Creative Design Development

Our regular listeners know this, but 2 Regular Guys are all about garment decorating, a bit of fun, and no rants or lectures or selling. We are not doing this for our employers, but rather for our industry. Since February 2013, The 2 Regular Guys have been the first and the most listened to garment decorating industry podcast on this planet! We are humbled by all of you tuning in each week. We work hard to bring you information that will make your business better, and our industry better. Take a look at our incredible weekly guest list and you’ll understand where this industry goes for news, interviews and the heartbeat of garment decorating. Thanks for listening!

News

•  I reached out to Marcia and Josh at Impressions Expo yesterday to see if there’s any buzz about the coronavirus impacting the Atlantic City show. They say everything is a “go” and based on attendee sign ups exceeding expectations. The reason I reached out was a conversation I had with an industry manufacturer last week who said some vendor meetings had been canceled because the meeting attendees didn’t want to fly, and an article in the Wall Street Journal talking about event cancellations across the country.

• In the embroidery world, we lost one of our veteran educators who had moved mostly into the home market, but who was part of the formative years for many of the professionals out there in the industry Walter Floriani Jr. Walter educated a number of digitizers in the early days of my career through his FUN Club and had since gone on to teach thousands more in the home and craft space. He has the dubious distinction of being the educator for the one and only embroidery class I ever attended some time into my career, but he gave me an appreciation for the history of machine embroidery and the control old-school punchers showed in their work. He will be missed.

• THE NBM SHOW hosts the first-ever START HERE Academy in Indianapolis on June 10 from 4–8 p.m. The educational conference takes place the night before the start of THE NBM SHOW at the Indiana Convention Center & Lucas Oil Stadium. The 101-level educational conference provides valuable start-up resources for makers and crafters interested in turning their hobby into a business, and for those looking to add new profit centers in related markets to their business.

Creative Design Development

Jeremy Picker is the creative director and CEO at AMB3R Creative, a Colorado-based merchandise design firm with over 20 years of experience in the fashion industry. Jeremy has helped launch and grow merchandise for major label brands and is passionate about creating retail quality merchandise for the non-profit sector to fuel fundraising efforts and expand awareness. His client list spans from churches to restaurants to corporations, and he designs apparel for Podswag, the merch side of Stitcher and Earwolf, doing work for some of the most popular podcasts today including Conan O’Brien’s, Lavar Burton’s, Bill Nye’s and more.

Jeremy is also a cancer survivor and a co-founder of ESTAINE, a high-end accessory line to support cancer education. We chat with Jeremy about some of the steps in his creative process for designing merchandise and Jeremy shares freely from his lessons learned while fighting cancer and building a successful business.

Terry: Jeremy, tell us a little bit more about your background.

Erich: Many of us in the decoration industry slid sideways into our careers; with no exception from yours truly and Terry, here; How did you specifically come to be in this industry?

Terry: In the work you share online, you frequently highlight specialty techniques and treatments, can you tell us a little about your favorite decorations?

Erich: Full disclosure, Jeremy and I talked before as he was creating an article for Impressions Magazine all about specialty embroidery and applique; I loved the focus on specialty stitches and threads, but is there anything that you wish you could add to what made it into the article? 

Terry: Let’s get into design development; what does the process look like when a customer comes to you? How do you start that process of creating their look?

Erich: Do you find that you get more pushback creating retail styles for businesses than you would just replicating logos? What are the challenges with developing something creative, and why do you think it’s important?

Terry: Being podcasters ourselves, I can’t help but ask about the work you do for Podswag; can you enlighten us a little about the designs you do for podcasters? Is there a secret to great swag for that side of the market?

Erich: I know we started this talking about decoration techniques, and applique in specific, but I want to get a little more broad, here. I saw a post from you that said, and I quote, “Companies don’t need more suppliers, they need more solutions.” That seemed to make some waves in the promo products space; Tell me more about that statement and the challenges you see for creative decorators dealing with purchasers?

Terry: Aaron sent us some pictures of you with some very famous people, I seem to remember Dave Grohl and Peyton Manning; how did you end up chatting with celebrities?

Erich: We’ll definitely have to put links in the show notes, but I’d love to give you a chance to promote your cause, your business, and even your podcast- Where can our audience find you?