Custom Apparel Market Predictions for 2022 - DO THIS NOW
Are you wondering what the future holds for the custom apparel industry? Then join Ricoma CEO Henry Ma as he reflects on the current trends and innovations and offers his predictions for 2022...and beyond! Learn more about our embroidery machines here: https://hubs.ly/H0mrcVk0 Learn more about out White Toner Transfer Printer + Heat Press bundles here: https://hubs.ly/H0P2FlT0 Learn more about out DTG printer here: https://hubs.ly/H0tyYFr0 Join our Facebook Embroidery & Custom Apparel Mastery Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/embroiderymastery/ Join the Ricoma newsletter for educational blogs, videos, and live webinars: https://info.ricoma.com/newsletter To learn more, schedule a virtual demo today: https://ricoma.com/US/virtual-demo Get our latest Ricoma embroidery YouTube videos sent straight to your Facebook Messenger: https://manychat.com/l2/RiCOMA.us 1:09 Prediction #1: The need for branding will continue to increase 2:56 Prediction #2: The demand for patches will continue to grow 4:25 Prediction #3: On-demand printing with DTG and heat transfer printing will continue to gain popularity 5:39 Prediction #4: YouTube and Tiktok will become more common platforms to promote your apparel business and reach new customers Prediction #1: The need for branding will continue to increase From a corporate standpoint, businesses will continue to need branded apparel to look professional and stand out. When you put a brand logo and other information on custom apparel, you create brand awareness and get the target audience’s attention. From a fashion brand/clothing line standpoint, there’s a surge of people who are starting their own clothing lines, which is attributed to two factors: (1) Gen Z being accustomed to fast fashion (e.g., H&M, Zara, Forever 21) which didn’t exist until the 90’s, and (2) the pandemic encouraged people to start their own businesses and become their own boss. Consumer purchasing habits are changing and millennials are raising their spending on custom designs on their garments such as the increasing demand for t-shirts with slogans or logos of movies, games, and TV series printed on them. This increased demand will surely need a continued wave of vendors to fulfill these needs. Prediction #2: The demand for patches will continue to grow Patches are the main bread and butter for many apparel businesses. Just look around and you’ll find patches on almost anything these days including caps and polos. You can easily create custom patches with an embroidery machine, which you can then heat transfer, embroider, or sew onto garments, making it a very versatile product line to offer to customers. Patches can also be made in bulk very easily, since you can mass produce them if you have a large embroidery area to work with. Lastly, patches are also very customizable, which is a big selling point for customers. Prediction #3: On-demand printing with DTG and heat transfer printing will continue to gain popularity The demand for custom printed tees has exploded over the last few years. New printing technology has also allowed people to cut out the middleman and third parties in order to print from home and keep profits in-house. This also means t-shirt printing businesses have full control of costs, turnaround times and quality, which guarantees a higher customer satisfaction rate. With new, fast, low maintenance printing technology on the rise, like the Ricoh DTG printers and the Luminaris 200 white toner transfer printer, on-demand and low quantity orders will be more affordable for customers and more profitable for business owners. DTG and white toner transfer is also relatively new technology and have a lot more room to grow. Additionally, heat transfer is also relatively affordable to get started with, so you can expect to see a lot more people getting into this segment. Prediction #4: YouTube and TikTok will become more common platforms to promote your apparel business and reach new customers It’s no surprise that social media is important for the growth of any business, but we’ve found that more and more customers are turning to YouTube and TikTok to create content to market their apparel businesses. Apparel decoration is inherently very visual, so these video-based platforms are great ways to showcase the work you do. As this trend continues to gain traction, more people will pick up their phone and just record their order fulfillment process. It’s simple, doesn’t take a ton of time, and you’re just recording what you’re already doing. People find the “behind the scenes” stuff very intriguing and this will continue to drive inquiries for small businesses looking to get some free advertising out there about what they do. And there you have it—Henry’s predictions for the future of the custom apparel industry. Let us know what you think about Henry’s predictions and share any that you think he might’ve missed in the comments section below.
Are you wondering what the future holds for the custom apparel industry? Then join Ricoma CEO Henry Ma as he reflects on the current trends and innovations and offers his predictions for 2022...and beyond! Learn more about our embroidery machines here: https://hubs.ly/H0mrcVk0 Learn more about out White Toner Transfer Printer + Heat Press bundles here: https://hubs.ly/H0P2FlT0 Learn more about out DTG printer here: https://hubs.ly/H0tyYFr0 Join our Facebook Embroidery & Custom Apparel Mastery Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/embroiderymastery/ Join the Ricoma newsletter for educational blogs, videos, and live webinars: https://info.ricoma.com/newsletter To learn more, schedule a virtual demo today: https://ricoma.com/US/virtual-demo Get our latest Ricoma embroidery YouTube videos sent straight to your Facebook Messenger: https://manychat.com/l2/RiCOMA.us 1:09 Prediction #1: The need for branding will continue to increase 2:56 Prediction #2: The demand for patches will continue to grow 4:25 Prediction #3: On-demand printing with DTG and heat transfer printing will continue to gain popularity 5:39 Prediction #4: YouTube and Tiktok will become more common platforms to promote your apparel business and reach new customers Prediction #1: The need for branding will continue to increase From a corporate standpoint, businesses will continue to need branded apparel to look professional and stand out. When you put a brand logo and other information on custom apparel, you create brand awareness and get the target audience’s attention. From a fashion brand/clothing line standpoint, there’s a surge of people who are starting their own clothing lines, which is attributed to two factors: (1) Gen Z being accustomed to fast fashion (e.g., H&M, Zara, Forever 21) which didn’t exist until the 90’s, and (2) the pandemic encouraged people to start their own businesses and become their own boss. Consumer purchasing habits are changing and millennials are raising their spending on custom designs on their garments such as the increasing demand for t-shirts with slogans or logos of movies, games, and TV series printed on them. This increased demand will surely need a continued wave of vendors to fulfill these needs. Prediction #2: The demand for patches will continue to grow Patches are the main bread and butter for many apparel businesses. Just look around and you’ll find patches on almost anything these days including caps and polos. You can easily create custom patches with an embroidery machine, which you can then heat transfer, embroider, or sew onto garments, making it a very versatile product line to offer to customers. Patches can also be made in bulk very easily, since you can mass produce them if you have a large embroidery area to work with. Lastly, patches are also very customizable, which is a big selling point for customers. Prediction #3: On-demand printing with DTG and heat transfer printing will continue to gain popularity The demand for custom printed tees has exploded over the last few years. New printing technology has also allowed people to cut out the middleman and third parties in order to print from home and keep profits in-house. This also means t-shirt printing businesses have full control of costs, turnaround times and quality, which guarantees a higher customer satisfaction rate. With new, fast, low maintenance printing technology on the rise, like the Ricoh DTG printers and the Luminaris 200 white toner transfer printer, on-demand and low quantity orders will be more affordable for customers and more profitable for business owners. DTG and white toner transfer is also relatively new technology and have a lot more room to grow. Additionally, heat transfer is also relatively affordable to get started with, so you can expect to see a lot more people getting into this segment. Prediction #4: YouTube and TikTok will become more common platforms to promote your apparel business and reach new customers It’s no surprise that social media is important for the growth of any business, but we’ve found that more and more customers are turning to YouTube and TikTok to create content to market their apparel businesses. Apparel decoration is inherently very visual, so these video-based platforms are great ways to showcase the work you do. As this trend continues to gain traction, more people will pick up their phone and just record their order fulfillment process. It’s simple, doesn’t take a ton of time, and you’re just recording what you’re already doing. People find the “behind the scenes” stuff very intriguing and this will continue to drive inquiries for small businesses looking to get some free advertising out there about what they do. And there you have it—Henry’s predictions for the future of the custom apparel industry. Let us know what you think about Henry’s predictions and share any that you think he might’ve missed in the comments section below.