Surf Expo Orlando January

[tonypep]

I'll be there at our Gravity booth and elsewhere. Anyone else attending? Dan?

[Screened Gear]

I'll be there at our Gravity booth and elsewhere. Anyone else attending? Dan?

Gravity booth? An anti gravity booth makes weightless? What does your booth do, doubles your weight?

Do you have a link to the gravity clothing line? I really like the name.

[tonypep]

www.liveslow.com

[jason-23]

I would like to go but $500 is crazy...

[Screened Gear]

www.liveslow.com

does not work, sure that is right?

[tonypep]

.net sorry

[blue moon]

I would like to go but $500 is crazy...

is that $500 to attend? Holly crap that's steep!

Tony, can you get any passes?

pierre

[Screened Gear]

.net sorry

Very Nice brochures and images. I am looking to do a preprint line early next year so seeing what you have done helps a lot. I would love to hear more about how you do your preprint lines. There is no info out there. I am most interested in how you sell them. Do they buy by 100's or is there some packages? Do you print per order or do you preprint a ton of them. I am just wondering. I am thinking about doing more of a consignment deal with some very targeted locations that only sell to my targeted market. I already have there interest I just don't what to go in there and have the deal set up wrong. Any info would help.


Side note on your Zoo brochure you have the gorilla design labeled as WC Bear. Just saw that wen I looked at it real fast. I would hate to see you print up a bunch of bear shirts when someone wanted gorillas.

[tonypep]

First, on the Zoo stuff all that is in re-development and we are launching Snow/Ski quickly followed up by Outdoor in January at Surf Expo. I never liked the Zoo stuff and am taking it to new direction along with all the talented people behind the scenes. Interestingly enough we finished off yesterday with our weekly creative meeting. Eight of us totall. Sales, Art, Production, Accounting, Ceo. We have found that as in the past, a single minded driven line is prone to fail for many reasons.
A favorite topic of mine that doesn't apply to many I just don't mention it much but I could go on in volumes. A quick history of Gravity first. It was the brainchild of visionary Jeff Sharp back in the late seventies. Initially conceived as an urban line it was one of the first pre-print concepts ever developed. Jeff was a doodler and would literally draw tiny thumbnails which he then enlarged in a photocopier to create "organic lined" characters. We have bumped up the technology since then but that signature look has developed into our brand awareness (albeit a small one)
How we do it is complicated and costly but the Resort alone brings in 1.5 mil so it makes sense. Perhaps from what you'll see what we do you can condense into something that makes sense for you. We start with customers and demographics and tons of research.
Gravity has a sometimes wry "Wink and a Nod" sense of humour and doesn't try to compete with edgy lines. That sets us apart from the hundreds of internet lines that often fizzle out after a short run. Thats important to note. If you're just another flavour of ice cream you probably won't have much staying power. Thats it for now but let me know and I can continue. Time to get ready for work.

[tonypep]

OK now I'm at the office and can type before the peeps show up. First you absolutely must have a means to market. Sounds obvious but so many people get enamoured with their ideas that they take on a "If we build it they will come" attitude. That almost never happens. Internet is fine but be prepared for stiff competition and the possibility of drowning in a sea of noise. Sales reps and trade show exhibiting is usually necessary if you want to build something significant.
Second, find a niche. Simply designing and executing awesome products is usually not enough. Whether its a quircky character, humourous concepts, vintage graphics, whatever...be different. You can see Gravity is not out to win awards however it has always been bright soft (discharge) graphics with that "I'm on vacation" feel.
Third, determine your offering. This can get real complicated real quick. What will your minimums be? How many graphics, how many blank styles/colors/sizes and what will the product mix be. You can be as complicated as Crazy Shirts or as simple as Life is Good. Or even simpler.
Finally, if you are successful and want to get serious , study trends. We have a complicated but accurate method of who is buying what and where they are buying it. This applys to blanks/dyes, graphics, minimum orders, etc. We also study demographics.
If you see a trend jump on it. Our dog designs are most likely the most succesful. Hes a black lab (by all accounts) but we never see his face. Hes always looking wistfully away from us; whether he is in bermuda shorts under a palm tree or on a ski lift heading up the mountain. We have around forty of these. We also offer quick ship promotions. Low minimums quick turns on proven winner designs that are easy to print.
Below is our "War Room" where all of this occurs.

[royster13]

Tony the pdfs on your websites have vectors embedded in them.....

[starchild]

Tony, thank you for today's inspiration..

[tonypep]

You're welcome. If you zoom on the photo you will see post-it notes on many of the designs. They represent sales figures over a certain period of time. This is part of how we track trends. It is the broken down by division: Nautical, Dive Surf, Resort, Zoos and Aquariums, Snow/Ski, and Outdoor.
Then broken down by Youth, Mens, and Womens. Finally by Screenprint, Embroidery, and Applique.
Noticeably missing is the "Wall of Shame, designs that went horribly wrong. Of course we learn from the home runs but perhaps more importantly its what we learn when we bomb.
SPOILER ALERT: New outdoor dog concept. Hes out in the forest by a campfire watching TV by an an Airstream camper with a sattelite dish.
Tagline: Ruffin it
But you knew that

[Screened Gear]

Tony so they are not really a preprint line then. You do sales take orders then print, right? What is your turn around time. How does all that work.

[tonypep]

Correct almost nobody does a true "pre-print " line any more. Too risky. Its a misnomer that has stuck over time. Can't really call it a retail line either so thats how we refer to it. At any rate two week turn three week cancel. We place a dye order each week to ensure goods arrive in a timely manner. At shows some customers write order many months in advance.