Evaluate your core blank (promotional item) offering to determine the core of your HTV offering. Educate yourself methodically here. Start with a conversation with the decorators you already know. Find out what they decorate and why. Spend some time with them in their shops — most are happy to share their expertise. The decorator network you already have may be the place you start to contract out the first items you offer as you determine what to bring in-house.

Evaluation of the apparel items you will offer is a matter of finding a good wholesale partner or partners. The relationships with apparel blank wholesalers will give you a solid advantage if you partner with wholesalers who have thorough knowledge of their blanks. Knowledge of what you are decorating is crucial. Know the difference between a workhorse like a 100% cotton that’s easy-to decorate, and a diva such as performance polyester, which has special considerations for decorating no matter what the decoration technology.

As you gain knowledge, most likely through trial and error, you become the coveted expert in the apparel decoration field. Do not be discouraged by this important learning process; do not let it discourage you from adding HTV decoration to your in-house production. If you are not producing the decorated apparel items that account for 50% of promo item decoration, someone else is.