Since of the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the need for speed has been everything. Railroads, the telegraph, assembly lines, interchangeable parts, you name it.
These days, though, speed alone no longer cuts it. Gone is the era where Henry Ford could famously say his customers could have a car painted any color they wanted it, so long as it was black. Today’s customers not only want what they want when they want it, but often as not, they want it now! The name of the game is flexibility.
This, of course, has forced many industries to have to change the way they do business, and the decorated apparel industry is no exception. Doing so, however, means more than just investing in a bunch of new equipment. It’s means a change in mindset.
Interestingly, the former is often much easier than the latter. Buying a shiny new heat press is easy. Changing the way you and your colleagues do business? Not so much.
Which brings us to Marshall Atkison’s piece “Leveling Up,” that and his recently released book “2026 Thinking: How Businesses Will, Win, Stall, or Fail I 2026” (available online free of charge at https://qrco.de/2026Thinking). For those feeling like they’re running to stand still in these days of ever decreasing order sizes, both the article and Atkinson’s book are true must-reads.
Same thing with our report on the state of the decorated apparel industry. As indicated in this article, print-on-demand, or POD, has now burst on the scene in a way that can no longer be ignored, a fact of life each and every decorated-apparel shop out there needs to find a way of dealing with. The good news is, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Best of luck to those grappling with the brave new world that is apparel decorating these days!
