Left to proper: Homeowners Jim & Jane Sweeney together with their daughter Allison Everett (Manufacturing Supervisor) at their Minuteman Press franchise in Houston, Texas. Jane notes that Allison “is an important a part of our DTF program.”
HOUSTON, Texas – Jim and Jane Sweeney are the homeowners of the Minuteman Press franchise in Houston, Texas for the final 29 years; they first joined Minuteman Press in June of 1994. Jim and Jane have finished an incredible job constructing their enterprise through the years. Most just lately, they’ve actually excelled in rising their attire gross sales.
Jim summarizes: “The previous 2 years have definitely been fascinating. We’re presently (as of July of 2023) operating 30.5% forward of 2022 gross sales, which was up 35% over 2021. It looks as if the world (or our world anyway) got here out of its 2-year lengthy malaise in 2022.”
Jim shares extra particular particulars about his middle’s booming attire enterprise and the way he and Jane’s Minuteman Press franchise in Houston have achieved such sturdy development of their attire gross sales. Their middle is positioned at 1040 Hercules Ave (Clear Lake Metropolis); Houston – Clear Lake Metropolis, TX 77058.
Rising the Enterprise
On rising the enterprise over the previous two years, Jim says, “In the course of the early pandemic we pivoted to non-public safety merchandise, which naturally led to customized face masks. Whereas Jane was busy truly stitching 1000 face masks, I used to be offering customized emblem material masks to hospitals, medical workplaces, service suppliers, and faculties. We offered about 40,000 customized masks throughout that point, and we both warmth pressed them or despatched them to a neighborhood display screen print vendor. We additionally donated a whole lot of masks to varsities, non-profits, and many others.”
He continues, “Lastly, in 2022, our conventional printing was lastly beginning to climb again to pre-pandemic ranges. Promotional merchandise additionally grew as commerce reveals and advertising and marketing calls grew to become extra the norm. We additionally had an enormous spurt of enormous format work, however that really slowed down a bit after that preliminary spurt. EDDM printing has additionally grow to be a bigger portion of our print gross sales. As soon as we registered as EDDM suppliers on the USPS web site, we undoubtedly noticed a really giant enhance in unsolicited mail on the whole. Enterprise Card printing has at all times been massive for us, and the addition of the Graphic Whizard slitter, cutter, creaser has made it much more worthwhile. Our advertising and marketing efforts consists of: heavy neighborhood involvement; unsolicited mail postcards, particularly this yr with the Deal of the Month artwork offered by MMP company; search engine optimisation/SEM on the Minuteman.com web site, and social media, particularly because it pertains to Direct to Movie Switch gross sales.”
Constructing a Booming Attire Enterprise
Customized branded attire is without doubt one of the methods Minuteman Press helps companies market themselves and construct model consciousness. Jim explains:
“We actually began getting critical about attire about 8 years in the past after we bought a industrial embroidery machine. Then, about 5 years in the past, Jane put collectively an important foyer presentation. This space options attire, giant format, and promotional objects of curiosity.
We added dye sublimation capabilities with the Epson F570, after which we added DTG printing for one- offs (we finally offered the DTG printer). Throughout this time, we had been utilizing a whole lot of display screen printed transfers, largely from 613 originals or FM expressions. The problem grew to become turnaround time. It will take as much as 2 weeks to obtain these transfers, after which after all we needed to press them.
We bought a second, after which a 3rd Stahls’ warmth press throughout this time. That’s after we determined to maneuver in to the Direct to Movie (DTF) printing enterprise. After going by a number of desktop transformed printers to attempt to print our personal transfers, about 2.5 years in the past we bought our first giant format, twin printhead DTF printer and finisher. Along with producing transfers for our in-house use, we’ve sufficient capability that we promote transfers to different printers, display screen printers, signal outlets and Fb Group/Etsy homeowners. We added further capability with a 4 head DTF printer in January of this yr (we’ll probably be including a 3rd printer within the third quarter this yr).”
Jim continues: “Wholesale Switch printing is now roughly 20% of our month-to-month gross sales; we ship everywhere in the nation, with a day by day capability for printing hundreds of transfers. Including embroidery and our in-house t-shirt gross sales makes attire roughly 30% of our month-to-month income.”
He provides, “Concurrently with this development in switch gross sales, the embroidery enterprise was taking off. We commonly obtain orders for 10-50 polos or button-down shirts for embroidery. We landed a grocery retailer chain and a couple of native hospitals, and the orders grew to become 150-200 shirts at a time. This previous fall we accomplished a $24,000 jacket embroidery order, and we simply delivered $32,000 jacket order to that very same shopper, a hospital. After all, we use a trusted native vendor for bigger portions of jackets.”
“Our attire enterprise continues to develop weekly with extra, and bigger, in-house turn-key t-shirt gross sales actually ramping up.” -Jim Sweeney, proprietor, Minuteman Press, Houston/Clear Lake, Texas
3 tricks to develop an attire enterprise
Jim shares the next 3 tips about tips on how to develop an attire enterprise:
“1. We really feel that the #1 factor that’s persevering with to drive our attire gross sales, along with the wholesale switch gross sales, is our foyer show. A number of years in the past, we put this show of attire samples, promotional objects, and a few of our giant format samples in our store. At any time when a brand new, and even an current buyer comes into the store, invariably they’re drawn to this show. About 1 in 5 individuals who stroll into the store asks about one thing that they see on that show. We flip about 85% of these inquiries into gross sales.
2. It additionally helps that our CSR could be very educated about all elements of attire, as she is about all of our services and products. Our CSR/manufacturing supervisor, our daughter Allison, was the shop supervisor at our Galveston location (which we offered in August of 2022), and has labored in each side of our enterprise through the years. I understand that not everybody might be this fortunate, nevertheless, that doesn’t cease you from coaching and offering your workers with the instruments that they should do their jobs effectively. SanMar has nice attire catalogs with swatch samples, and you’ll put collectively a easy attire web site utilizing their advertising and marketing instruments. After all, it additionally goes with out saying that everybody in your workers needs to be carrying emblem shirts, to additional showcase your capabilities.
3. In case you have the chance, attend a neighborhood attire business commerce present, an ASI present, and most particularly the MMP Worldwide World Expo. Educate your self, request samples, buy a superb warmth press, begin small, with your personal shirts, then go to your present shoppers to point out them your new capabilities. Attire is an ideal tie in to all the different companies that our outlets present to our shoppers. Attire gross sales spur printing gross sales, identical to printing gross sales ought to spur attire gross sales.”
Shopper Instance
Jim explains how he has helped meet all the attire wants for one in all his shoppers, a neighborhood hospital. He shares: “One among our common ordering attire shoppers is a neighborhood specialty hospital. Along with their hospital facility, additionally they personal or associate with 15 different bodily remedy facilities within the Houston area. We began out offering them with the standard printing and enormous format merchandise, then contracted with them to offer new constructing signage for every of the outlying workplaces, after which grew into attire with them. Now we have them arrange on 2 Stahl’s Spirit Sale web sites. One among them is for workers to buy branded attire, and the opposite is for the hospital to buy attire for brand new workers. Along with customary company attire, every division has their very own branded t-shirt.”
Jim continues, “At the least a couple of times per yr, this hospital does a bulk buy of 430 t-shirts for all of the workers members. The acquisition may embody jackets, rain jackets, backpacks, different specialty objects, or t-shirts. We’ve offered $200,000 or extra in simply attire and high-end promo objects to the hospital within the final 3 years. This hospital then referred us to the hospital that I discussed earlier within the article, who has simply taken supply of their second giant jacket embroidery order.”
Attire Recommendation for Others
When requested what recommendation he would give to others companies about using customized attire, Jim solutions, “Attire is a straightforward promote. Put on your emblem. Speak it up. Ask for referrals. Don’t be afraid of it simply since you haven’t finished it earlier than.”
For extra info on Jim and Jane Sweeney’s Minuteman Press franchise in Houston/Clear Lake, go to https://minuteman.com/us/areas/tx/houston27/
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