State of Decorated Apparel Industry Survey Helps Decorators Through Data
Sometimes digging into data can feel intimidating. Reports and surveys might seem daunting at first, but when you look deeper, it is apparent that business owners can’t afford to ignore them. Numbers help drive business growth, pointing toward important facts that often help owners know which direction to steer their endeavor.
As a platform to connect and support the apparel decorating community, Apparelist along with PRINTING United Alliance works hard to get data into the hands of apparel decorators. The State of the Decorated Apparel (SODA) survey is one crucial way we support our community. By directly working with apparel decorators of all sizes, we can determine what challenges the industry faces, how they’re being addressed, and where decorators need to look for future opportunities.
The Fall 2024 SODA survey is now live and open to the entire apparel decorating community. All decorators are encouraged to participate in the survey, says Andy Paparozzi, chief economist at PRINTING United Alliance.
“Our goals include establishing timely, reliable measures of the decorated apparel industry’s performance and prospects, identifying the industry’s defining trends and issues, providing guidance on how to build a sustainable competitive advantage (the must-do’s we include in each SODA Report), and learning from the leaders,” he adds.
In order to accomplish this goal, it’s crucial that as many decorators participate in the survey as possible. The more voices that speak up, the more reliable data the Alliance can work with to help the apparel community. “The surveys don’t just collect numbers, they put the numbers in context,” explains Paparozzi. “Through open-ended questions, participants explain the ‘why’ behind their results and expectations.”
Paparozzi goes on to explain that participation is also crucial because the surveys uncover the trends that have the greatest impact on the decorated apparel community, whether economic, technological, social, demographic, or otherwise. “The sooner we identify a trend, the sooner we can explore how apparel decorators can make it an opportunity rather than a threat,” he says.
Apparel decorators are encouraged to not only fill out the survey, but should reach out to Paparozzi or Cassie Green, Apparelist content director, with questions. Paparozzi can be reached at apaparozzi@printing.org.
