Discuss the process of getting your t-shirt line into brick and mortar stores and selling offline. Topics include industry tradeshows, events, line sheets, sales reps and other retailing tips and advice.
The PPAI show is this only promotinal items or do they have machines (dtg printer, embroidery etc.)??
I see their is one in Vagas in Jan. just wondering if its worth going to. (I've never been toVagas and would like to go-and this would be a great reason-only if is a good show).
PPAI is ALL promotional product oriented...no decorated garment/vinyl application except those items that are personalized to be sold by 10s, 100s or 1000s as give-away items. It is a huge show at the Mandalay Bay convention center.. At the last show..Jan 08..if you walked all aisles you would have walked 13.5 miles..it is HUGE...
For those of us in the tee shirt/garment decoration/vinyl end of the biz, it is a waste...we do better at the NBM or ISS shows..
Charles is correct if you are starting up or are a fairly small shop. Promotional Products and the Decorated Apparel Industry are merging together more now than ever before. What you would see at PPAI show would be millions of products that already have a company's logo on it. The companies exhibiting at the PPAI / ASI Shows are companies that want to personalize products for you to allow you to sell to a 3rd party. Thus, making you a middle-person in a deal... but you have no need for equipment to produce the items. The negative to the promotional products side of the business is that most companies tend to have a minimum quantity you can order. Although it is possible to make more money by doing the work yourself, it also requires to you make the investment into the equipment / supplies and learn how to do the work. I also believe you have to be a PPAI member to get into this show. You can check this out at www.ppai.org.
The one thing I will say about the promotional products industry is they know how to sell products. If you go to their conference program, you will definitely have a stronger knowledge of how to properly sell products and not try to be the cheapest vendor. In the end, knowing how to sell properly is one of the keys to running a successful business.
PPAI show 
