Welcome to the March edition of the magazine - I can't believe we're here again already! I know that for most of you the post Christmas period has disappeared in a blur of exhibitions and trade shows - and here we are with another one for you to think about! But I'm sure you'll agree after last year's successful show, it's worth the effort.

M&R has launched the Abacus Manual Numbering Press, which it claims sets a new standard for number printing performance, quality, and flexibility.

Fears that the Soil Association's consultation into airfreighted goods could have an impact on licensed organic promotional clothing have been allayed.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is leading an international campaign to clean up cotton production, supported by designers Luella Bartley, Christian Lacroix, Betty Jackson and Katharine Hamnett, who have designed exclusive prints for a collection of T-shirts produced on organic and fairly traded cotton.

New marketing manager

BTC Group has appointed Jon Birrell as Senior Marketing Manager. Birell joins the 55 strong promotional merchandise team at their 30,000 sq ft offices in Hayes, near London.

Fruit of the Loom has developed a comprehensive marketing package, based on the theme of a road trip to its new manufacturing plant in Morocco, to help customers promote its products in 2008.

Plastisol ink supplier PolyOne has appointed Liam Stubbings to the commercial team promoting Wilflex inks.

Promotional carrier bag specialist and merchandiser, Kan-do-it has created a special guide to help its suppliers and their clients know everything about paper, cotton and even plastic bags.

Eco Incentives believes a new breed of biodegradable bag could be set to carry the environmental fight in 2008.

A new brand, Promo QC, has been launched manufacturing quality clothing [QC] with strict quality control [QC], specialising in garments for the promotional and work wear industries.

MHM Direct has updated its website to include a used equipment section, which it says is already proving to be a hit with customers.

Promotional merchandise and gift company BTC Group has achieved ISO 14001 accreditation, designed to help companies achieve consistent environmental compliance and continuous improvements in environmental performance.

Visitors to the Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show, which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham on the 2nd and 3rd April, are being invited to pre-register for entry.

Seven new members joined STAG Buying Group in January, helping the group build on last year's 20% growth.

Doro Tape has expanded its portfolio with the addition of new films for the plotter cutter, as well as new printable materials for use with Solvent and Eco Solvent Printers.

House of Sarunds, the leading continental chocolate and confectionery supplier, has launched a new range of products for companies looking to reward staff and customers or create a promotion over the Easter period.

"How do you scare a group of rock hard 15-stone un-shaven printers, well known for their tastiness in the punch up department?" asks October's Paul Stephenson.

Dave White, the fastest production board windsurfer in the world, has signed a clothing sponsorship with Result clothing, specifically its Soft Shell range.

T Shirt Printers (TSP), the Leeds-based low carbon printer, has implemented a price reduction programme for both lower quantities and simpler prints.

Electro-luminescent technology is the new cardthin, captivating light source that that is revolutionising the way businesses target their customers.

This unusual product, featuring a pine-tree sapling presented in a clear tube, holds a great opportunity for bespoke labelling.

An innovative, creative and award winning range, Savina Gift Foods are ideal for an incentive, motivational or promotional campaign.

A quirky, fun and quintessentially British gift, easily branded or personalised, and guaranteed to get you noticed!

It creates impact, generates response, and maximises retention, says iKyp. With the added value of a fully integrated bottle opener (as well as the usual inserts), there is even more reason for customers to hold onto it...and the message it carries.

The year has started as predicted, and everybody's gone green! At the PSI Dusseldorf and TVP Stuttgart promotional industry trade shows in January, and across the Atlantic at ISS California, over 80% of visitors canvassed were looking for ethical or green products. ‘Awareness' in 2007 has turned to ‘Action' in 2008, and everybody wants in on it.

In January 2008, the state council of China announced it was banning free plastic bags in its latest attempt to conserve resources and ease environmental pressures. Up to 3 billion plastic bags are used each day in China. This staggering figure is symptomatic of wider problems in China, as the government struggles to raise awareness of the environmental costs of breakneck economic growth. Even in the UK we use billions of plastic bags every year, which are more often than not treated as entirely disposable items.

There are always daily problems that garment decorators come up against, but for the majority there are easy solutions.

With the world's media on constant high alert for ‘scare' stories such as last summer's claim that dangerous levels of formaldehyde were found in children's clothes from China, it is more important than ever for clothing manufacturers to have the correct safety certification in place. Shirley Technologies, a textiles testing lab based in Manchester, offers companies, including those in the printwear sector, a range of expert textile testing, certification advisory and investigation services.

The schoolwear market was a very different place in 1935 when Rowlinson began making school jumpers. And although it's had its ups and downs along the way, one thing has remained unchanged, which is that there will always be a need for school jumpers. And essentially, that's what Rowlinson still does, says MD Donald Moore.

Absolute Apparel is showing 16 pages of children's clothing in this year's catalogue. All of the garments are designed for ease of decoration and are suitable for school or leisurewear. Four brands are represented this year, including Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, Absolute Apparel and, for the first time, Stedman.

Balmoral says demand for its school-specific uniform knitwear has been increasing over the past 12 months, in spite of the debate in the media. "We are making more bespoke styles of knitwear all the time, and now bespoke polo shirt and fleeces as well," says Mike Carden.

It is crucial in today's schoolwear market to be able to adapt existing garments to suit current trends, says Beezer.

New to BTC activewear's Schoolwear collection is Gildan's 7480B Children's 65/35 Combed Ring Spun Polo. Available in eight standard school colours, the 185gsm easy care fabric is guaranteed at 60 degrees centigrade. Available in adult sizes too, this practical polo shirt has two colour-matched buttons, contoured welt collar and cuffs and is quarter turned to eliminate centre creases.

The school specific schoolwear market is an area under increasing pressure from the major retailers, who are offering cheap, unbranded uniform to parents. But what effect is this having on the printwear market, where prices are almost certainly higher? Jeremy Phillips, Sales Director at Blue Max Stag says that inevitably customers realise that quality is more important than price.

Whether it's in a school class, band or football team - all activities are twice as much fun when played in a team. Gustav Daiber GmbH offers Club 'n' School Now Collection, a product range of trendy team wear that can be combined according to taste.

With the continuing changes to the clothing market as a result of cheaper overseas manufacturing and widespread low cost distribution, school retailers, school shops and manufacturers of schoolwear have had to adapt their processes in order to succeed in a competitive marketplace, as Sharon Norris, customer services manager at Gymphlex Ltd explains:

The advantage for the printer and embroiderer using established supply clothing brands to source schoolwear as opposed to high street alternatives such as Asda is the continuity of supply, says Finden+Hales. "Supply clothing brands are able to offer the same style, fit, fabric and colourways year on year where supermarkets and the high street are subject to change due to fashion influences," it explains.

For 2008 Prestige Leisure has added further products to its already extensive range of school and children's wear.

Fruit of the Loom reports increased sales of its Children's styles into the UK school wear market during 2007, following improvements to the garments' quality and performance.

"The schoolwear market definitely changed when supermarkets entered the arena,"says David Abrahams, marketing manager at PenCarrie. "However, decorators currently have a real advantage over other outlets, in that decorators can offer schools a complete service in a way that few, if any, supermarkets can hope to do. This includes the major reassurance of continuity of garment colour from one order to the next: all the brands we carry are scrupulous about this."

Demand for good quality school bags has been less affected by the strong pricing pressures affecting other areas of schoolwear, says Iain Lamb of Quadra. "Demand is such that sales of our school bags have increased steadily over the past couple of years," he says.

Schoolwear plays such an important part of the market and Henbury has a number of products that fulfil this demand, such as the children's and adults' tipped polo shirt, which offers an alternative to the traditional solid dye polo shirt.

Regatta says its reputation for superior garments at excellent value does not stop at its adult ranges. The success of the Kidswear range is attributed to the application of its knowledge and resources acquired from over 20 years within the outdoor market, it says.

Schoolwear is a feature of many garment decorators ranges. With so many schools now preferring to source their uniform from a local supplier, there has never been a better time to review the schoolwear selection available from UKL.

Clitheroe based schoolwear specialist, Trutex, has put its blazers to the test by providing 50 badged blazers for the pintsized brain boxes on Sky One's ‘Are you Smarter Than A Ten Year Old', which is presented by Noel Edmonds.

The constant reminders needed for kids to be careful on the roads and their equally constant ignoring of them can be significantly reinforced and enhanced by kitting them out with RTY HV077 High Visibility Kids Vests.

School uniform is an item bought out of necessity and is an expense that most British parents will face. Yet many are unaware that school uniform is only VAT exempt on sizes that the Government judges would fit children under the age of 14. The Schoolwear Association believes that this state of affairs must change; consequently the new trade body for the whole school-specific uniform industry is continuing its drive to cut VAT from 17.5% to 5% on all items of school-specific uniform and sports kit, i.e. items which carry the school badge or emblem and are worn only at school.

Exhibiting at shows needs to be cost effective, but simply turning up and manning a stand is not enough to ensure a marketing and commercial success. In fact, it takes a lot of foresight, planning and marketing activities to maximise the return on your investment at exhibitions.

Can you learn selling from books? I question whether you could start from scratch, but am convinced that you can improve your selling skills by reading. Having just read a selection of books on the subject, I'm also certain that no single book has all the magic answers, but that each has valuable nuggets. These are the best I came across.

Founded in 1994 by Roger McHugh, Beechfield operates from Bury, Lancashire, selling only via authorised wholesalers, which deliver on a next-day basis, more or less anywhere in the UK.

EthicStar is offering a new and dynamic urban wear collection for 2008. The urban skateboard and music inspired fashion is now being offered to the promotional and garment decorator industry. The company is offering from stock a high-end fashion collection, which could be further decorated to add value to the garment. "It's really about providing something new to garment decorators from the traditional plain standard tees," says the company's product manager.

Urban lifestyle is an amalgamation of urban and 'street' influences such as skatewear and pop culture, which have gone from haute couture into high street fashion, and now into the supply clothing industry. With the emphasis on youth culture, comfort and practicality these styles would often not look amiss on the high street. Garments such as hoodies, vests and cargo trousers arguably were all born of this urban lifestyle title.

James & Nicholson's Workbook 2008 contains a number of urban lifestyle trends, ranging from layer look T-shirts to hooded jackets.

Just Hoods by AWDis is one of the latest offerings on the urban lifestyle clothing scene. Available from three major distributors the brand reflects the continuing popularity of hoodies, despite their associated negative publicity, with the largest colour collection available, including all of the requirements of urban grunge and cool, in a single style in the UK.

RTY Enhanced Visibility claims to have found its own niche in Urban Lifestyle Clothing simply because of its different colour offering.

David Abrahams, marketing manager at PenCarrie, sums up urban lifestyle clothing and the opportunities for garment decorators when he says: "This is clothing that lets people show their individuality and love of life and it provides a constant stream of fresh sales opportunities as a result. Popular with those who put surf, sand and sea high on the agenda, the clothing is equally sought after by ‘townies' who like the way it combines funky fashion with a relaxed sporty look and makes them stand out from the crowd."

Urban Lifestyle Clothing is very fashion based and relies heavily on the youth market, for example colleges, universities and youth clubs, says Prestige.

"We've all heard about "urban lifestyle", but what on earth does it mean and how does it affect us?" asks Skinnifit.

"Urban lifestyle clothing - garments that are worn in an urban environment that are semiotic codes for the wearer's allegiances, memories or aspirations."

Manchester-based Quayside is relatively new to the printwear and promotional industry, but is firmly making its mark thanks to several key initiatives and innovative ideas. But while it might be new to this industry, its founders, Debra Hutchings and Michael Conway, both have a strong background in clothing and contract manufacturing.

PFConcept, the leading European importer of promotional gifts and corporate clothing, is a company that recognises the importance of CSR programmes.

The International PROMOTA Show 2008 surpassed itself this year with more suppliers, exhibitors and distributors attending than in 2007.

Increased media attention to a diverse range of social, environmental and ethical problems over the past decade has helped generate an ethical revolution. More than ever before, the general public is concerned with these issues and aware that their behaviour can help relieve or prevent these problems for future generations.

It doesn't seem that long ago that the multi head machine ruled. Not that many years ago, nearly all sales of embroidery machines consisted of large bulk production machines with lots of heads and costing lots of pennies. Now there was a key reason for this, which, once you know it, makes sense of the whole thing. The fact is that, all those years ago, only multi head machines existed. Shock, horror I hear you cry. How on earth did the industry survive? Well, the fact is that the embroidery industry was a multimillion pound trade where paying for a machine wasn't the problem, it was getting one that gave most people a headache.

"It's awesome," says AJS Embroidery of its new embroidery software, "a jaw-dropping technology that no one has offered before."

Modular machines are fast becoming the standard in the embroidery industry, says Amaya UK, which believes their efficiency far outweighs that of the standard fixed machines.

ETC Embroidery Supplies has launched a several new products, including anti wet patches, a soft interlining, a heat soluble backing, and a ring mark remover.

As one of the UK's largest embroiderers, Slick Stitch currently decorates 55,000 logos per week. Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from its 28,000 sq ft facility, it claims to embroider more school, work and sportswear than any other.

As part of its ongoing investment in technology and the latest embroidery techniques, Gymphlex has extended its embroidery department to 24 heads.

Recently launched at the Cisma Exhibition in China in Oct 2007, the latest in Muliti-Head Embroidery Machine Technology has arrived.

Wilcom International, a leading developer of embroidery and decorations technology, and Corel Corporation, a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, have introduced DecoStudio, a new graphics and embroidery technology ideal for users in the apparel and promotional items industries.

Part one. With the fast paced nature of embroidery production, many people come into contact with an embroidery logo from its inception right through to the post production finished article. This can cover designers, digitisers, buyers, embroiderers and sales people. Duncan Yarnall from embroidery thread manufacturer Robison Anton gives a defnitive list of embroidery terms to act as a point of reference for new embroiderers. Part two follows next month