For Customized Clothing, Embroiding or Screen Printing quotes call 021 674 3253 or 082 574 7859
We are excited about the relationship developing between SAIL Stadefrance and Lava Ink and very pleased that they are keen to use us for future events. I’m proud to say that we’ve received a letter of appreciation from the famous Morne Du Plessis himself , as well as a medal for the soccer festival which was held at the Cape Town Stadium.
The soccer festival was the first event held at this new Fifa World Cup venue and Lava Ink played their part
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If you don’t enjoy watching paint dry, you’ll enjoy watching machines embroider- this is our latest job for SAIL Stadefrance.
With all the embroidery done, voila…the completed garment (jt’s tipped male and female golfer shirts) :
Previous work for SAIL Stadefrance included printed t shirts and caps for assistants at the Soccer and Rugby Festivals.
These 160 gram t shirts for Touch Lezinto are light, soft and fitted. It has a single colour screen print on the front of the tee and a single colour on the rear.
This is our second job for Stellenbosch University’s Geology Department (see the first job here). These hoodies were developed from scratch in our LavaLab.
The specifications given were:
Below is the end result and you may check out some more pics on our portfolio page.
22 seconds of Factory life
Here’s a behind the scenes look at t shirt manufacturing – a 22 second glimpse of our CMT (Cut, Make, Trim) factory.
The garment in this video, is in the previous post about LavaLab designer wear. This factory has, and is still producing for companies like Truworths, so the quality is top-notch and that’s why we use them.
Straight from the LavaLab, these 230 gram ladies tops are creatively fresh and make a bold statement with its shocking pink trims. Loudgear (our client) designed these tops to ensure that the Queens of Tugwell Hall at UCT are hip and happening – but this was a task intensive process that had us biting our nails right up to the last minute because of its extremely tight deadline.
Here’s a summarized version of what happened:
All of this in 16 days.
The result is a beautifully mass produced garment that could be mistaken for something that was bought from a designer store like YDE or Lacoste.
PS. Apologies for the low quality images
19 Feb
Defining your target market
There is a heap of info out there about target markets but most simply put – you need to define who your customers will be. The trick is to target groups of people and make your t shirts appealing to them. Here are a few examples of target markets:
People in similar age groups; similar beliefs; similar cultures and so forth, are most likely to be interested in similar things. You need to identify these groups by doing a demographic analysis or other kind of research. A great site to get information about age, race and gender population of South Africa is from Statistics South Africa . Having this information will help you establish where to sell your t shirts; which gender to cater for and so forth.It is all about knowing where to throw your net to get the biggest catch.
18 Feb
Have a goal/vision that guides your business.
Anybody starting a business should have a goal/vision, and the same applies to selling t shirts. How do you see your business in 5 – 10 years from now? What are the objectives of your business?
Reasons for starting a t shirt business.
Some basic reasons for starting your t shirt business could be:
It may also be for a range of other reasons but you need to identify these, and tie it into your vision – then work towards achieving it.
Write a guiding statement to achieve your vision.
A great idea is to write a statement that guides your business’ culture towards obtaining your vision – even if you are the only person in the business at this point. Here’s a great example of such a statement as taken from Ecko t shirts:
Rhinos roam the world on the backs of *ecko unltd.’s forward-thinking consumers, and its diverse brands are omnipresent in visual representations of next-generation culture: from music videos and television programs to catwalks, action sports, and video games.
It is clear that Ecko envision’s their products to be legendary and diverse – and anybody reading this statement will know this.
How many t shirts should I print?- A question that I’m asked on a regular basis.
So I did some searching and came across this post at howtostartaclothingcompany.com and I feel it’s right on the mark, here is what it says:
By Jon Kruse (mediocore clothing)
This question comes up a lot and I think it really needs an article about it.
I remember printing my first shirt, live every week like it’s shark week, and I was asking the same question. I asked people what sizes I should order and I also unwisely asked what size people wanted to buy. I say unwisely because I asked it on emptees and not everyone that answered was my market or would be my customer.
It isn’t as simple as someone telling you how many shirts to buy. It depends on your market the design and a lot of factors that are really hard to calculate when you are buying your first print.
TEST THE WATERS!
I recommend buying the minimums. Most times this is 36-50 shirts sometimes even lower. The worst thing you can do is order shirt sizes that don’t sell and you have tons of stock left. Whatever you do don’t print more shirts because you get a discount. When you have the customers and know the sizes they order this is fine but it is disastrous if it’s your first time printing.
Do the research
I think your best bet is to talk to similar clothing companies. A lot of them might not respond but a lot of it is how you talk to them. Talk about how you like their clothing line, how you are printing your first shirt and don’t know what to get, how you are doing something similar and want their expertise, and I think most importantly give them a reason to help you. I send out shirts to a lot of people that have helped me and it’s always great to get gifts. Make them want to help you!
1-2-2-1
This is a breakdown of small to extra large that a lot of people use. They get twice as many mediums and larges as smalls and xl’s. I find that what I sell is usually more on the smaller side.zz,. so I get more smalls and mediums, and less larges and xl’s then this breakdown. Really every market is different so you have to test and use your data to reorder.
Another thing is I always like to order 1 or 2 2XL’s or x-small. These don’t sell very well but your customer will appreciate you for carrying their size.
I would just like to add that the figure of 36 – 50 units is a good number to start with. At Lava Ink we suggest minimum orders of 30 units because it offers a reasonable distribution of the set-up charges over the amount of garments. So the garment cost per unit remains low and more profitable to our client.