photos courtesy of Apple Imprints Apparel Inc. CHEATSHEET Embossing and Debossing Goes Hollywoood Embossing and debossing aren’t just limited to jackets and bags. Everyday wear like sweatshirts and T-shirts – including this custom work by Apple Imprints Apparel Inc. (circle 107 on Free Info Card) – can capably feature this decoration technique. “Upselling a shirt with an embossed or debossed decoration will help a distributor stand out as creative by offering other decorating options.” Mary Poissant, Apple Imprints Apparel 100% cotton and 50/50 cotton/poly blends will work, Castillo says. “Denim gives you a really good three-dimensional effect,” she says. “We also emboss canvas work jackets. That has become pretty popular because they’re American-made and union-made.” In addition, sweatshirts, pants, T-shirts and even caps work with the decorating technique. Embossed/Debossed buyers That understated yet stylish look that embossed and debossed garments carry often make them suitable for the corporate environment. “We’ve seen several distributors sell these decorating methods to corporations looking for a more subtle corporate appearance,” Poissant says. “Retail lines take to the process, as well, giving more depth to the garments’ appearance and value.” Because the price point of embossed and debossed apparel can be set a bit higher than the average embellished garment, and because the apparel itself is typically a bit higher-end, Grant argues that corporate clients, such as banks, that want to offer incentives to their employees, should be a top target among distributors. For embossed apparel in particular, Castillo says most of her distributors’ requests originate from end-users who want denim jackets for a particular program. “One would think it’d be totally blue-collar, but we ﬁnd that we do anything from plumbing manufacturers to banks,” she says. “It’s not very segmented; we ﬁnd we do it for many types of businesses, and a lot of associations, such as the Teamsters and Alcoholics Anonymous.” On the ﬂip side, debossed bracelets (which are attractive in part due to their low price point) appeal to the other side of the spectrum – for example, organizations that want to offer inexpensive giveaways at charitable functions. “In other words, the channel may be narrow, but at the same time, the application and messaging can be broad,” Grant says. “There are a wide variety of buyers. I would say the middlelevel businesses would be less included to purchase products that exhibit these two application types.” Q Shane Dale is a contributing writer for Wearables. Hollywood just can’t seem to get enough of embossed and debossed apparel. Maryann Castillo, executive vice president of Tyca Corp (asi/92370), which specializes in embossed denim jackets, just put together an order of over 200 embossed denim “wrap jackets” for “Burn Notice,” a long-running TV series on the USA network. “When a TV show or movie ends, they provide all the cast and crew with a wrap jacket,” she says. “We used plain denim jackets and embossed the show’s logo on the back. We sold them through our promotional products distributor.” By the same token, Jonathan Walther, operations manager for Burk’s Bay (asi/74600), recently debossed 30 leather jackets for executives at one of the largest ﬁlm production and distribution companies in the world, Paramount Pictures, via one of its Los Angeles-based distributors. The intricate Paramount logo, which includes a depiction of a mountain and stars, was featured in a ten-inch debossed look on the back of the jackets. Burk’s Bay can deboss a single jacket for $8 to $15 (depending on the quantity of the order), which provides plenty of room for a markup. “They wound up using one of our Napa Bomber jackets,” Walther says. “The net price was $88 each.” Paramount Pictures was one of many Hollywood players that went for leather jackets with large, debossed logos on the back. The Napa Bomber jackets (1000) are available from Burk’s Bay (asi/74600; circle 93 on Free Info Card). ASK AWAY. If you have a question, please e-mail it to [email protected], with the subject line, “Cheat Sheet.” wearablesmag.com • WEARABLES OCTOBER 2011 33