Printwear and Promotion 2010

Having attended the 2010 Printwear and Promotion show at Birminghams NEC today I have decided to write about it on our blogg. I have been attending this show for 10 years now and have not seen it change much at all in that time. Exhibitors range from embroidery machine manufacturers to promotional badge makers. There is a stage that has fashion shows throughout the day and an area where workshops are run. I attended one about on line marketing.

I assume that the show is aimed at business owners like myself so that we can meet suppliers, see new products, and get ideas on how to grow our business. The show has been a useful event for JKL Clothing over the last decade but I am not sure what benefit it can provide to an established business moving forward. Yes, it is good to meet up with suppliers, but our main business partners are in constant touch with us anyway and I would hope, keeping us up to date with what is happening within our industry.

All the main leisure and promotional suppliers are there, although one main player has decided to have an in house annual show and not exhibit at the Printwear and Promotion event. Talking to people at the show, both exhibitors and visitors and you did get an optimistic view of our industry. Many of the exhibitors are already reporting a positive start to 2010 and you can sense the excitement they have for the new ranges and products they are promoting. So if I gained nothing else from today it certainly left me feeling very optimistic for the year ahead. Indeed JKL Clothing have already seen a positive outlook during the first 2 months of 2010. One area that has surprised us all is the number of orders and enquiries for t-shirt printing. January and February are traditionally quiet months for printed t-shirts but at JKL Clothing we have seen twice as many enquiries as for the same period in 2009. This was one of the reasons for my visit to Printwear and Promotion, as I wanted to source other screen print industry suppliers.

Our t-shirt printing department is already looking forward to 2010 and one of the main reasons is that we are about to launch an on line design your own printed t-shirt facility. Customers will be able to log onto JKL Clothing limited navigate to the t-shirt printing department and then select a garment from our extensive range before uploading their artwork or typing in the text required for the print. They will then be able to progress through to our payment gateway and pay for their order ensuring it is put straight into production.

All things considered I was pleased to attend the Printwear and Promotion Show today and certainly came away feeling both optimistic and excited about our industry and the year ahead.