It was not a good day for American Apparel. A huge class action lawsuit was filed August 31, 2010 with a lot of claims mostly about the lack of being straight forward about their financial condition along with understating the impact of having 1,500 works let go because of ICE issues (see our report from July 5, 2009 here).  On the surface it appears some of the claims will hold water. It should be interesting to see how this shakes out over the next six months.

Read more about the class action lawsuit here.

One of my first responsibilities at my new job was to help plan and coordinate the NBM Long Beach trade show this year. I was excited to hit the road again and see people face to face. In my past life in the industry we didn’t go to many of the NBM shows, but I always knew that they were still pretty good shows. Well this recent trip sealed it. The NBM Long Beach 2010 convention was a hit. It was not huge, but it was big enough for what it is and there were plenty of buyers. By my count there were 173 exhibitors and according to NBM (Thanks Brandy!) there were 11,097 attendees. Admittedly we were in the Awards and Engraving side and I did talk to plenty of people from the Printwear side that were a little disappointed, but it might be them and not the show. Too many people just don’t get how to do a show, but that is another blog…

I tried to kept a running diary of my 4 ½ days in Long Beach via Twitter (www.twitter.com/afm1374) but I will give you the extended version here so you can get an idea of the show and my trip.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 – Took a Southwest Flight from STL to LAX by way of Kansas City. If you can avoid a layover in KC, then do. You have to leave security to find food, bathrooms etc. The airport was not designed for post 911 airline travel.

Once arriving in LAX out first stop was In and Out Burger. We don’t have one in St. Louis so for us it was a must. Then we got to the show and set-up began. The set-up went very smooth and NBM gives the exhibitors some beer and snacks at the end of set-up day to say thanks. This is a nice touch that I think other shows are missing the boat on. NBM just seems to care about their exhibitors unlike some of the other industry shows where you are just filling space.

Thursday, August 12, 2010 – Being a Thursday and the first day of the show our expectations for this day were pretty low. (Watch a short video of our booth HERE) The morning started a little slow, but it didn’t take long for the buyers to start rolling in. I was shocked. Our booth was pretty much packed with people from about noon on till 4PM. We scanned 97 badges and we are not the type of company that stands in the aisle and scans everyone. Those were only the qualified folks who we asked for their badge. I would guess we probably had close to 300 people come through our aisle and at least look at our booth.

Friday, August 13, 2010 – Being Friday the 13^th I was pretty excited (I was born on Friday the 13^th, and my Dad always emails me “Happy Non-triskaidekaphobia Day”) but was worried that maybe Thursday was going to be the big day and Friday and Saturday would get smaller. I was pleasantly surprised by Friday. There were definitely not nearly as many buyers on Friday, but the ones who were there were ready to buy. We had a great sales days, made contact with lots of great customers and had a nice steady flow of people to chat with and show them out wares.

Then Friday right after the show, NBM hosted a very nice mixer for both attendees and exhibitors alike. There was beer and wine, and a nice spread of appetizers and even a carving bar. All of this was FREE! Again, just another way that I felt like NBM really cared about the people who attend their events. We meet a few people at the event as well, so it was just an added bonus.

Saturday, August 14, 2010 – At this point I didn’t know what to expect. The first 2 days were totally unexpected, so I figured there was no way that Saturday was going to be gang busters again. Well once again I was totally wrong. We scanned 116 badges and sold out almost all of the remaining equipment in our booth. I felt bad that we could not get to everyone in the booth, so hopefully

NBM Long Beach 2010 Coastal Business Supplies, Inc. Booth

those people we missed got a card or catalog and we can help them over the phone. The afternoon slowed a bit, but the people looking to make the sales decision still filtered in, so it was extremely successful.

Tear down went smoothly outside of having to roll equipment all the way down a large hill as the convention center people would not let anyone drive up by the docks. We did witness a $5 handshake with a forklift driver, and totally busted the guy, so magically our empties showed up pretty quickly.

Of course we hit In and Out on the way back to LAX. Double Doubles are just addictive.

Summary – All in all it was a great show. We scanned approximately 300 leads, and sold almost all of the equipment we had in our booth.

The down side to of being so busy in our booth was that I was not really able to get out and see much more of the show. I did try to take a new route to the restroom each time so I could quickly say hello to some of my old friends and the thing that stuck out for me the most was the major absence of any real screen printing presence. M&R was in with Ryonet. Workhorse was with McLogan (fortunately I knew it was Workhorse as I don’t remember much of a sign, just people sitting around) and then Brown and Vastex each had their own nice booths. Ranar was also present, but if anyone else was there, I missed them. For me the booths that stood out were the Mutoh booth who was showing vehicle wrapping on a boat, Ryonet had a very nice presence in the Printwear Show and NuSign had lots of activity in their booth as well.

I’m excited to go back next year and to see how the other NBM shows are in 2010 and 2011. Next we are off to SGIA, so look for another recap of that show in late October.

My next blog will be about my thoughts on ways to improve your company image. Stay Tuned!

We are having a promotion on the full version of T-Seps and on upgrades from FastFilms to T-Seps. If you buy the full version of T-Seps for $695 by midnight, August 15, we are including $300 worth of T-BizART, and our Photoshop 4-DVD set (or any DVDs worth $79.95). Plus you also get T-FX. The value of the freebies is $478.

If you upgrade from FastFilms to T-Seps the price is $99 until midnight, August 15. You get T-FX (a $99 value).

In both cases, we ship you out a CD, Training and Training DVD. Read more about this special offer at the T-Seps home page here.

Don’t delay. The offer ends at midnight, August 15, 2010.

The Wall Street Journal had a great article today about “smart” clothes made from new fabrics that react to changes in the body. They are talking about fabrics that can track blood pressure, pulse rates, and more.

The item that caught my eye was a line of shirts that have slogans appear only after you have sweat up a storm. Pretty “cool” and novel. Check out the article here and watch a short video clip.

The chaos in Arizona over the immigration bill along with our dysfunctional state government has at least helped a few local printers. Our nightly news (which spills over the national news) shows protesters and guess what?  They are all wearing printed shirts, hats, signs and more. There are so many marches and protests that someone has to print all that stuff. And, this is not a local phenomenon. With the political races and opinions very divided there is a huge market for printed items. Hey, profiting from chaos is the American way.

A local printer/customer Acme Prints was featured on a local ABC news station on August 10. It was actually a long report and brought a smile to my face that one our own was doing their part to help the cause (or better yet causes). Whether you agree with the debate or our tough Sheriff “Joe” – at least there is money to be had for the local T-Shirt printers.

I would LOVE to hear comments about if you are printing shirts for protesters. I do not want to hear comments about whether you agree with how we are handling things. I get this on the news every night. Are you printing political shirts? Tell us.

Watch the news report here on Acme Prints. Way to go Acme Prints for getting in the news. I would be curious if you called the News or if they called you?

There are two trade show seasons in this industry.  Fall and spring.  The show season in the U.S. kicks off this week with the NBM (formerly Printwear) Show in Long Beach California. But, with shows in Long Beach, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Fort Worth, and Charlotte coming up – where do you go?

Here is the “Scott” rundown. Yes, I have an opinion and some of you may disagree with my show list. But, having exhibited at all or most of these shows over the years I can tell you what I often hear from buyers.

First, here is a quick calendar of shows:

NBM Show – Long Beach – August 12-14
ISS Shows – Atlanta – September 9-11
ISS Shows – Fort Worth – September 30 – October 2
SGIA Expo - Las Vegas – October 13-15
NBM Show – Charlotte – November 4-6

NBM Shows – Long Beach/Charlotte
These shows are run by National Business Media who publish Printwear, Awards & Engraving, Sign & Digital Graphics and a host of other magazines. The problem with the NBM Shows is that they put a lot of “shows” under one roof. You get a few isles of this and a few isles of that. That’s OK if you are a printer with an interest in Promotional Products, Digital Large Format printing, trophies and awards. A common comment (I heard it again today when asking someone in California if they were going to Long Beach) is “it took me 30 minutes to walk the show.”

The problem with the August NBM Show in Long Beach is it has to compete with the January ISS Show in Long Beach. The January ISS Show is THE show in the industry and can’t be topped. In fact, when anyone asks me “are you going to be in Long Beach?” I always respond “August or January?” In answer to that question this year…. the answer is “No in August.”

OK, I will give the good news. If you live in Southern California and need a day trip to see new products, talk to suppliers, etc., then go to “Long Beach August.” You can never go wrong. Just don’t go expecting to see an entire convention center filled with garment goodies. Go with the expectation that you will get quality time with a few exhibitors (unlike “Long Beach January” where it is standing room only in some isles).  If you can make a day trip of it and know what to expect then you will come away with a smile. Plus, they do have a nice seminar/workshop program and you can never get enough information.

NBM does other shows including Fort Worth, Charlotte, and Indianapolis. Frankly, Indy has been a good show but is over for this year. Charlotte is coming up in November and unless I missed something, I don’t ever remember Charlotte being in November. That has been a strong show in the past but the dates seem weird. Check out the dates and get more details on NBM Shows here.

ISS Shows – Atlanta/Fort Worth
These are the granddaddy of all shows and are know as the Imprinted Sportswear Shows. Their largest show is Long Beach in January and is a must see if at all possible. They also do a show in Orlando in February and Atlantic City in March. Orlando has been declining and Atlantic City is strong.  But, that’s another year and another article.

Their Atlanta show is somewhat like the NBM Shows. If you are local and it is a day trip then go. If you are expecting huge islands and a “who’s who” then don’t go or at least know going in that it will be small.

The ISS Fort Worth Show has been very strong over the years. Again, it is NOT like ISS Long Beach but it does get a good turnout of exhibitors and has been well attended. And, all the ISS Shows have a good speaker panel. I will not be at Atlanta or Fort Worth. Yes, I will be roaming the isles in Long Beach “January.”

SGIA EXPo – Las Vegas
I wrote about this in an article under Events on this site. Read more here. This show was “off” my show list last year because it was declining in size for screen print and garment decorating exhibitors. This year the show is in Las Vegas and they have stepped up their game with more for screeners and garment printers. I was at one time a huge “volunteer” for SGIA and was on the Board of Directors and have won every award they give plus I was a Platinum Sponsor of their show for three years. I am now pretty tight with Fespa (I am on the steering committee for their “Americas” show) and I won’t be exhibiting in Las Vegas. But, I will be there roaming the isles and having lunch with my friends from the Academy of Screen Print Technology.

I have put the SGIA EXPO this year on a “thumbs up” mainly because buddy Riley Hopkins is doing a nice seminar pavilion AND the show is in Las Vegas! I don’t think Long Beach, Atlanta, Charlotte or Fort Worth draw like Las Vegas. See you on the strip!

If you go to SGIA be prepared to have to wade through lots of wide-format digital printing to get to the meat.

That’s my show report for this year. Of course if you are an international reader, there is FESPA in Mexico City, August 26-28 (see Events Calendar) and other global shows.

Let me sum up Fespa 2010, the recently concluded Federation of Europe Screen Printing Association’s bi-annual show by saying this…if you do not ever go to another show save your money and experience FESPA just once during your screen printing lifetime. The do a lot of smaller shows and every three years they do a huge show. The next smaller show is in Hamburg in May of 2011. It is a digital show but they will be having FespaFabric which will feature all types of garment decorating.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be asked by Mark Vasilantone to work for 5 days at FESPA with the staff of Vastex International. And, it was five very busy days as customers filled the booth looking at equipment from start to finish.  I heard similar comments from other exhibitors about the traffic and also witnessed boothfuls of people gathering information on the latest trends.   This is truly an international show and it’s a pleasure to be able to talk to people from all over the world and get their perspective on the state of what is truly a global industry.

Attendees were treated to a first class educational program as Fresener’s Fabric (familiar name?) coordinated the efforts for the FESPA organizers.  The seminar I delivered on Discharge Printing was packed with the audience asking a myriad of questions both during and after the seminar.  For over 30 years Scott Fresener’s name as been associated with “education” thus putting hundreds and hundreds of printers into business and his organization of Fresener’s Fabric  proves why any organization is crazy for not utilizing his talents.

The floor or the hall was top notch with many large exhibitors having stands that took days to custom build.  Also, a little different from our shows in the USA is that most booths had bars set up to entertain clients at the end of the day.  For those who are not aware the World Cup Soccer Tournament being held from South Africa was being held during the dates of FESPA and many exhibitors had large screen televisions in their booths so attendees could watch and cheer on their favorite teams.  As a matter of fact in the booth adjacent to Vastex a Brazilian company practically shut down their booth one afternoon when Brazil played Portugal in one of the late games. And, if you find this hard to believe see the attached picture I took of the stand during the match.

Last but not least you get to experience the beauty of  major European city.  Munich is famous for their restaurants and night life and many attendees and exhibitors were found at any of the many local beer gardens around the city.

I am sorry if you missed it….it was a great time! I’ll see you in Hamburg, or better yet – if you can wait – at Fespa 2013 in London!

Check out a three minute interview I did with Mike Fresener while we were in Munich.

90 mph on the open stretches. Music, blaring. Head-banging. No plans. No reservations, just a final destination. We are free! ROAD TRIP! Hey, this has the start of a pretty good song doesn’t it? But it pretty accurately describes a road trip that Scott and I took last summer. We agreed to drive our daughter-in-laws car from Phoenix to Kentucky for her. We realized that this was the only road trip we had ever taken without kids or dogs along. We took advantage of that and played the music so loud that we blew out one of the car speakers. We head-banged so enthusiastically that others on the road probably thought the not-too-young people were having simultaneous strokes.

This road trip was filled with adventure and there was no pressure of having to be somewhere within a certain time period – something we had rarely experienced. We discovered that Tucumcari, NM is not the pit it used to be and that Ft. Smith, Arkansas is a really cool town – who knew? We stopped at Graceland and saw that the mansion was not very big. We strolled the streets of Nashville absorbing a culture and music that wasn’t in our collection of favorites.

This contrasts greatly with one we took in 1972. That one was a combination of “Woodstock” and the movie “Deliverance.”

Here we are, Scott & I, two young hippies (we both absolutely looked like hippies) with two adorable red-headed kids heading from Phoenix to Illinois in our unairconditioned 1963 Chevy Impala pulling a concession trailer. No money or credit cards, but we had something a lot more important….a sense of adventure, optimism and a burning curiosity to always see what was around the next corner. We never thought the grass was greener up ahead…..we just wanted to see what was there. If you don’t count a tire on the trailer blowing out and the car catching fire it was a pretty good trip! Yes, I am wearing a real “Keep on Truckin” T-Shirt in the photo.

The boys from “Deliverance” were there to greet us when the tire blew (overalls, beards, hats, straw in their mouth and a menacing stare at Scott – the long-haired hippie.) The tire was an odd size and the “boys” drove Scott way out in the backwoods to the junkyards to find a replacement. Scott was sure they were going to kill him that day.

The “Woodstock” part came from a most unlikely source. Later in Missouri our car caught fire and we were towed into a tiny speck of a town where the garage was closed (it was 9:00pm.) An elderly couple owned the shop and the little house behind it. We would have to wait until morning to get the part, so exhausted and hungry, we settle in to sleep in the car. Well, Ma Kettle must have choked back her fear of the Hippies because she came out and insisted that we come in to eat and also insisted that we all would spend the night. She had glorious old-fashioned puffy beds. I can’t imagine that this kind old lady would have thought that 38 years later her generosity would be remember and still appreciated.

Well, we got to Illinois and had a five-week visit with my family. We didn’t have any money to get back home but we weren’t worried because we had booked a space at the state fair in Marshfield, WI. So up we go to sell our T-Shirts and eight-track tapes (yes Virginia, there really used to be such things) and we took in $900. We were rich! Now we could go back home and stay at a HOTEL a couple of times!  And off we went.

It strikes me that both life and operating a screen printing business are quite simply – road trips. In life we all have the same final destination. It’s unavoidable. But in both business and life the final destination shouldn’t be what you focus on – it should be the journey. On your death bed I doubt you will list all of the businesses you owned or how much money you have but you very possibly might recount the events that occurred on your journey through your ultimate road trip – life.

In business I think the destination is about profits, but the road trip is about customers, employees and community. Has your journey been a good one so far? Have you anonymously donated a dozen unprinted T-Shirts to a charity for the homeless and/or a domestic violence shelter? Have you spoken at a high school on career day? Was it one that serves the poorest community? Those kids could really be inspired by you. Do you send your customers thank-you notes after they make a purchase? Do you take care of your employees children at Christmas? Have you had a pot-luck picnic for your employees and their families with games and prizes? You’re not doing any of this? Well get going….don’t delay……your road trip won’t last forever you know. Oh, and remember to put on some loud music and do a lot of head-banging in the shop….your employees will be amazed. But then maybe they will just call an ambulance.

So what’s your road trip story? What event do you remember from your journey? I’d love to hear it and this is the perfect place to let it out! Just click on the “comment” button and pour your heart out.