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King of the hoodies!

20 April 2023 Stuart Nimmo Garments and Apparel ,

Probably the most requested item in any apparel range is the Hoodie. They’ve evolved so much over the last few decades, styling comes and goes, and equally “trend” colours shift on an annual basis too. But they’re well and truly a staple of the apparel mix. Corporates now adopt them for team wear, they appear as an easy means for work-from-home branding, and above all there functional.

Where did they stem from? Well if you go back far enough it’s the monks, that were the first adopters of the hood in everyday apparel. More for functional purposes than style. Hoods keep the warmth in and are so relevant to today’s cost of living issues. Yes, hoodies have had it rough, the 1990s associated them with yob culture. As we said, the flavour has changed.

So with the plethora of options now available how do you start?

With the likes of Just Hoods by AWDis with over 75 colours, the choice is massive. The generic college is the starting point. Also, AWDis have an excellent choice of varsity hoods, with the 2 colour combinations. So the sky is the limit when it comes to colour options.

The next option people ask for is something more weighty. The standard hoodie weight is 260-280gms material, so the next level is 300-310gms weight. In our opinion there are two options AWDis have a heavyweight option, note not with the same range of colours. Also, the other option is Anthem’s heavyweight – we seriously like these, the trim and finishing level on these. Yes, we can get other options around this, however, the finish or quality doesn’t match the two options.

If you’re running an event and need hoodies on a budget, we’d recommend Ultimate Clothing Co, a 260-270gms weight garment, with a limited colour range, but it prints great and delivers a product you can be proud of within a budget.

All of the above can be found in our showroom, so pop in if you want to get your hands on them and decided for yourself!

So if you are planning to style up a hoodie for a merchandise project, here’s the low down on how to manage this from stock to something different;

  • • consider the cords, yes you can often upgrade these to match your print colour or other styling facet
  • • hood prints, you really need to get the garment and work out what can appear where, as hood panels do vary from garment to garment style.
  • • if zipped, you can look at zip pullers, there are options to trim these to make them look funkier.

If in doubt, ask, between us here at HAD-Print we live our hoodies, we’ve tried many different options, and we know what we like. We listen to our customers and pick up what works, even when it is family members who are envious at people’s hoodies!

The big question… Why?

15 April 2023 Stuart Nimmo How we do it Our ethos , ,

In an age where buzzwords and rhetoric spin around endlessly. Falsities around being kind to the environment by using electronic communications bluff their way into everyday life. Why does print or physical marketing matter?

We exist to provide the following

  • • enable successful businesses/organizations to engage with effective physical touchpoints
  • • assist SMEs / charities to deliver effective physical branding to enforce their presence in their primary customer touchpoints
  • • enable more accountable communications with known carbon footprint materials

What drives us… in a physical world, where being seen is a significant challenge. The reality of physical provides a great opportunity to help SMEs and third-sector organizations to create reality, and retention whilst resonating with an audience in a meaningful way.

The power of print, aka physical marketing, lies in the ability to connect. Connections are created through, the impact of the message; evoking the senses, visual and touch. Print through its lesser utilization due to mass market digital communications being cheap and overused, means print holds a unique power of trust, and reality, there at the moment, with no distractions. When coupled with creativity in a proper design, and well-written content, it has leverage in a very different way. Add in personalized or localized to make the message even more relevant to the recipient, and the engagement level increases further.

As a multi-disciplinary print provider, we don’t just print on paper, but everything through to large format items like banners and signage, through to garments and apparel. Delivering a wide range of physical items ready to take your brand. Delivery of this range of items, allows us to support our customers more fully in delivering their message, even just reminding people of who they are. Of course, this can be subliminal, working in the background.

We don’t live in silos, unlike some graphic communication providers. We know and understand the power of connecting digital communications with print. We don’t profess to be experts in digital communications, however, understand what you can do. Hence why you won’t find us selling websites, social media support or other digital products. At the heart of what we do is the power of physical media through print. We understand the paper, and the nuisances of print finishing, which allows us to better specify strong campaigns and items in print.

Don’t think we are not connected, we do understand marketing basics, we have professionals in other disciplines we love to work with. We will ask, what is your call to action? How do you want to measure or quantify parts of marketing tools? How are you distributing or connecting with people who might be your ideal audience? These aren’t hostile questions, purely us making sure you have thought through a customer journey, where are you wanting them to go next and why.

As for being accountable, we can identify sources of paper, substrates, garment stock and pretty much everything that flows through our print studio. From the shortest journeys of Kendal to Preston and us in Halifax, or paper manufactured in Portugal. With toner which is compostable, latex large format ink. We are well aware of every item we use in our processes. We’d like to challenge you to think of the carbon used in digital communications- you’ll struggle to fully identify every element or resource used.

Above all, we care about what we do, try to be properly responsible, and have some ethics along the way. Perhaps we are an exception to life in modern business society, we aim to be credible, through being responsible. We work best when in partnership with our customers, helping them to achieve whilst delivering progressive development for all involved. Making us part of the bigger community, valued and adding value where we can.

Product Review: Regatta Men’s Navigate Hybrid Jacket

6 March 2023 Andy Patten Garments and Apparel Product Review

A couple of weekends ago (26th February 2023), I visited the Printwear and Promotion 2023 exhibition with Stuart at the NEC in Birmingham. Printwear and Promotion is one of the first exhibitions I’ve attended in a long while. While I was still determining what to expect in this post-Covid world, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of exhibitors, interactive workshops, and friendly approach towards someone who doesn’t specialise in the sector. 

If you’re unaware, the Printware and Promotion exhibition allows the print industry access to the latest products and tech across the spectrum of garment and apparel printing. – Anything from hoodies and T-Shirts to Bags, Mugs, Keyrings & Pens. 

I’d, however, describe it as my other half’s nightmare. An exhibition hall full of clothing and shoes with no possibility of buying any of them. I still don’t think she’d have recovered now if she’d visited with us. However, a few suppliers were offering sample stock, and, more excitingly, Regatta allowed visitors to win some of their products. I’m always up for excitement like this, and never more than when it involves a “seaside” style grabber machine – a quick go, and on the first attempt, grabbing a bottle with a piece of paper. A quick trip to the desk revealed I’d won their top prize, the Men’s Navigate Hybrid Jacket. Excitement was at a fever pitch!

A few weeks later, I’ve been wearing the Regatta Navigate Hybrid Jacket on and off, and I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. I know a name like Regatta has high expectations in the clothing spectrum, especially for their outdoor kit. However, this lightweight jacket punches well above my expectation for such a light garment. 

The jacket features Regatta’s Extol Stretch Technology which, in their words, is an “Ergonomic and flexible fabric for high energy activities”, and I can’t disagree. This fabric on the sleeves and hood provides enough warmth, but also freedom, and movement. The main body comprises Polyamide panels, which add a little more warmth but are also perfect for a small company, club or society logo on the chest. 

The Regatta Men’s Navigate Hybrid Jacket features two lower pockets and a chest pocket, all ample for your day-to-day needs and truly is a jacket you can wear all day without feeling it. I’ve been surprised a couple of times by how light yet warm the sleeves are, and Regatta’s Extol Stretch Technology does seem to work well.

I’ve yet to find many negitive points, if any, to be honest. I’d say the size is a little “regatta” and you may find yourself needing to “size up”, but for a lightweight, day-to-day jacket, you can’t go wrong with Regatta’s Men’s Navigate Hybrid Jacket.



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