Images magazine Digital Edition April 2018

INDUSTRY NEWS www.images-magazine.com 14 images APRIL 2018 T his month a standout hoodie embroidery containing more than 120,000 stitches made its way from Clothing Your Way in Torquay, Devon to the Images offices and straight into the decorated product of the month slot. Co-founder Dale Triffitt explains that car wrapping company Wrap Capital, in Exeter, asked Clothing Your Way to redesign its logo for printing onto its staff’s uniforms, with a specific request that the logo should ‘pop’. The company will be doing shows across the southwest of the UK and wanted personalised clothes to make its staff stand out at the events. In-house designer Liam Winterbourne, who is a student at South Devon College and works for Clothing Your Way part-time, took on the challenge to create a ‘cool print’ for the Wrap Capital garments. “Liam used CorelDraw to come up with the designs and followed the customer’s colours,” says Dale. Wrap Capital loved the design straightaway, and asked if it could be printed on T-shirts, and then unexpectedly requested that the design be embroidered on the hoodies. The design ended up with a stitch count of 122,000 per logo, with each hoodie taking five hours to embroider on Clothing Your Way’s single-head Melco embroidery machine. Two types of hoodie were used – Gildan Premium Cotton Hooded Sweatshirt (GD64) and Gildan DryBlend Hooded Sweatshirt (GD54) – and the design was stitched using Madeira threads. “The customer expected some of the detail to be lost, but was amazed with the finished results,” reports Dale. “Normally we wouldn’t embroider such a large design with that much detail, so this was a first for us.” www.clothingyourway.co.uk DECORATED PRODUCT OF THE MONTH The Schoolwear Association will be canvassing members' opinions this spring on a wide range of topics to ensure that it is accurately representing their views on every topic, from Brexit to gender neutrality in uniform. The association will also publish a new two-year plan aimed at strengthening its focus in key areas including membership, communications and public affairs. Members and others with an interest in the association will be invited to give their views on its future direction and identity. Dan Turner, the association’s vice chair, said: "A thread running through the new strategy will be the association’s ongoing campaign, ‘Every Child Is Worth It’. This demonstrates our members’ belief in the positive benefits of uniform and that it should be accessible to everyone." As part of its commitment to this goal, the association will be reinforcing its Code of Conduct for members, covering areas such as ethical sourcing. The Schoolwear Association will be repeating the Schoolwear Awards at the Schoolwear School in October this year following the success of the inaugural awards in 2017, and will be adding a new category that will recognise social responsibility in the area of supporting schools and families to ensure every child has a quality uniform. The association will also publish a guide for members on best practice in this area, while its website and brand identity will also be refreshed. www.schoolwearassociation.co.uk Dan Turner, vice chair of the Schoolwear Association The embroidery on the Gildan hoodies had a stitch count of 122,000 and took five hours to stitch out The Schoolwear Association to canvas members on direction and strategy