Congratulations are in order for two Ralawise customers who played the stock market and won at the Printwear & Promotion exhibition recently.

Workwear World, a family run business and Ralawise customer, has had to make some extra space on its shop floor after winning a prize draw for 30 coloured hoodies, courtesy of hoodie manufacturer AWDis.

The most common software is Corel Draw, with most customers saying the same thing - that they buy this software based on its price. This design package is excellent and has a whole host of design features suitable for creating your vectored artwork for cutting and printing.

M&R's SureVac Vacuum-Pallet System enables textile presses to print specialised products, including transfers, poster stock, and other rigid and semi-rigid flat substrates. SureVac Pallets can be retrofit to most manual and automatic M&R carousel presses. It's a fast, easy way to maximise textile press versatility, says M&R. Its SureVac Vacuum Pallet System includes a foot pedal and valve assembly that allows the operator to turn the vacuum on and off from the load station.

Your clientele on your doorstep. "Just 5 minutes away" is a powerful marketing message, which as we'll see can be used in a wide variety of ways. It reflects one of the key advantages of the small independent business - you're very convenient. To buy from you is easy.

Under an exclusive arrangement for the imprint market, BTC activewear represents PING, the high quality range of fashionable and technically advanced golfing apparel. Together they have developed a collection specifically aimed to capitalise on the growing popularity of the sport, using luxury fabrics and a wide range of performance features.

1. What exactly is a dragon boat race?

Dragon boats are 30' long canoes ornately decorated with scales and a dragon's head and tail. There is also a drum situated at the front for the drummer to beat time. There are up to 10 paddlers plus the drummer in each boat from the company and the organisers provide the Helm. The racing distance is approx 200m and each race is timed. It will take about 70 seconds to complete a race. Each team will get three races throughout the afternoon and the fastest will qualify through to the Grand Final.

If you Google ‘organic t shirt printing', a quick scan of the results shows that only one company really fits the bill: T Shirt and Sons, the Wiltshire based certified organic printer.

What are they?

The DTG inks used in this style of machine are water based pigment type. They were specifically developed for this style of machine as the print head on the smaller machines was originally developed for dye based inks. The white ink is different from the CMYK as it is made from suspended Titanium Dioxide and is the most difficult to make.

Health and safety legislation: a generic code of practice to which all businesses must comply. And that's it - right?  Whilst it's certainly true that regardless of size, industry or status, every business must adhere to health and safety regulations or face the consequences, it pays to remember that health and safety policies must be tailored to meet the specific needs of each individual company.

6.15 a.m., and I'm woken by a loud purring - it's my faithful Persian cat, Fifi La Flange, and she's hungry. Just as well she's given me the nudge, it's Monday morning and I'm off to the Printwear & Promotion Exhibition, so better haul my silky PJ's out of bed and make a start. Staring out the window and starting to focus,  I wonder about this year's industry offering...will there be a decent turnout, what will all the old faces have to say, and will the M42 resemble Morrison's car park?