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Plastic in our industry

Plastic in our industry

Textile screen printing is a heavily plastic-reliant industry, and not only because of materials such as plastisol ink, but also because of the containers in which the materials are delivered. This means that if we are to participate in the movement for more...

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The benefits of an e-commerce website

The benefits of an e-commerce website

I've suggested before that small businesses should not only have a website (many still don't) but that it should be an e-commerce site so that it serves both as a promoter of your shop and an extra source of revenue. But, you'd be quite right to point out that there...

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The air that you breathe in the shop

The air that you breathe in the shop

With forest fire season already underway in Canada there will likely be warnings about poor outdoor air quality throughout the summer. It's something we have to live with. But what about poor indoor air quality in your shop? It's something you don't have to live with....

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The right ink for the right job

The right ink for the right job

If you've been screen printing textiles for some time, you'll be aware that there are different plastisol inks for different applications, effects and substrates. But how up to date are you on that latest additions? Perhaps there are inks that will give you ideas for...

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Boost your shop with special effects prints

Boost your shop with special effects prints

Your business is in a competitive market saturated with textile screen shops pretty much producing the same product. And as with any commodity such as, say, bread, milk, bananas, and T-shirts, price tends to become the main influencer in buying decisions. And we all...

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Clean up the shop!

Clean up the shop!

It's true that not all textile shops are messy. And I suppose "messy" is relative and depends upon your definition of the word. But I think we all know a messy textile screen shop when we see one. I visited many textile screen shops over many years, and of those quite...

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Customers

Customers

Mahatma Gandhi apparently had something to say about customers, though I for one would never have guessed that he had any interest in business generally or customers specifically, at all. He was much better known for being an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist,...

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A garment decorator’s conundrum

A garment decorator’s conundrum

Garment decorators (screen printers and direct-to-garment printers) concerned about their impact on the environment face a conundrum in three questions. And those are: "Aside from obviously not putting chemicals and ink into the sewer system, what can I do to minimize...

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Selling garments online? Considered AR?

Selling garments online? Considered AR?

Online retailers are increasingly using Augmented Reality (AR) to help overcome the apparent boom in customer returns. According to Narvar—a company whose platform provides support in shipping, tracking, notifications and returns with algorithms to understand trends,...

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Protection from scammers

Protection from scammers

As I posted last month, March was fraud prevention month. That of course wasn't meant to imply that now that March has passed we can forget about fraud prevention. And to underscore that, Amazon put out an email warning today about fraud when buying from them in which...

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Does this sound familiar?

Does this sound familiar?

I recently found this story by Bill Hood from a few years ago in my files. Who's Bill Hood? Read the story and I'll tell you at the end. "Yesterday, I was in a very large, high-production shop and found the owner of the shop, wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and a bandana...

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An open letter to Bell.

An open letter to Bell.

Dear Bell, It's commonly assumed that small businesses can benefit by modelling themselves after big business practices. I'm not sure about the origins of this—it may stem from an assumption that bigger businesses with their greater resources, are more sophisticated...

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A limerick . . . dedicated to a magazine

A limerick . . . dedicated to a magazine

By now we all know that glitter is microplastic. And we all know that, like all other microplastics, it's finding its way into the oceans where it's causing havoc with marine life, including finding it's way into the marine life that we eat. And by that route, we're...

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How patient are you? Would $5 buy you off?

How patient are you? Would $5 buy you off?

Further to the post last Thursday, the 23rd, about the non-delivery of my parcel and the atrocious customer service every small business could learn from, there's been a development. After much searching, I found a chat line for Amazon customer service. I explained...

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Oh no . . . not this stuff again!

Oh no . . . not this stuff again!

I'm not sure how many times I've written about this or discussed it with business owners, but it keeps coming up—being accessible to your customers, especially the ones you've frustrated. And it's not just a small business problem, in fact, my experience (yet again)...

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The Imprint shows coming up later this year

The Imprint shows coming up later this year

The Imprint shows are coming up later this year in Canada and, as usual, I recommend attending shows, if not as an exhibitor, then certainly as an attendee. It's an essential part of keeping up to date on what's going on the industry. You can't keep up with the...

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March is fraud prevention month

March is fraud prevention month

As you might already know, March is fraud prevention month. If your bank is like mine, then you would likely have received at least one email about fraud awareness. And if you're like me, you'd be inclined to hit "delete" and move on. But we shouldn't do that. Online...

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Please just go away!

Please just go away!

I recently had a discussion with a small business owner about a difficult customer. The situation had arrived at a point where the customer was no longer worth the stress they were causing. In situations like this, and given that it's impossible to tease your personal...

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Under-curing . . . and age-old problem.

It's an age-old problem that can catch you unawares. It shouldn't happen in an established shop with experienced staff and good quality control, but things can change. New staff, undetected equipment failure, lapses in quality control especially under pressure and...

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Oh, no! Don’t do this . . .

Oh, no! Don’t do this . . .

If you're going to prepare promotional material for your shop be aware that your credibility will be judged by it. For instance, if you draft an email or a pamphlet advertising your products and services it had better be well designed with eye-catching graphics,...

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