Promotional distributors can gain a competitive advantage educating themselves on the world of apparel decoration.

Anyone can throw plastisol on a T-shirt, but if you know what you’re doing, you can create something that nobody else can, and that will gain you a customer for life. Knowing the specifics will also help you answer client questions and make choices that support the overall values of your business. Even if you aren’t doing the work in-house, knowing whether your decorators reclaim water or use safe decorating methods for their workers is vital to ensuring you’re not doing more harm than good.

Furthermore, this technical know-how might save you from making a mistake and offering something to the client that cannot be accomplished with existing manufacturing limitations. There’s nothing worse than getting a client hyped about a discharge print on a light pink synthetic garment to find out that well, that’s not gonna’ happen with current manufacturing limitations, and you need a different plan.

If you can offer something that the big players cannot, you can charge appropriately and avoid racing to the bottom of the barrel to hold on to a client who always wants the cheapest price. Knowing the specifics helps avoid embarrassment, saves time, establishes credibility, and increases lifetime values of a customer base.