As Charles Dickens once mentioned in passing "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The financial storms of last October spared no one and left us all reeling as we were assailed on all fronts by failing banks, plunging stock markets, dearer lending and precarious pension funds. The inevitable effect has of course been a massive dent in consumer confidence and a significant downturn in retail sales in most sectors including clothing. 

e-commerce up 15%

The good news, however, is that e-commerce continues to show signs of impressive growth (up another 15% this year) and the garment decoration sector has demonstrated that it is, to all intents and purposes, pretty much recession proof, largely due to its customer base and the nature of the markets it serves.

Our American cousins are typically always the front runners in adopting new technologies, and this could not be more true of internet usage and digital printing technologies. Since the UK tends to follow fairly closely behind the US in terms of technology adoption, whatever is happening in the US is typically a fairly accurate bellwether of things to come this side of the Atlantic.

At the end of the first quarter of 2008, Impressions, the US trade magazine, began conducting a survey of the decorated apparel market in the US and its findings make for very interesting reading. Despite the sense of impending doom that hung over the US economy at the start of the year, apparel decorators and promotional consultants responding to the 2008 Impressions Decorated Apparel Universe Study were largely upbeat and focused on the strategies required to sustain and grow their companies.

Almost 31% of respondents indicated they planned to make major purchases of decorated apparel equipment and software in 2008, and another 11% reported that they had already made purchases.  Whilst purchases of all types of equipment were up around 100 % on 2005, there was a dramatic seven-fold increase in digital printing equipment purchases, with a total of 27% of respondents indicating they planned to invest in the latest technology, compared with only 4% three years previously.  Only 32% said they had no plans to buy.  With graphics software leading the pack in terms of software purchases, this is clear evidence of the growing trend towards small print runs of custom decorated garments.

Small fast turnaround custom print runs are of course the area in which lower cost near and offshore suppliers simply can't compete, and are a logical growth market to focus on right here on the customer's doorstep. They do of course have their own challenges, most notably the fact that a large proportion of the orders will involve a single article in a specific size, colour and design. From a printing technology perspective, the new generation of direct-to-garment digital printers have resolved these challenges, but the whole process still involves a huge amount of communication and potential pitfalls in getting the order placed, paid for, printed and shipped.  Which is where RSK Tech comes in.

e-commerce - a winning strategy

RSK Tech has developed RSK NetShirt, a hosted application which is a combined online garment design and e-commerce solution that can handle all forms of apparel decoration including screen printing, embroidery, heat transfer, sublimation and especially direct-to-garment digital printing.

It is, first and foremost, an exciting business solution, which can help your company increase sales and turnover, reduce costs and boost profitability. RSK NetShirt empowers your customers to select a garment, choose a logo or upload their own designs, add and modify text with formatting effects.

The quick return on investment can mean that RSK NetShirt can have fully recovered all cost outlays and be making a positive net contribution to your business within a matter of months. 

Tel  0800 043 8518

sales@rsktech.com

www.rsktech.com

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