(Originally printed in the January/February 2023 issue of Insights.)

Personalization shops have been adding in-house rubber stamp making for many years. Shop owners have realized that producing stamps is an easy way to add a new profit center and expand the store’s existing customer base without a large equipment expense. This article will look at why a shop should start selling custom-made stamps and the most common methods for production.

I’m always on the lookout for more resources to help me do my job—design and production for promotional products. I’m especially excited when those resources are free. But, most often, it is not enough to explore YouTube or use a quick Google search. Instead, I rely on a list of online resources that I have compiled over the last few decades. In the May/June 2022 Insights issue, I wrote about free resources for finding fonts, images, tutorials and more. This is the sequel to that article.

In 1982, Fred Schwartz left his job as a mechanical engineer at General Electric, deciding it would be fun to start a company focused on creating personalized products.

While laser engraving photographs remains one of the hottest and most unique engraving trends, it also seems to be one of the most misunderstood.

Whether you’re looking to add apparel decoration to your personalization and awards business or you’re starting from scratch, you made the right decision. When decorating apparel and accessories, there are a variety of processes, applications and heat transfers to consider. Hopefully, this information will help you narrow down the best process for you—or at least the process you’d like to begin with. 

Sure, personalized tumblers make great gifts for teachers, parents or wedding parties across the country. But retailers are getting creative with what they engrave and personalize, including everything from whiskey and perfume bottles to the edges of coins, bomb shells and even cow patties.

From all indications, the demand for laser engraved tumblers continues to grow—and grow. However, most laser owners could use tools to be more efficient in getting finished products out the door.

All industry professionals need to consider the possibility of a lawsuit, with the ultimate goal of ensuring your personal and business assets are shielded from seizure to satisfy a judgment. The first step to shielding assets is understanding how lawsuits work. Fortunately, proceedings of a lawsuit can be broken into six simple steps.

To understand the recent push for color products that’s dominating the industry, Bridget Dahlgren, vice president of marketing, Crystal D, points to what happened with the film industry decades ago. “If you’re watching a movie in black and white, it’s so different than if you’re watching it in color. With color, so many more emotions are evoked.”

UV direct-to-substrate printing is a great technique for creating stylish and useful products for your customers. If you are ready to take your everyday UV printing techniques to the next level, combining UV-printed products with laser techniques can offer enhanced efficiencies for high-volume products while adding another dimension to the artwork. Here’s a nine-step guide for merging the best of both worlds.