2005 catalog

See all the new products

New Product Alert

EMBDigitize Web Site Is Up!

January 2005

Download our Current Catalog (PDF)

National Network of Embroidery Professionals

Embroidery Yellow Pages

THE EMBROIDERY MALL
The Best Resource
For Embroidery On The Internet

January Web Specials

Each month, the Embroidery Store offers some great deals on the supplies you need most on its Web site at www.embstore.com. It’s a wonderful opportunity to stock up on things you use everyday at bargain prices. To order, call (800) 504-9757. These are available for the month of January only so don’t delay.

Halogen Sewing Light
Regular Price: $70 Sale Price: $59.99
#SM80070

Magna Glide Bobbins
Regular Price: $34 Sale Price: $29
#SM80022

EMBdigitize Custom Digitizing
10% discount off first order

Great Notions Complete 20,000 Piece Stock Design Library
Available on CD
Regular Price: $4,000 Sale Price: $3,000
#GN0001

Poly Pro Polyester Thread
#40 Weight, 120/2 denier, 5,000-meter cone
#A6259 Black, #A6001 White
Regular Price: $3.50 Sale Price: $2.75

Click here for the Show Pass

Gain free admission to the Fort Lauderdale Imprinted Sportswear Show in January compliments of The Embroidery Store. Simply print out this special coupon and present it at the admissions desk when registering or picking up your badge.

Don’t miss an opportunity to shop for great deals at the Fort Lauderdale ISS where the Embroidery Store is exhibiting on January 28-30 in booth 629.

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Show Calendar

The Embroidery Store Exhibits
In Two Shows In January

Fort Lauderdale Imprinted Sportswear Show
There’s no better way to see the great selection of new products offered by The Embroidery Store than by visiting its booth at a trade show. You also get a one-time opportunity to take advantage of show specials and closeout merchandise. For those of you close to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., you’ll get your chance January 28-30, as The Embroidery Store will be at the Imprinted Sportswear Show (ISS) in booth 629. Stop by to see all the great deals on a wide range of threads, stabilizers, scissors, bobbins, and much more!

The Embroidery Store is offering free admission to the Fort Lauderdale ISS show. Print out the special coupon included in this newsletter and you can save on the admission price normally charged. For more information, visit www.issshows.com to register and learn about the great seminars and special events taking place.

Monograms America Semi-Annual Convention
If you are a member of Monograms America, The Embroidery Store also is exhibiting at its members-only semi-annual convention January 16-17 in Atlanta. The event includes the ever-popular hit parade (members sharing their best-sellers), a keynote speaker, roundtable discussions, and more. The two-day vendor forum will include a variety of embroidery equipment and supply companies all offering special discounts to Monograms America members. If you are not a member and are interested in joining, go to http://www.monogramsamerica.com/events.htm for more information.

New Product Alert

EMBDigitize Web Site Is Up!

If you need custom digitizing, the Embroidery’s Store’s new digitizing Web site is now up and fully functional. Go to www.EMBdigitize.com to get your designs created in three days for only $9 per thousand. It couldn’t be easier. The entire transaction takes place on the Internet and all you have to do is press buttons. Rush services also are available. Give it a try and see if this high-quality work doesn’t meet your standards at a price you can’t afford to ignore. For the month of January, the Embroidery Store is offering a 10% discount for your first order. Check it out.

www.NationwideEquipmentSales.com

Are you looking to expand, upgrade or downsize?

If you are looking to expand or upgrade we have a variety of
machines in our inventory that may be just what you need.
If you are downsizing, we pay $$cash$$ for your
good condition used embroidery machines.

Call Richard Carpenter at (800) 321-0486 ext. 221
Let me know how I can help you.

This month’s single head specials:
Meistergram 900 XLC--$7500.00
Barudan Prosperity Plus--$7000.00

Product of the Month

New Sports Crown Stock Designs
Kick Off The Spring Sports Season

Are you tired of the same old sports stock designs that have been used over and over again? Just in time for spring football, baseball, soccer, and other sports is a new line of Sports Crown designs that are perfect for adding a new twist to traditional embroidered uniforms, spiritwear, and other team apparel.

The new line of designs, created by Grand Slam Designs and distributed by The Embroidery Store, feature balls with crowns in a wide range of sports. Included are baseballs, footballs, golf balls, tennis balls, hockey, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and even bowling. This package, which is available on a convenient CD, also comes with suggested colors and other details needed to use the design. The package costs only $75 or purchase any design individually for $25.

The Embroidery Store now offers Grand Slam Designs full 8,000-design library, which includes a wide range of the most popular stock design themes. Be checking the Web site as the full collection will soon be available for viewing. New designs are added throughout the year so stop by often to see what’s new.

For more information, contact The Embroidery Store at (800) 504-9757 or e-mail info@embstore.com. Visit the Web site at www.embstore.com to see the full online catalog.

Stacy Morgan
Designs Today
391 Oak Haven Drive
Lexington, SC 29072
803-356-6206
dtoday@aol.com

Stacy Morgan, owner, Designs Today

Although 75% of Stacy Morgan’s business is custom digitizing for Meistergram owners, she does do some embroidery for a local children’s boutique and select customers. Her most popular items include purses and home linens.

Among Morgan’s most popular stock designs are her creative, unique alphabets and monograms. She has lettering with floral and Christmas themes, and well as custom designed scrolls and scripts.

A big percentage of Morgan’s digitizing work is custom corporate logos such as this one for Piedmont Air Conditioning.

Morgan has found her stock line of Meistergram designs is a great way to supplement her income. Her catalog features about 500 designs, and she adds about two-dozen new designs each year.

Morgan offers a variety of popular themes in her stock design collection. She runs a monthly special, which she promotes via a blast e-mail and fax.

Customer Spotlight

Meistergram Digitizer Diversifies
With Stock Designs, Monogramming

Stacy Morgan has based her successful, at-home operation combining digitizing services with monogramming and a line of stock designs.

By Deborah Sexton

That work includes digitizing custom logos for businesses, which accounts for about 75% of her business, and monogramming for a local children’s store, for whom Morgan does baby blankets, panties, bibs, collars, and gingham dresses. The mix is perfect for Morgan because “digitizing is more profitable than the embroidery.” But she likes to stay active in monogramming as well because that helps her produce the top-quality digitized designs that her customers have come to expect.

The digitizer’s other revenue stream comes from her catalog of stock embroidery Meistergram designs, which she has been adding to every year since she purchased Designs Today from her former employer. Morgan estimates that her stock design collection, which includes a wide range of designs and numerous alphabets, sells to about 200 shops using Meistergram machines.

Morgan updates her stock design catalog—which has about 500 images—a couple of times each year with several dozen new and seasonal designs. Popular themes include Christmas designs (trees, candy canes, stars) and baby designs (bows, sail boats, airplanes). But most important to Meistergram machine owners is that the artwork is simple, clean, and versatile, Morgan says. “They’re not looking for a huge amount of tight detail,” she explains. “I give my customers what’s best for their machine, instead of a solid-filled intricate design that doesn’t quite work for them.”

Meistergram machines work particularly well with lettering, Morgan says, with the equipment turning out cleaner work than a straight-stitch machine does. “It’s also very fast,” she adds.

Working Solo
Morgan herself works fast most of the year to keep up with the workload, as she gets only occasional help with her accounting and seasonal help with order taking. Her rush usually starts right after Thanksgiving and continues through the holidays.

Where do those customers come from? Word of mouth. “Meistergram owners are a close knit group who help each other with advice and tips. We used to advertise in trade magazines, but we cut back on that about four years ago, and I haven’t exhibited at any trade shows in awhile,” Morgan says. “I send my customers regular updates rather than going to a show. I also advertise via fax and e-mail and run a monthly special such as ‘Buy one, get one free.’ ”

Business Beginnings
A graphic designer by trade, Morgan got into the embroidery industry in 1998 when she answered a newspaper ad for a digitizer. After two years, the business owner sold the digitizing end of the company, “Designs Today,” to Morgan.

Today, Morgan fits her 800XLC Meistergram into a 20-by-15 foot room over her home’s garage. After spending so much time with her Meistergram, she has a strong sense of what will work and what won’t. “I am familiar with several of my customers’ machines because I have been doing business with them for so many years. I know whose machines sew wider or thinner then mine, and I can adjust designs accordingly. Also, the better the artwork I receive, the better the outcome of the design.”

She admits that she loves designing and digitizing more than embroidering. But more than either, Morgan loves working from home. “I set my own hours. Today’s my daughter’s birthday, and I can take her brownies for lunch,” she says. “And I love my customers who have been with me forever.”

Morgan advises newcomers to try and find a happy medium when it comes to pricing their services. “You can’t price yourself out of your region, because customers won’t come to you if they can get it much cheaper down the street. But don’t give your work away either,” she says. “Just make sure you know the current trends, and you can attract customers. Be sweet to everybody, and give them the best you can.”

By setting up a marketing calendar, you know exactly when you should be getting out your direct mail pieces to targeted markets in plenty of time to be sure you get their orders in and merchandise embroidered by deadline. Photo courtesy of Gandy Ink, San Angelo, Texas

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Marketing Moment

Set A Date To Do
A Marketing Calendar

By Deborah Sexton

How would you like to capitalize on more sales opportunities, retain existing customers, and avoid over scheduling production? These are just a few of the benefits of creating a marketing calendar.

A marketing calendar is a monthly outline that lists events, seasons, niches, and holidays to help organize your resources so you don’t miss out on sales because you’re not prepared. “If you’re like me, if you don’t write something down, it doesn’t get done,” says Greg Kitson, owner, Mind’s Eye Graphics, a screen printing/embroidery/promotional products shop in Decatur, Ind. “By writing down broad goals and setting deadlines, you ensure that projects get completed.”

The hardest part of creating a marketing calendar is getting started. Yes, eventually the goal is to have a 12-month calendar full of projects, but in the beginning, it’s best to choose just one market, niche, or event to focus on. “For example, you might choose high school homecomings, pest exterminators, or the bowling season,” notes Kitson.

Pick a time when you will have no interruptions and think about the business you already have. “If you’re doing a lot of sports, you’ll want to know all the deadlines involved with each sport. And don’t forget related events such as summer training camps, first game night, and senior night,” he says.

You’ll also want to break down events into three categories: major, intermediate, and minor. “You don’t want to have three major events at once; but rather a combination of major, intermediate, and minor; or perhaps four or five minor events at the same time,” Kitson recommends.

Once you’ve chosen a project, do a reverse time line. Map out exactly when to start promoting, when to follow up, and when you should be getting orders out the door. “The project itself will determine whether you do a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, or a 360-day reverse time line,” says Kitson. “A major festival might be a year in the planning, a baseball tournament might require a 180-day schedule, or a local event might not need more than 30 days to plan from start to finish.”

“The bottom line is that the Fourth of July, special events, or seasonal opportunities come the same time every year no matter what else is happening in your shop,” he says. “If you didn’t get the fliers out, arrange for free publicity from the radio station, or get samples created in time, the opportunity is lost. To quote many a business guru, ‘When you fail to plan, you plan to fail!’”

Design of the Month

Be Prepared For Winter Holidays
With Versatile Package of Designs

One of the most popular uses of stock embroidery designs is to commemorate holidays. With this holiday package of designs created by Great Notions and distributed by The Embroidery Store, you can make sure you’ve got an appropriate selection of designs on hand to meet every customer’s needs no matter what the season.

Just a few examples for the upcoming months include two winter scenes, which would work great for any outdoor winter event or even for preprinted apparel to be sold in a gift, ski, or resort store. The Valentine’s Day designs work well for specialty merchandise for retail sale or for a school party or any number of February promotions.

The Embroidery Store now offers Great Notions complete library of 20,000 designs, where you will be able to find an unbelievable selection in every theme and category imaginable. The entire collection is being offered at an amazing $1,000 discount only in the month of January. Don’t miss this great opportunity to own this versatile catalog of images that will bring in profits the entire year.

Calling All Meistergram Digitizers

The Embroidery Store is in the process of putting together a mini directory of digitizers who specialize in creating designs for Meistergram machines. If you are a Meistergram digitizer or you know of one, please e-mail Deborah Sexton at dsexton@sbcglobal.net with your contact info. We’ll notify you here when it’s up on the Web site.