Victory Design are opening the doors once again to welcome visitors to an open day on Wednesday 27th Sept and Thursday 28th Sept 06.

Are you often in need of a system that allows you to give a customer a price for an order in a matter of moments? If that is that case, Victory Design may have the answer to your demand with the easiQUOTE matrix. Dan Raywood learnt more about it.

Paul Stephenson takes a walk on the wild side of garment decorating and will be providing his alternative views on garment decorating in every issue.

Sara McDonnell looks at what’s new on the market.

RSK Tech founder Anders Rask looks at why e-business is now finally taking off and how it can be done properly.

As the colder months approach, the attention of the promotional industry focus towards jackets and new styles have been introduced by Regatta. The company told P&P about its new styles for 2006.

Ask any kid what they want to be when they grow up and they'll obviously reply a garment printer or embroiderer. Sure, there are one or two eccentric little Herbert’s out there who have their mind set on fire fighting and space travel, and I must confess that for a time I wanted to be a Wizard; limitless power, a large wand and you get to wear a dress and no questions asked. But in the main, the lure of ink and thread is just too great, isn't it?

Madeira says that following high demands for its Burmilana wool blend embroidery thread it has enlarged the range of colours. The company says that the high percentage of wool gives Burmilana volume and texture which does not ‘pill’ like other similar threads. Madeira is now supplying the Burmilana shade card 67 2006, with 82 new colours - 41 single colours, seven mélange, 20 mouliné and 14 multicolours.

Consumables often fall into the “Oh OK” category. They are the products that all embroiderers need but generally acknowledge that they need them with a casual “Oh OK.” P&P spoke with Tony Whitmore of Your Embroidery Services to find out more.

How often do you head out to play 18 on a sunny day, only to be caught in a rainy squall or a downpour?

Glenmuir understands how continually taking off and putting on raingear wastes time, causes inconvenience and is just a hassle.

Finden & Hales has introduced seven new products for 2006 with two outerwear styles.

When deciding what to kit staff out in during the colder months of the year, it is essential to consider outerwear options.

When the weather is bad, it is important to keep staff as warm and comfortable. A sensible option for keeping workers snug is to provide them with a soft fleece jacket, which is definitely appropriate attire for outdoor work.

Twelve months ago, Blue Max launched the second generation of its highly successful Mistral Jacket.

Blue Max had yet again listened to its customers, and re-designed the jacket to be fully reversible. This was managed without change to the overall look of the garment, so that in a school environment (one of the most popular applications for this garment), the children that wore the original design would not look out of place with the newer design.

There have been some fantastic mid season additions to the jacket collections held by UK Leisurewear this year.

Regatta has added several new products including a new technical jacket - the Titan TRW440. It is manufactured in a water and windproof breathable Isolite 5000 micro rip stop fabric with reflective piping. The jacket is also ‘interactive’, allowing the new Diffuse Microfleece to be zipped inside to create a lightweight 3-in-1 with a high warmth to weight ratio.

The Jerzees Colours range of jackets guarantees maximum warmth and comfort, effortlessly combining the practical requirements of outerwear with the most stylish looks.

New Wave Sportswear is proud to introduce its biggest range of jackets and outerwear to date.

Fruit of the Loom's two shower-resistant nylon jackets are light in weight, and big on value.

The Windbreaker and College Jacket provide reliable protection against the elements, yet are affordable for large volume promotions. Both jackets have a 100% nylon 210T (74 gm/m2) shower-resistant shell, which is augmented by elasticated cuffs and a concealed hood.

PenCarrie’s enthusiasm for the superb range jackets now available to garment decorators is clear.

PenCarrie’s Marketing Manager David Abrahams said, ‘More and more of the ‘top end’ jackets that you see in the high street stores are now available in this industry. Their technical specifications and excellent design make them really compelling and the profit generated by the sale of one high value jacket can replace many T-shirt sales.’

Autumn will soon be upon us and with winter just around the corner, we enter a period when demand for jackets and outerwear grows substantially.

This provides garment decorators with a great opportunity to expand their business into the outdoor, corporate workwear and promotional sectors. To cater for this important seasonal demand BTC activewear has considerably expanded its brochure range of jackets.

If you’re looking for something modern and practical, that reflects what people want to wear and that will give your customer that extra layer of warmth when it gets chilly, then it’s worth looking at Skinnifit and Skinnifitmen.

The hoodie has now become a staple part of many people’s wardrobes and for good reason. The Skinnifit and Skinnifitmen hoodie (style refs SK050 and SfM050) feature deep kangaroo pockets, a hood and wide ribbed cuffs and hem. Moreover, the fabric has been lightly brushed inside to give added warmth without extra weight or bulk.

One of the most talked about additions to the imprint market is the embroiderable GORE-TEX® jacket from Premier.

An outerwear garment that is guaranteed to keep you 100% dry even in the toughest conditions, teamed with the new Polartec® WIND PRO® fleece this is performance outerwear at its best.

The key to any outerwear product is functionability and reliability, whether it is in extreme weather conditions or for a lighter weather outerwear product you need to ensure that the correct level of protective clothing has been chosen to fulfil all these requirements.

When it gets colder, multifunctional and resistant garments are needed for outdoor activities.

James & Nicholson offers a wide range of variable sportive jackets that are ideal for facing the foul weather in and all the jackets feature access for embroidery.

In keeping with the brands ideal of providing stylish, contemporary clothing to the promotional industry, the collection of Kariban jackets for 2006 include styles for both men and women, suitable for mild early autumn days through to the harsher winter months.

Bulky, restrictive winter jackets are now firmly a thing of the past.

Thanks to improved designs and materials, jackets now offer maximum comfort and style and with brands pushing to make advancements in protective fabrics all the time, jackets also now provide better protection against severe weather than ever before.

For ladies and men this winter, Saf has introduced the hooded zip up jacket.

The hooded jackets, made from 100% organic cotton, are initially available in navy with more colours to be added in the coming months. The jackets, which are modern, stylish and fitted, come in a range of sizes from S-XL in the men’s, and 8, 10 and 12 in the ladies.

The versatile range of Grizzly jackets from Kustom Kit uses superior 300gsm anti-pill Antarctec fleece, to give the ultimate in warmth, hardwearing performance and terrific value for money.

Continental Clothing Company has developed a new website which presents its range online. Presented in flash movie format, the site is located at www.teesandsweats.com and presents the whole blank range. The viewer simply chooses the part of the range they wish to view, and then selects a garment from the range. The next page gives details on the fabric, size options and a scroll over the colour choices changes the picture to correspond. The enhanced presentation makes it easy for customers to visualise the garments in every available colour and get a real feel of the stylish Continental range.

Gildan Activewear has purchased 100% of the equity of Kentucky Derby Hosiery Co., Inc., a U.S. hosiery manufacturer based in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Fruit of the Loom has launched the new-look Creative Challenge 2006, which is now even easier to enter. The competition is open to all bona fide European garment decoration businesses, with the eventual winner once again receiving a fantastic first prize worth €10,000. Entries must be received by the competition closing date of October 31, 2006. For a copy of the full rules and regulations, and for online registration, visit the company’s website.

Introduced over two years ago, Beezer has seen sales of its ‘Hampshire Polo’ significant increase over the last six months. Although Beezer cannot attribute this trend to any particular event, it has noticed a marked increase in the ‘Design-and-Make’ service that the company offers to the garment.

Organic cotton clothing company Saf has celebrated its first year of trading. The company, which was launched in June 2005, has seen impressive growth in the interest and demand for environmentally friendly, organic and fair trade garments from the promotional and screen printing market.

BTC activewear has produced a new, A5 sized mini-brochure for the promotional accessories market. The mini-brochure features fantastic value, promotional, business and sports bags from Shugon Bags, along with a selection of baseball caps and knitted hats from leading headwear brand, Sharon Lee. Ping Collection and Yoko International provide sporting and hi-vis headwear alternatives.

The ASBCI has joined forces with the UK’s leading on-line corporate clothing, workwear, PPE and textiles title, Director-e, to organise a sector specific conference for the career and workwear industry. The conference, entitled ‘Clothing the Workplace,’ will be held at Mottram Hall, Mottram St. Andrew in Cheshire on Tuesday 24th October 2006 from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Representing the final in a series of seven handy A5 sized marketing mailers for 2006; BTC activewear has launched its new Corporate Outdoor Clothing mini-brochure. Packed with a selection of over eighty top quality outerwear garments, leading international brands such as Dickies, Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, Jerzees Knox Armory, Regatta, Stormtech, Ultimate Clothing Collection (UCC) and Yoko International are all featured.

Insta Graphic Systems have been nominated as an authorised heat press supplier for Xeikon's new textile transfer system. The Xeikon textile transfer system produces unique, high-resolution textile transfers suitable for both short and long run applications. The Insta machine has proven reliability, quality parts and construction and a cast-in tubular heating element, the most reliable even-heating source available.

To complement its screen printing facility, TOT Shirts has established a practical and efficient embroidery service. With suppliers often outsourcing specialist and finishing services resulting in delays to the customer, TOT deemed it important to be able to offer all services from one place.

Ralawise recently teamed up with Hanes to bring their customers a promotion that was worth making a ‘racquet’ about. The ‘Game, Set and Match’ promotion ran for three weeks during June, and gave customers the opportunity to win two tickets for the Men’s Final at this year’s Wimbledon Tournament.

Garment printer Dread is the second UK decorator to invest in the Kornit direct to garment digital textile printer. The Milton Keynes based company initially saw the Kornit machine being demonstrated at the PSI show in Germany in January, and then again at the Promota show in February where they had sample prints produced. The company then placed an order for a complete print line including the Kornit 931D printer, Onyx RIP software and Adelco Jet Force gas fired dryer.