Custom and personalized products are especially popular at the moment. Covering everything from t-shirts to cars, product decoration is a massive and diverse industry. The product decoration industry is also very competitive, which might scare some potential businesses away. However, the demand for decorated products (especially garments) is extremely high, and unlikely to decline any time soon. In addition to the high demand, the product decoration industry offers another major selling point for prospective decoration businesses: several independent routes to generate revenue. These routes include Business to Business, Business to Customer, Retail, Contract Fulfillment, and Material Manufacturing.
+Business to Business (B2B)- selling to other businesses, organizations, or schools directly.
+Business to Customer (B2C)- retail sales in brick & mortar shops or smaller online orders.
+Contract Fulfillment- larger, wholesale order printing and drop-shipping.
+Material Manufacturing- apparel, gift products, and decoration materials.
In addition to the different revenue routes available to product decorators, there are also several different decoration methods to consider: Screen Printing, Direct-to-Garment Printing, Sublimation Printing, Wide Format Printing, Embroidery, and Heat Transfer Pressing. Each of these processes can be used to decorate different products, and there are also unique benefits for each.
+Screen Printing- minimum 12 piece orders, 1-6 color prints, the largest product range (almost any garment can be screen printed).
+Direct-to-Garment Printing- no minimum orders, full color, only >50% cotton garments.
+Sublimation Printing- no minimum orders, full color, photo gifts and white 100% polyester garments.
+Wide Format Printing- no minimum orders, full color, can print vinyl banners, stickers, canvas, wall clings and more.
+Embroidery- no minimum orders, up to 15 colors, can sew polos, hats, bags, and jackets.
+Heat Transfer Pressing- no minimum orders, spot or full color prints, the second largest product range.
While each of these product decoration methods is unique, they are interconnected in many ways. Heat transfers, for example, are designs screen-printed onto transfer paper which can later be applied to a garment. Direct-to-Garment printers, sublimation printers, and wide format printers all operate similarly, but utilize different inks and print on different substrates. It makes sense for a business to offer multiple decoration methods, and most product decorators do offer at least two. If a prospective business owner takes the time to do the requisite research, then the barriers to entry to any of these decoration methods are quite small compared to any other industries. Even if a business does not perform each decoration process in-house, it can still offer all of them through outsourcing in order to meet more of their customers’ needs. Outsourcing can be particularly profitable for product decorators due to the ability to drop-ship orders (sending white-labeled products straight from the manufacturer to the customer).
Due to its low barrier to entry, high demand, and product diversity, the product decoration industry is a perfect target for entrepreneurs. The amount of competition is higher than many industries, but that should not deter anyone because the demand for decorated garments and gifts will not dissipate anytime soon.
