Trends in the Apparel Industry And How Technology is Shaping The Future Of The Apparel Industry

0
51

With the way technology continues to evolve, those looking for consistency in branding and marking in the apparel industry should invest in a company store.

Technology continues to affect every industry, and its impact is growing steadily. This scenario is certainly accurate when one considers the apparel industry and more specifically the embroidery/imprint industry.

For some, embroidery may conjure up images of a person hunched over a piece of cloth delicately and carefully sewing in stitch by stitch. Although some individuals still indeed do this, it’s more of a hobby activity.

Businesses first went into machine embroidery followed by computerized embroidery/ Today, computerized embroidery is becoming faster and more accurate.

For printers/embroiders, technology is impacting the back end of their business just as much as the front end.

Customized Embroidery History

customized-embroidery-history


As far back as the 1980’s, computers were part of the embroidery process. Today, the majority of embroidery machines are computer controlled.

Embroidery machines vary in regards to how much the user needs to input to read and sew embroidery designs. Industrial machines include multiple needles that are threaded prior to running the design and do not require re-threading.  These machines include 20 or more heads and each has 15 or more needles.

All of this can work simultaneously. Each head has the capacity to produce any number of fabric effects such as satin stitch embroidery, chain stitch embroidery, sequins, appliqué and cutwork.

The improved technology allows work to be done at speeds that were once unheard of.

The innovation of the embroidery process continues. Coloreel‘s embroline thread is a coloring attachment which applies color instantly to threads as the thread is being used in textile production.

This technology impacts design as it allows users to apply color changes to the thread rapidly and make smooth transitions between colors. The embroidery machine uses just one reel of thread. This means there is no more handling of a large stock of thread reels and the end of tedious rethreading of the embroidery machines.

As long as manufacturers have the Embroline base thread and ink cartridges, they will always have the right color and amount available.

The technological changes noted above increase the speed and improve the quality of embroidering/imprinting and provide a number of benefits for businesses. These benefits are primarily on the front end. Yet the technological changes and advancements that are taking place on the back end are just as exciting and beneficial to businesses.

Back End Technological Improvements

Recently sellerscommerce.com, an industry leading B2C and B2B eCommerce platform that helps manufacturers and retailers sell their products online partnered with inkxe.com, a complete online product designer tool for businesses who sell decorated apparel, signage and personalized promotional products.

Together, they created imprintnetwork.com.

This new venture is changing the way business is being done as it offers fully-integrated eCommerce hosted services to build, manage, market and sell customized apparel, signage, and promotional products to the global market.

It utilizes the latest technology to enable printers and embroiderers to automate and manage their business processes using a single platform. In other words, imprintnetwork.com is the answer to how printers and embroiderers can utilize technology for the backend of their operations.

Printshops can build their own eCommerce store, integrate product designer tool, integrate suppliers, enable dropship and manage sales and marketing, all from one platform.

At first glance this may not seem groundbreaking. After all, plenty of platforms offer print shops the ability to launch a webstore with and take orders online. They even offer customization which enables the end-user to design the products and coordinate with suppliers and fulfils customer orders.

In other words, these platforms provide a simple basic store.

And yes, imprintnetwork.com does offer these services to print shops who are interested in such an arrangement. They also do it better than their competition as they bring 85 years of experience and industry knowledge to the decorated industry and promotional product industry.

However, the technology capabilities that imprintnetwork.com can provide print shops goes beyond the basic store. A B2B or B2C can create their own webstore and subscribe to supplier catalogs.

The supplier integrates with any print agencies such as Embroiders, DTG Printers, Sublimation Printers, Heat Transfers. Set-up of such a store can be done in minutes as the technology is easy-to-use, intuitive, and includes a simple drag-and-drop feature.

Printshops can change design, company logo, theme, and appearance without coding a single line.

When an end-user orders any product with product customizations on the retailer’s website, that particular order will go to the supplier. Since the supplier integrates with these printing agencies, he will pass the order along with the customization specifications and shipping details to them.

The print agencies will complete the order and ships the final product to the end user.

Features includes all kinds of bells and whistles which will impress and ease the shopper’s journey for individual customers or other businesses. Stores include product reviews, ratings, and comparisons. Category and product suggestions help customers easily find what they are looking for and items they did not know they were looking for.

Customers can receive alerts via social media about the latest products, sales, etc. Personalization of all promotional products can be done with one tool.

Bells and whistles are great, but what about convenience?

The store is mobile responsive and so customers can easily design products on their phone via the mobile responsive design studio. When it comes time to order merchandise, there’s a quick order form for repeat customers as well as frequent resellers which enables them to have an easy, immediate and intuitive experience.

The re-order and auto re-order system enables customer to view their order history and re-order their products with one click. Orders can be processed and returned from one place and customers can create new return requests and view the status of prior return requests.

Of course, for many it comes down to price as margins are tight. Imprintnetwork.com allows printshops to offer real-time pricing. As customers add or remove design elements, select material, print setting etc. they can see the impact on the cost and make an informed decision.

With preferred selling, print shops can create shopper groups and send discounts and deals specific to the group. They can also offer selected products and specific payment process for each group.

Finally, they can generate and distribute coupons to customers, set discount rules for specific products that update automatically, and have flash deals-of-the-day.

While experts make all kinds of fantastic predictions regarding what changes technology will have on the future, no one really knows.

A simple prediction is that the apparel industry, embroiderers, and print shops will be impacted by technological changes.

Thankfully, print shops can focus on what they do best and allow imprintnetwork.com to make sure they are up to date on the recent technological changes which have dramatically impacted backend operations.