Hello from moderately sunny Florida!

I'm waking up today just a few short miles from the happiest place on earth - Orlando, Florida. While normally Orlando is the stop for those wanting to visit Disney, Sea World, Reptile World, World of Magnets, etc. I am here for ISS - the International Screenprinting Sportswear show (or something like that.) This is where everyone comes to trade supplies used in printing sportswear like jerseys, baseball hats, etc.

Before you get all excited no, we are NOT opening a sportswear store. My attendance here is for a couple of different reasons. First, looking for suppliers for our wholesale biz. There doesn't seem to be an inernational show for people that print silly things on cups but the folks that print things on t-shirts and caps use many of the same processes. So I came down wanting to learn more about this whole screen printing game.

Second, I am here looking for inspiration. Printed cups are alot of fun but we are always looking for ways to expand our line. We started our business with gift bags then clipboard and finally into the cup business, so now we are looking at where the game might go next and inspiration can be found in the silliest of places.

So what I did find here is interesting. First, I found tons and tons of HUGE machines that equate to nothing more than industrial strength Bedazzlers...you know that little hand held, sold on TV gidget from that 80's that let you put rhinestones on anything? Yeah, they now sell huge machines so you can put "Stella's Stud Service" on a thousand t-shirts in fake rhinestones in only a few nanoseconds. Don't think we're going to go that direction.

And I also found soy based cleaning products for our inks and other screen printing solutions. This was a HUGE find for us as these new cleaning products will do a better job, be safer for my co-workers and not damage the ecosystem - this one find alone was worth the trip.

So while I did not find the "next big thing" I am very glad I came. I did learn alot and found out that somehow we are managing to do most stuff correctly (yeah, I was shocked too!) and found a couple of possible leads for suppliers and ideas for the future.

It's back to the drawing board for inspiration...I'm really wondering if that inspiration isn't on a Carribean island somewhere....

Until next time -