The Show Floor There are so many good reasons to attend a trade-show: Learning, networking, socializing, talking shop, happy-hours, fancy dinners, parties, bars, etc. Ok, ok, let’s not forget why we are there in the first place: the show floor. Companies expend tremendous resources to exhibit at a trade-show. It’s not just the cost of…
In a post on some forum on the internet this week somebody was saying that our industry, in particular our trade shows, are not fun. Fair enough. Sometimes these things have been boring. We at the Ink Kitchen have been working the past few years to shake it up. I think we fell from lofty…
The PPAI Promotional Products Expo starts tomorrow January 16th. Well it started yesterday if you are into seminars. The product area opens Tuesday January 16th at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. I’ve been exhibiting or attending for a long time and it actually seems to have improved in that it is now…
Hanes bought Alternative Apparel as the garment industry continues to consolidate. It makes sense for Hanes to buy a straight ahead top fashion brand in the decoration world giving them a wider range of products. I find it encouraging that they actually mention social responsibility, a term not bandied about so much lately. Rachel Newman:…
Atlantic City show is coming up this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Come by the Hanes/Champion booth or the Hirsch booth and say hello. We will have a bunch of our Know-It-Alls armed with years of experience and one of those Magic 8 balls and we can thereby answer any or all or your questions about…
When I think men’s fashion I don’t really think Louis CK. And yet here he is, the subject of a GQ article about men’s fashion trends. Louis CK wore his t-shirt tucked in during his recent appearance hosting Saturday Night Live. And although GQ is calling for the return of the tucked-in tee this season, a…
I just spent some time in New Orleans at the Jazz and Heritage Festival with 460,000 other music lovers, most of them wearing t-shirts. Then I was in Nashville at the ISS show with shirt vendors and fellow garment decorators. Add in a few forays into gift shops and airport stores and I have a…
There is a very funny Vice posting supposing what fashion might be like for us all as we age into geezers and geezettes – American Apparel, Champion, etc for the future, sort of…
Some years ago we did some work for a major sporty retail brand. At one point they added to their huge book of rules that we had to put a piece of cardboard inside every box, so that they could slice open the boxes (recklessly) and not cut a shirt. I asked if instead we…
