major pen manufacturers "as with other sectors of the promotional products industry, the arrival of digital printing has been a game changer in the world of pens."

Things that would have been impossible or incredibly expensive only a couple of years ago might now be perfectly viable. Technology keeps rolling on, the most difficult thing to do is keep up with it!

It's that time of year when a comfy, stylish and warm sweatshirt / fleece is becoming a must. We've had a look on the high street to see what's in at the moment and match those garments to ones you can decorate with your own brand.

New Look as always has a very stylish graffiti embroidered, grey sweater that will fly off the shelves. Over-sized with ribbed cuffs and hems. To match this the Mantis Women's Long Length Sweater has a relaxed fit and an elliptical hem to give a longer back. Good value and suitable for various methods of branding.

Topshop also has a keen eye for the latest look. Their super soft hoodie decorated from Lady Garden is a great example. The DNM Universe from the B&C Collection will appeal greatly to the same market.

As we get further into winter the Superdry Heavy Winter Zip hoodie is a must have if you like snuggling up in your clothes. A super equivalent is the Fur Lined Chunky Zoodie from Just Hoods by AWDis. These have brass zips, double fabric hood with charcoal grey fur fabric, chunky, white, flat drawcords and a kangaroo pouch pocket.

These are just a few examples but the message is if you see some clothing you like in the shops and think your brand would look good on them just ask to see how close we can get.

As this is our first blog it seems fitting to explain how we got here. We started out as a typical jobbing litho printer many many years ago. As technology continued to affect the printing industry at an ever increasing pace it became clear we needed to change into much more of a "print management" company to be able to provide a complete and competitive service to our diverse customer base. 

Many printing companies also become stationery suppliers but our customers requirements pushed us into the promotional products and clothing direction instead. We very soon became expert in the various garment decoration techniques and what kinds of printing you can do on a pen or a mug. Part of educating ourselves was to go to trade shows for the garment and promotional product industries. 

The most recent one was just a few weeks ago back in September. It is at these sort of shows that the difference between selling printing and selling promotional products is highlighted to the extreme. We can't really approach our customers and tell them "we've got a great idea for a letterhead or a compliment slip" but we can get inspiration when we see a quality piece of engraved glass and know that it's exactly what one of our clients is looking for to promote their luxury guest house. 

It seems that we are destined to expand both sides of our business in equal measure in the future.