Springing into action

Well, my title is kind of optimistic, as the weather is NOT springlike today, but we do have hints of the beautiful season coming up, so I am in planning mode. We are first going to be finishing the bathroom for the workshop. Since the particulars of those plans are rather mundane, I will skip ahead to some product ideas I have had:




Flip flops! Now to be known as "Graphic Sandals", which I predict will become the craze of summer! These are the coolest, really. Regular, thick soled, well made flip flops with any photo or motif printed on them. Think of the possibilities:

• Beach wedding: send all the guests these cool shoes as "Save the Date" reminders.
• The Bride herself will love these sandals imprinted with her vows (like a "cheat sheet")
• Swim meets and teams can have photo shoes for fundraising
• Tourists will love collecting these sandals from each cool place they visit.
• Family reunions can imprint them with old photos of the dear departed ancestors

The come fitted into a pad, the whole pad is 11" x 17" and you can imprint the whole pad and break out the shoes when the wearer is ready. The pad serves as a display, an extension of the message and photos and becomes a permanent holder for the end user.

I found these cool dye sublimation imprintable flip flops at Conde Systems (http://www.conde.com/). As a beta tester, I can tell you they imprint just like mousepads, easily and nicely but with a lot of burnt rubber smell, so I do recommend good ventilation for big production.

The shoes also require assembly, of course, you have to pull the straps through the holes. And, since nearly
everyone has had a pair of these sandals before, you know it's not that had to squeeze the little knobby thing through the hole, but if you rip the hole the shoes are useless. So, there is a tool for that part of the operation, so I recommend you get one of them, it is much safer and easier if you have it.

So, now I am working on several templates that I can use to show potential clients. Conde has flyers I can use with my own logo...uhoh...I guess I need to come up with a logo....hmmm, see ya'll soon!