Custom Apparel Startups
by Custom Apparel Startups
The Custom Apparel Startups podcast was started simply because we love both the apparel decorating business and the idea that almost anyone, with a small investment and a little dedication, cannot only start their own business but thrive! Our goal in starting CAS is to help educate apparel entrepreneurs about the business of the business, something often overlooked by people with an idea and a budget, but no business plan or experience behind them. We’ll be talking with the biggest names in the apparel decorating about things that are interesting and useful for all of you. Below are just a few topics we’ll be covering: Marketing Ideas Finance and Taxes Social Media eCommerce and Shopping Cart Software Pricing your work Managing inventory Equipment and Software Uses
Episodes
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Episode 205 - Growing Your DTF Printing Business
What does it really take to grow a successful DTF printing business in today’s market? In this episode, we dive deep into the systems, strategies, and mindset shifts that separate struggling print shops from scalable, profitable operations. We break down why DTF is more than just a print method....
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Episode 204 - Merch People Actually Wear ( Next Level Apparel)
Episode 204 - Merch People Actually Wear ( Next Level Apparel) What’s the difference between a shirt people wear to brunch and one they use to wash their car? That’s exactly what Marc Vila from ColDesi tackles in this episode of the CAS Podcast, joined by Melissa Commanday from Next Level…
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Episode 203 - How to Compete in a Crowded DTF Market
Episode 203 - How to Compete in a Crowded DTF Market Intro: The Shop Struggle DTF is booming and more businesses are jumping in. DTF is much easier than older methods like screen printing. Barrier to entry is lower with 'production friendly' equipment under $15k. Full-Digital Apparel that looks,...
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Episode 202 - Choosing the Right DTF Printer
In this episode we're diving deep into one of the most important decisions in DTF printing: choosing the right DTF printer. Whether you're just starting out or scaling up a serious production setup, the gear you choose can make or break your workflow, quality, and profits. We'll break down the...
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Episode 201 - Grow Your Business with Direct Mail - Featuring Taylor
In this episode of the Custom Apparel Startups Podcast, host Marc Vila is joined by Michael Palme and Austin Gordon from Taylor to discuss how direct mail can be a game-changer for custom apparel, sign, and promotional product businesses. While digital marketing gets a lot of attention, direct…
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Episode 200 - The Secret to Selling Tshirts Right Away
In this episode, we dive into the exciting world of entrepreneurial spirit with a focus on launching a custom t-shirt business. We'll explore a practical, step-by-step guide designed for beginners eager to make a mark in the t-shirt industry, even with little to no prior experience. Whether…
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Episode 199 - Growing A Customization Business
In this insightful episode, we sit down with Trevor and Trent Walden, the pioneering duo behind the Walden Bros., an Alaskan t-shirt shop specializing in Direct to Film (DTF) printing and embroidery. As they navigate the intricacies of the customization industry, the Walden brothers share their...
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Episode 198 - How To Convert A Screen Printing Shop To DTF
In this episode, we delve into the exciting world of Direct to Film (DTF) printing and how you can transition your screen-printing shop to embrace this innovative technology. We'll start by explaining what DTF printing is and why it's gaining popularity. Next, we'll break down the investment…
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Episode 197 - DTF vs Screenprinting
In this insightful episode of Custom Apparel Startups, we welcome Howard Potter back to discuss the nuances between Direct to Film (DTF) printing and traditional Screen Printing. With his deep-rooted knowledge from A&P Master Images, Howard breaks down the pros and cons of each technology…
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Episode 196 - Overcoming Struggles of Growing a Business
In this compelling follow-up episode of Custom Apparel Startups, we're delighted to welcome back Howard Potter, of A&P Master Images, for another deep dive into the world of custom apparel. This time, Howard sheds light on the troubles encountered when starting a t-shirt business and shares...
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Episode 195 - What You Should Know Before Buying a DTF Printer
In the latest episode of Custom Apparel Startups, we are excited to feature Howard Potter, from A&P Master Images, who brings his wealth of knowledge to the table on the topic of Direct to Film (DTF) Printing. Our discussion, " What You Should Know Before Buying a DTF Printer," covers the A to Z…
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CAS MiniCast - DTF Printing with Mike Angel
Mike Angel shares his expertise in apparel decorating, focusing on the cutting-edge technique called direct to film printing, or DTF printing for short. This method has completely revolutionized the world of apparel decorating, offering numerous advantages over traditional methods. It is not only...
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Episode 194 - Improve Online Sales with Shopify and ClickWear
In this episode of the CAS Podcast, we're thrilled to welcome Mike Angel from ColDesi, the brilliant mind behind ClickWear and the ColDesi OnDemand services. Mike takes us on a deep dive into the world of selling online, particularly through Shopify, and how ClickWear is transforming the custom...
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Episode 193 - It's Time to Raise Prices
Introduction Small business owners in the customization industry are facing unprecedented challenges due to rising prices. This resource guide provides practical strategies to help your business thrive in a changing economic landscape. Market Research and Competitive Analysis Research competitors...
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Episode 192 - How To Diversify Your Business
When it comes to growing your customization business we often talk about 'finding a niche.' What is a product / customer that you can focus on. This could be new moms, or local small businesses or tourists. However, you will find a point where growing that business becomes harder. This is why you...
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Episode 191 - What Is The Best T-Shirt?
How do you choose the right t-shirt? You are looking to start or grow your custom apparel business. There are a ton of challenges with choosing the right equipment, making sales, pricing your apparel and so much more. However, a topic not often discussed enough is the apparel you use. Choosing…
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Episode 190 - Starting a Business
Starting A Side Business And Growing To Full Time Everyone is looking for a way to make more money, achieve financial independence, and enjoy the work they do. One of the ways people accomplish this is by starting a side hustle, and potentially growing it to a full-time gig. But how do you do…
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Episode 189 - The 4 Ps of Marketing
Many small business owners get into their business with an idea, rather than a full plan. You want to make t-shirts or print signs. You know it's profitable and you've already got some referral business. It's not that hard to make some money and get overwhelmed with business. What IS hard is...
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Episode 188 - Setting up Your Social Media Strategy
What is a social media strategy? A social media strategy is an outline or plan of your social media goals, how you will achieve them, and how you’ll track metrics. Social is talked about all the time in business, but do you need it? If yes, then how will you use it? This episode is all about...
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Episode 187 - Expert Advice on Equipment Financing - John Sullivant of Adia Capital
Financing is an important part of starting and growing a business. However, there are a lot of misconceptions and confusion. Many people only have experience financing a house, car, or a new couch. Yet there is a whole world of financing business equipment and software. This episode discusses...
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Episode 186 - Getting Ahead of 2023
2023 is here and what’s in store for YOUR business. Mark and I have been reading around to learn what problems the 'experts' say small business owners will run into. We then put our heads together to consider how these affect the customization business industry. So here we go... let’s get ahead…
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Episode 185 - How to Handle and Keep Your Customers
Working with many customers can be very challenging, especially when it's repeat customers. Some customers are very needy, others are poor at communication, others don’t pay on time. So how do you handle all these different types of customers when you are trying to run your business YOUR way? You...
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Episode 184 - Your Business Butts In Seats
When you think of your business you may think: Maria does the printing John does the art Mark does the writing and website Etc. But how do you manage that as you grow? or if Maria is sick? Do you also think about how Maria does maintenance? Or how Mark answers chats on Google? Or how John posts…
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Episode 183 - Monthly Business To-Dos
One of the biggest challenges for businesses is keeping up with all of the 'tasks' that can bog you down. These things may seem redundant or not as important as your daily duties, but avoiding them will absolutely cause trouble. Review pricing Is everything still available? has pricing gone up?...
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Episode 182 - Analyze Your Competition
One of the struggles and causes of anxiety for small businesses is the competition. It's either the reality that you'll lose deals to the competition, OR just the anxiety because you might (or when will you?) "I can't make any money in my area" "No one can sell for that price" One of the best…
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Episode 181 - Workspace Money-Making Design Tips
The space in your shop, retail store or warehouse is essential to how much money you can make. Not surprisingly there is an entire field based on workspace optimization and customer experience. How fast you can get things done, how comfortable your customers feel and the overall space you work on...
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Episode 180 - Make a Brand That Stands Out
How To Make Your Brand Stand Out There are tons of t-shirts shops, sign shops, restaurants and insurance companies everywhere. The world is a busy place. How do you make YOUR brand stand out? How does something emerge amongst the noise? If you want to learn about standing out, watch some nature...
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Episode 179 - Keeping it SMALL - Steps to Create the Business YOU Want
Maybe you never want to really grow bigger, just grow more profitable. For some people the idea of a big business with hundreds of employees and a big building with a huge sign is a dream. For others it's just to have a business for themselves. Maybe it's a small family business. A business on…
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Episode 178 - Building Good Business Habits
Can you guess how success in your customization business is like success in a fitness, financial, or weight loss program? If your goal is to lose 20lbs by September 30th, you can't start working on that on the 25th and expect to be successful If your financial goal is to save up $20K for a down...
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Episode 177 - The Truth is... Now You're in Sales
Being a business owner means you wear many hats. Project Manager. Production Manager. Financial Officer. Customer Service. And yes… Sales Person. Chances are you aren’t starting your business with a full time sales person on staff. You might be fortunate and be a natural born sales person. Or…
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Episode 176 - How to Design a Promo/Sale
While we're not always running an advertised promotion, they ARE a powerful tool for increasing sales, creating awareness and maximizing contact with current and future customers. But if you're not IN the promotion business - where do you start? During this episode we'll break down some simple...
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Episode 175 - What You Need to Start a Custom T-Shirt Business (besides a printer)
Oftentimes when people are shopping to start their t-shirt, embroidery or other customization business, the mind is one track. Which machine do I buy? How to I get the best one? How to I get the best deal? How fast can I get it? But after this decision, many are left with a 'what's next?'…
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Episode 174 - The Best Referral Marketing Strategies for Custom T-shirt Businesses
Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective ways to generate leads and sales How to generate Word of Mouth Label your shirts Do great work Be the "I met a guy/lady/ the other day that does this" Ask for referrals Encourage your customers to refer their friends and family members to...
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Episode 173 - How to Order (or Build) Your Website
Having a website for your business can be very important. We aren't saying every business needs a website, but most will. So how do you go about getting a website made for you? Should you make it yourself? These questions are answered by going through the list below. Once you have gone through…
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Episode 172 - 2 Cheapest Ways to Start a T-shirt Business - Sublimation vs Vinyl
So you want to start a t-shirt business on a budget. The two cheapest / lowest cost ways to start are with sublimation and HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl). But what is the difference between Sublimation and HTV? Which is better: Sublimation or Heat Transfer Vinyl? Which is cheaper? In this episode we…
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Episode 171 - Guaranteed Success Plan for your Side Hustle / Small Business
Guaranteed Success Plan for your Side Hustle / Small Business You are getting ready to start a side hustle, or maybe you haven't pulled the trigger yet. (Actually, even if you have already started there might some things to learn.) This Episode is really for those just getting started or looking…
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Episode 170 - Etsy Alternatives - Should I Move My Store Off Etsy?
The recent price increase for Etsy sellers has got a lot of their long time customers looking for alternatives (from 5% of everything you sell to 6.5%) - and it's reminding others of Etsy's other money-making practices, like selling advertising for your store and charging you a big % of THOSE…
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Episode 169 - How to Figure ROI
Those letters - ROI - are thrown around a lot in almost every business. Technically, it's Return on Investment - but just what does that really mean? What is an ROI? When you put money into a business endeavor, ROI helps you understand how much profit your investment has earned. Looking at...
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Episode 168 - Why Nobody Is Visiting Your Online Store
We got this question in the Group a few weeks ago and again just yesterday. It was some variation of: "What's wrong with my website?" and then it's either How can I get people to visit the site? Why isn't anyone buying anything on the site? Since almost all of these businesses are in the custom...
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Episode 167 - Should You Buy Used Equipment?
You want to invest in some "new" equipment for your shop or maybe start a new business. Often times the way people save money is by purchasing things that are 2nd hand or used or preowned. But how do you go about buying used equipment? In this episode we will help you answer the following...
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Episode 166 – Your Marketing Check Up
Once a year you go to the Dr for a check up. What do they do? They will listen to your heart, check your lungs, have you do a blood test. They are looking for anything out of the ordinary, even if you don't notice it. If anything is out of the ordinary, you take action to fix it... before it's a...
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Episode 165 – BN-20 vs Everything Else
Read in-depth article clicking here: https://coldesi.com/2021/08/digitalheat-fx-roland-versastudio-bn-20-sawgrass-sublimation-printer/ ColDesi is in a unique position in the marketplace. Because we get people started in such a wide variety of businesses with so many different - and competing -...
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Episode 164 – How Much Does it Cost? 2022 T-Shirt Printer Options (Part 2)
How much does it cost to start a t-shirt printing business? That machine is WAY too expensive. Why would I buy that when a cricut can do the same thing? It only cost that much to own a business? I thought it was so much more. What is the best t-shirt printer? These are the comments you will read…
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Episode 163 – How Much Does it Cost? 2022 T-Shirt Printer Options (Part 1)
How much does it cost to start a t-shirt printing business? That machine is WAY too expensive. Why would I buy that when a cricut can do the same thing? It only cost that much to own a business? I thought it was so much more. What is the best t-shirt printer? These are the comments you will read…
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Episode 162 – What you need to Start a White Toner Printer Business
This episode is inspired by an article written on ColDesi.com. It's all about what you need to start a white toner transfer business. This episode is important if you are going to invest in white toner printer or have recently invested. Overall, though, a lot of this spills into what you need to...
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Episode 161 – 2022 Business Planning – Part 3 – Implementation
Part 3: What you need to do to GET THERE What will you need to do to reach your goals? If you need to sell 400 more shirts per month, how will you do that? Was expanding a goal? What will you need? In this series, we first took a look back at last year, (or if you are new maybe you did some…
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Episode 160 – 2022 Business Planning – Part 2 – Setting Goals
Goal Setting for 2022 This really depends on what you want from your business. Every business goal is going to be different, so it’s important to set your own goals, based on your dreams and personal lifestyle. Abstract Goal setting This is something that's not necessarily measurable (but could...
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Episode 159 – All About Direct to Film Printers
Direct to Film printers are the most talked-about new products from 2021 and are SURE to be the same for 2022! So the big questions are: - What is Direct to Film (DTF)? - What makes it different from other technologies - Screen Printing/Transfers - White toner Printing - Sublimation - DTG - What...
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Episode 158 – 2022 Business Planning - Part 1 - Looking Back
This is actually a series of 3 episodes to discuss how you can plan your business for 2022. It's important to be 3 parts because planning isn't just about setting goals, but it's also about looking back and then implementing action items so you can hit those goals. That breaks it down into 3…
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Episode 157 – Out Of Stock! How To Deal With Supply Chain Shortages
It's 2021. Things STILL aren't normal. All over the world, we are running into shortages and production delays. You have heard the news about computer chips for trucks, container shortages and productions shut downs from Covid outbreaks.... and that's just 1 of 1000 examples. The custom t-shirt…
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About this show
The Custom Apparel Startups podcast was started simply because we love both the apparel decorating business and the idea that almost anyone, with a small investment and a little dedication, cannot only start their own business but thrive! Our goal in starting CAS is to help educate apparel entrepreneurs about the business of the business, something often overlooked by people with an idea and a budget, but no business plan or experience behind them. We’ll be talking with the biggest names in the apparel decorating about things that are interesting and useful for all of you. Below are just a few topics we’ll be covering: Marketing Ideas Finance and Taxes Social Media eCommerce and Shopping Cart Software Pricing your work Managing inventory Equipment and Software Uses
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Custom Apparel Startups
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