Big Thanks

[nobrainsd]

The first day of the ISS show in Long Beach was quite entertaining and definitely educational. It is a strong show and there are a lot of press manufacturers represented. It was great to finally see all of these different autos I read about here on the board.

However, this year was definitely a new experience for me with the TSB get together. I probably should apologize for asking so many questions. Hearing it straight from the different printers who represented was awesome. Thank you to everyone for sharing a little of your experience. That sort of exchange is priceless.

Mr. Walsh with Nazdar was particularly nice to speak with and having him stop by as we gathered at the show was pretty cool. I'm stoked with my magna ink! (Shameless plug)

Absolutely big thanks to Mr. Hoffman for sponsoring our evening out. That is very much appreciated. It's great to see that kind of  support  for TSB in the industry. That is also a compliment to the good folks running TSB.

Of course, finally meeting Andy / Frog was classic. Having known him on various boards for years it was a great opportunity. Thank you Frog for the wonderful hospitality and all you do to make it happen.

Those of you with me at the end of the table last night might have had some doubt about my claim to hit the water Sat morning after driving home from Long Beach. Terrible winter weather we have here Hope to see you next year.

[pwalsh]

Thank you for the nice comments but it was truly my pleasure to catch up with the TSB Gang at the Long Beach Show this year.

Also Kudos to Rich Hoffman for buying dinner for the group last night, and also for the great job that Andy, Pierre, and Dan do with this great forum.

[Frog]

I'm going to latch onto this thread to throw out an apology to those planning on meeting up with me at 3 at the show.
My car suddenly developed some electrical issues that I need to take care of while I can.
Perhaps someone at the show who sees this can pass the word along.

Thanks, and yes, last night was a smash once again due to the generosity of Rich Hoffman, and our ever- growing participation.

[JBLUE]

It was a blast sitting next to you man. Can't wait to get on one of those foils. Thanks for the great time everyone and a big thanks to Rich for picking up the tab.

[jsheridan]

I missed a good one..

To sick to make it 

Cya all next year

[stitches4815]

crap, if we could afford it we would fly out and see what all this hub bub is about.  Maybe next year, who knows.

[inkbrigade]

Sorry we missed the meet up. I don't know how but we walked the isles and didn't even make it through half the show on the first day. Hardly made it through the rest of the show today.
So much to see.

Loved the M&R booth with the garage and the old school skateboards. Really liked their new screen coater. Convincing jen we need it didn't work out to well. Very cool piece of machinery though.

Spent lots of time looking at different cts. We really like the dohitt/olec one.

Lots of impressive shirt samples and prints at the Wilflex, Rutland and nazdar booths.

Got a shop works demo, although I asked about integrating with quickbooks the dude said no we don't need quickbooks but I couldn't make him understand that we need QB for our other accounting, Jen kinda wrote it off after she heard that. So that was a bit frustrating.

Got to hang out with the guys from gorilla, the gang from forward printing and Matt from trust print shop. Also chatted with Lon and Jason from graphic elephants, and Walt from Murakami.

Saw some punk bands play a dive bar on Friday night and dinner with stretch devices on sat night.

Lots of fun this year! I'm exhausted!

[brandon]

Totally awesome time! Thanks to everyone here and everyone we met. And of course the beautiful thing in the sky called the SUN. We don't have that here. 

But yeah, Friday night was fun at the punk rock dive bar! Made Saturday morning very interesting

[jasonl]

Man, I should have went to this show instead of Vegas back in October!

[Binkspot]

First time out there for ISS and I have got to say it was amazing. It was great to have the chance to put face to names, meet new people, catch up with others and see some of the stuff and vendors that don't make it to the other shows. Defiantly on the list of things to do every year.

I to would like to thank Rich and Frog for their hospitality and the opertunity to meet some of the members.

[Frog]

A pic, somewhat blurry...how appropriate.

Thanks to all who came, and of course, to Rich who may actually make an appearance next year.

And, I think that we may have finally outgrown the regular dining room(s) this year and I am shooting for double the crowd next, so y'all buy some presses and dryers, and an i-Screen or two!

[Frog]

Here's some name tags on the members in the shot.
Only actual members are tagged, not spouses or the usual freeloaders who will be pressured into actually signing up before next year. (I really thought you understood the deal already Joe and Keith!)
Brandon was also there, but missed the pic. I had him Photoshopped in but remembered Nancy Pelosi's recent trouble with how touchy some get with photographs modified to more accurately portray a situation.

[Screened Gear]

Looks like I missed A good one. I will make it next year. Anyone what to share some high lights of the show? Anything new that is a must have?

[JBLUE]

You must have the DTG machine that is he size of a small car and cost 200 grand. Things are supposed to get smaller not bigger.....lol I did notice this year that everyone is stepping up their game on customer service though. When times were good they let that slip. Now that some of their customers are circling the drain or already been flushed they are more in tune to keep the ones that are still here happier.

Screen printing pretty much had the same old gizmos. Sill cool to look at though. M&R had a killer garage setup. Excellent marketing idea going directly at the garage printer.

If your into embroidery those mighty hoops are bad ass. For you guys that do a lot of jackets it would be a no brainer. It is everything that is advertised. I have some on the way. Hooping right over a Carhart jacket zipper with ease. No more smashing the hoop or needing a second set of hands to hoop a jacket back even on those Carharts.

I walked out with a new Barudan machine. Got a killer show price and threw it in the back of the truck and took it home on Sunday.

[nobrainsd]

I can't believe I didn't look into the M&R garage! I was checking out the presses on the floor and spoke with two techs working on a Diamondback. I guess I was so focused on that diamondback I never noticed that the "office" was more than that. Dang!

The big _ss Kornit DTG was definitely interesting. Besides the multiple colors it was using a DC ink instead of a pretreatment coat to get bright colors on darks. Also had two empty ink positions for further upgrades and options. Only 275 k and averages 1 shirt every 2 minutes (just 2 shirt positions on the printer). That still seems a little crazy, but it is the wave of the future. I wasn't totally thrilled with the hand on the print. Sort of an iron on feel. Not bad, but not quite the screenprinted DC hand I'm liking right now. There were a number of other companies stepping into the large industrial DTG arena. But it seems that everyone (except maybe Kornit) is focusing on the hardware rather than the ink. Did I already say this is the wave of the future?

There was a lot of non screen printing related embellishment represented. The large dye sub equipment is fascinating. There was even a booth that was sublimating cut goods that were then being sewn by three workers right there into finished cycling jackets. It was fun to listen to an italian group and a japanese couple that were seriously considering a purchase. There were a lot of people at the show from outside the states. I think that is the Long Beach show was so well attended by all of the major manufacturers. There were a number of sublimation companies that were trying to push all over printing rather than cut and sew. It looked good, you don't get excess ink at the edges, but it still is an issue at the edge to get a nice continous wrap when flopping the shirt so much like all over screen printing it won't replace cut and sew.

Still can't believe I missed the M&R garage.