The 21st Printwear & Promotion LIVE! closed on March 2, with Exhibitions Manager, Richard Smith, reporting another record-breaking year.

With visitor numbers up 2% on last-year's show – also a record-breaker – Printwear & Promotion LIVE! is bucking the national trend with almost 4,500 attendees.

The show was held over three days at Birmingham's NEC. And for the first time, the International Promota Show co-located with P&P LIVE! on the second two days.

Octi-Tech Ltd, a leading developer of creative substrates and solutions for the sublimation transfer and digital decorating industry, has launched the Sublideck Surface Decoration System, a new range of specialty heat presses engineered to yield superior results in dimensional digital decoration.

Distributor UKL opened their doors for two days in December for their popular Trade Show event.

The event was a hit, attracting many visitors to UKL's Swindon HQ.

Communication, lest we forget, is a two-way street: I tell you and you get it, first time; you tell me and I provide just what you want. Understanding is central to this, but much marketing and sales material appears to be designed to show off the genius of the producer, rather than to create that understanding make a sale.

Whatever your taste in T shirts, one thing is indisputable. T shirts make the perfect billboard with unrivalled decoration potential. And since they were first used for advertising in the 1960s, this humble garment has come a long way. Here's our take on the latest T shirts on the block…

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I catch up with Roger McHugh at the tail end of a strong November and an incredibly successful year. He is finalising Beechfield's edgy-looking 2010 brochure as we settle down for a chat at his Bury HQ.

Beechfield was founded in 1992 and, after almost two decades, it is still turning heads, with a huge following in both the UK and Europe. Roger describes how the brand hit the ground running, with a range of 12 contemporary headwear styles and a million pieces in stock. Since then Beechfield has developed the most popular and complete collection of promotional headwear on the market.

We're on Henbury's home territory. Our meeting in an Edinburgh hotel is not a million miles from Henbury HQ – a former funeral parlour.

Henbury's portfolio more than doubled overnight when it took on the former Lea Sportswear brands last Autumn.

Fat vs fit

Since a fairly large part of printwear is associated with exercise in one shape or form, this is going to be upsetting. It is virtually religious faith that exercise contributes to weight loss. Unfortunately, there is a mass of research which shows that diet is critical to weight loss and exercise only a marginal contributor at best. In children especially, obesity makes you inactive, not the other way round.

Jill Granger, director, I.S.E.

"I predict the new Result Air Down range will be a top seller. The idea behind this range is completely innovative and a totally new concept for the company.

“The Result AirDown range quite literally takes your breath away. Simply blow into the provided mouthpiece to inflate as the temperature drops to keep body heat at an optimum level.