John LaRoy, CEO of Apparel Redefined, and Adrienne Palmer delve into the transformative shift within the apparel industry—from traditional screen printing to cutting-edge digital technologies like Direct-to-Film printing. Adrienne Palmer, Editor-in-Chief of DTF Printing, shares her unique journey from journalism to leading a media company focused on empowering apparel decorators to grow their businesses.
John LaRoy highlights the industry’s swift embrace of Direct-to-Film, drawing parallels to the rise of Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printing a decade ago. Together, they emphasize the critical role of education and content creation in navigating this shift. The benefits of Direct-to-Film, particularly for print-on-demand services and versatile decoration options, make it an attractive choice for modern decorators.
Adrienne also spotlights the upcoming DTF Expo, urging industry professionals to engage with DTF Printing for valuable resources and networking opportunities. As the apparel industry continues to evolve, staying informed and connected is key to thriving in this dynamic landscape.
Key Highlights
• Adrienne’s Journey into Journalism and DTF Printing 1:27
• DTF Printing and Its Impact 3:05
• John’s Perspective on Direct-to-Film 9:06
• Adrienne’s Visit and Industry Insights 10:20
• Adrienne’s Background and Transition to Podcasting 12:24
• Education and Content Creation in the Industry 15:24
• DTF Printing’s Resources and Upcoming Events 20:39
• Final Thoughts and Advice for Entrepreneurs 25:38
Presentation Transcription
Curt Anderson 00:02
Man, Hello. Happy afternoon, good morning, whatever time you’re watching this. What an absolute honor. What a thrill to be here. I’m with my dear buddy, John Leroy from from Apparel Redefined John. Happy Wednesday, how are you,
John LaRoy 00:15
dude, what’s up? Curt, how are you always great to see you? Man, I
Curt Anderson 00:18
could, dude, if I was doing any better, you might have to call 911, it’s just, I’m just I’m just so excited for this conversation right now. So we are talking with the one, the only. Adrienne Palmer, Adrian, how are you? What’s happening?
Adrienne Palmer 00:32
What an intro? Uh, thank you so much. Um, happy to be here. Thank you for the opportunity,
Curt Anderson 00:38
absolutely so now we won’t go deep, but I understand you’re a bobcat. Do it like no journalism major, you’re a bobcat. So for our friends out there, not like, Wait, who’s the Bobcats? So we’re talking wonderful Ohio University in great city of Athens what? What inspired you to get into journalism?
Adrienne Palmer 00:56
Yeah, so my dad worked in the art department at the Dayton Daily News. I’m from Dayton, and so I grew up after school, just hanging out with reporters and designers and just loving the newspaper life. And so I went to Ohio University. I actually started out in broadcast journalism that didn’t last very long. Moved over to magazine journalism almost immediately, and just have always loved to write and edit and kind of be in that world. Interned at the Dayton Daily News, but realized that wasn’t going to be like career path for me. So was searching for magazine journalism jobs in the Ohio area, and came across big picture magazine, which is in the wide format world and kind of the rest is history.
Curt Anderson 01:46
The rest is history. Well, now you’re Editor in Chief, so now, I mean, you moved right up the corporate ladder quickly at your young age. Super impressive. And so now you’re with DTF printing. I want to go here for a second. What attracted you so journalism would attract you to the fashion industry, if you will.
Adrienne Palmer 02:04
Yeah, so I really, I mean, I knew nothing about wide format digital print, which is where I started with big picture. And as you said, Yes, I was started out as Assistant Editor, worked my way up to editor in chief, and then we had some restructuring with our company. So I added screen printing magazine, and even though it was a sister publication, I really wasn’t involved. I obviously attended printing united. Knew that it was around, but just was kind of laser focused to wide format. But my first event was screen printing, and I was like, Oh, this is amazing. Everyone is so cool and welcoming. And I kind of feel like I had found my community. And so, you know, I was, at the time, like balancing big picture and screen printing, but really, really loving the apparel side. And so when Andy McDaniel of GTS superstore reached out to me last year, and it was an opportunity to start something completely new in an industry that I loved with the technology that I thought and still, at the time, you know, feel like it’s just booming. I thought, why not? And so, yeah, I really had no background with print at all. And everyone’s always confused, like, Oh, were you a printer before? I’m like, not at all. I can with some guidance, but, yeah, no actual like, print experience.
Curt Anderson 03:26
Well, phenomenal. I just how inspiring. Like, and when you, when you graduate from college, you kind of like, well, I think this is what my path is, you know, it’s going to be this, but then it kind of like, it goes a little bit, you know, up and down all over the place. So just love the transitions that you’ve made. So let’s dive into DTF. Please share who is DTF? How do you and your wonderful team make the world a better place? Oh,
Adrienne Palmer 03:51
yeah. So I do think that we are making a world, the world, a better place, with our education resources. So DTF printing is a media company decade dedicated to helping apparel decorators grow their business. And so we are a website. We have a newsletter. I have the DTF printing podcast, which John was a guest. Everyone go check out that episode. It’s great. And so we’re just a resource to people who either are just starting out, have no idea, even you know what DTF printing is, but they’re going to buy a heat press, or maybe they’re even buying DTF printing equipment all the way to larger companies like John, who has been in the screen printing space forever, but are bringing on DTF technology and are looking for new products and trends and business tips to grow in this new space. We also have a directory marketplace. We are the media sponsor of DTF Expo, so we have a lot of content that is just ready and available to everyone interested in DTF printing. Gosh, I just
Curt Anderson 04:59
What I’m hearing, what I love, is just the sheer dedication to helping your just your your Pete, like you mentioned, like you know, I found my crowd. I found my peeps. And so, you know, what a perfect marriage for you of just coming in and just helping elevating entrepreneurs, small business owners, like our friend John, like you said, John’s on a, you know, bigger side, John, let’s pull you in, my friend, what your relationship with DTF printing? What’s going What attracted you to this relationship here? Yeah,
John LaRoy 05:27
I mean, dtfs relatively new for us, you know, it’s been around. We dipped our toes in the water about two years ago, when it was like, just coming out, and Adrian’s in a tough spot, right? You know, like they do a really good job over there. But DTF is, and still is, is looked at as a threat to screen print, right? And a lot of screen printers there’s, there’s really three ways you can go about it. I will never use DTF. It’s a cheap substitute for an art form. Two, I will use it at some point, just not right now. And three like us, we’re diving in because we’re looking at it as a compliment to the services we offer. But there’s so much like, imagine if, like, when Henry Ford invented the car right? And he had, like, a little bit of a runway with with the production line, but if every car manufacturer started making the same model T at the same time, the consumer would be completely overwhelmed, right? And that’s essentially what happened with DTF. Every like last year we were talking before we went live this entire trade show, which is, you know, section of it is devoted to apparel decoration, like, I would say, 75% of the traffic and the equipment being sold was all in DTF, which is unheard of, like it would always be dominated by screen printing. So yeah, there’s a lot of vendors out there. There’s a lot of manufacturers, and there’s so many different components in a digital side that don’t exist in the analog side. And for people like, you know, the cricket essentially, is kind of like a DTF, right? And you have all these, you know, people that stay at home and want to get involved in business, and this is that next kind of step up from the cricket. So there’s a whole new vertical in the market that people can start their own t shirt decoration business with this type of equipment at a pretty affordable price price point, but there’s a lot of you know, like buyer beware out there, and a lot of kind of crap to sort through to find out how to really do it, who to talk to, and Adrienne and her team do a really good job of kind of cutting through the noise and talking to people like me that have adopted it. Some people are still on the fence, and everything that everything in between, right? And we’ve seen this before in the apparel decoration industry, about 10 years ago with DTG, and it’s just kind of like history repeating itself with a similar technology, but a different application, because it’s more platform friendly than DTG. So a lot going on there, but yeah, met Adrian actually threw an email because they were reaching out to industry decorators and seeing if we adopted it yet, what what our thoughts are, and just kind of threw a questionnaire and then invited me on her podcast. And then she actually came and visited with a camera camera crew, which he was super talented, awesome dude, too. And actually, as big as we think this industry is, it’s really kind of small because, like, everyone is, like, really, like, one degree of separation away from, like, you know, we just had Meryl from rock and encourage. We did a podcast with rock and Meryl. And actually, Meryl knows Adrian’s, I’m sorry, what’s his name again? Oh, Seth. And they grew up in Louisiana, like, next to each other. Yeah, crazy. You know, small, super, small world, even smaller than the South Side sometimes, but, but yeah. So, long story short, we met via email, and really, have you know, enjoyed our enjoy each other’s company, and she moved to Chicago for a while, and hopefully she’s enjoying it. But, yeah, I just want to thank her for involving me, because it means a lot to think that people actually want to hear what I want to say. That’s
Curt Anderson 09:13
awesome. So Adrienne, I mean, I have a ton of questions for you, but I know we’re limited on time. What your your any, anything that you want to piggyback on what John just
Adrienne Palmer 09:22
shared. Yeah, well, one Thank you, John. It’s been such a pleasure getting to know you and seeing your facility. I think that’s always so key is to get in actually see the production process and your employees and and really check out everything that’s happening. So if anyone’s interested, John, shop tour will go live at the beginning of September, so make sure you check that out at DTF printing com, and we’ll post it on social media and and share with John’s team to do so as well. But I always think it’s so important for people to see inside shops. I know I’ve met plenty of apparel decorators who have never even been to a different print shop. In to be able to see, and especially one that you may be, you know, looking up to get a lot of different ideas. But yeah, John had mentioned printing united, which is coming up soon, and in Atlanta, last year I launched DTF. Well, it was dtf.com we made a big splash with that URL. We launched it the day before printing United last year. We’re now dtfprinting.com as our URL. But I thought it was like, Am I just biased? Because I’m just, I just launched this last night, and everyone wants to talk about DTF, but no, it’s like, that was such a huge discussion topic. And I do think that even on the wide format side, with the mamakis and Rolands that maybe have a little bit of their toes already in the apparel side, they’re moving into DTF because they understand digital printing, seeing other manufacturers either offering automatic heat, automated heat press, or getting into the DTF space in Some way. So I’ll be curious to see if there are any new additions at printing United this year. But I think in the next few years that technology is going to grow, it will advance. And yeah, John, I usually say there are three ways to offer DTF printing, which is to bring everything in house, to outsource just the transfers and he press in house or outsource everything, but you you added a fourth. We’re not doing that at all, which I think is a limited mindset. I’m all about growth mindset and finding ways to diversify. And if you know you don’t change, then your business has the potential to, you know, not be there in the next few years. So yeah, I think that, I think people were maybe a little bit concerned that DTF was going to be so similar to DTG and have some limitations. But I think again, as the technology grows and people understand there’s a lot of testing and figuring out your environment and doing training, there will be so many more benefits. And I don’t think DTF is is going away. I also don’t think screen printing is going away. I think it’s just another addition and another offering that you can provide to your clients that you can’t you can’t do everything that you’re doing with your screen printing equipment if you don’t have DTF,
12:22
yeah, all right, this is fantastic.
Curt Anderson 12:23
So now I want to, I want to slide into this. You piqued my curiosity. Adrian, so journalism is in your DNA. Can’t even help it, right? Following dad’s footsteps. And as a girl, Dad, I just love hearing that. And so, you know, since college, you know now, like it just sounds like you guys are fierce with your content. You’re supporting manufacturers. I ironically, we did a John, we did a tour of your place. I walk around my little laptop. You know the wonderful workers he has, and the facility and the system and the processes machinery just wonderful. So I’m just glad to hear that Adrian, what what transitions, what changes have you seen since you got out of college, from a journalism major to now, you know you’re you’re applying your journalism skills. You know podcasting. Did you ever dream you? You know podcasting, all the new content, all the social media. What are your thoughts there? Sort of like, like as a content machine, you know? What? How do you feel like with all this content as a journalism major?
Adrienne Palmer 13:16
Well, I started out in broadcast journalism, and quickly changed because I didn’t think anyone needed to hear the sound of my voice. I’m not kidding, I heard it on the radio, and I was like, Absolutely not. And now here I am on my second i This is the second podcast that I’ve had, the DTF printing one I had screensaver with screen printing magazine. I’m on podcasts all the time, so it’s just kind of funny that, you know, I was like, I’m just gonna write and edit and never be in front of the camera. And here I am, but yeah, I mean, you nailed, nailed it like there’s so much that you have to be providing. And people receive their content in so many different ways. And even if people are just, you know, all they do is look at Instagram like you also have to have captions on Instagram, you know, because people aren’t listening. You know, with sound, there’s so many little intricacies, and to be able to capture people and really grab their attention is so difficult because we have minds that are like even worse than goldfish. So, you know, our attention span is just so quick, and so, I mean, I guess the biggest change for me personally is with screen printing. And big picture, we had a print magazine, and that is what I, you know, my, one of my biggest focuses was, was the print magazine, and then screen printing went to digital, which was a huge change. Screen printing was, is a 70 plus year old company, and a few years ago we went all digital. And people you know were like, what this is crazy. One, the magazine used to be like 250 pages, and then it was, you know, dwindling, but the digital edition actually brought so many new audience members and a fresh perspective, we could have videos within the page. So I really think it’s just that adapting to what people. Are interested in, and knowing that they’re interested in a lot. And for me, it’s like we’re we’re posting to social media every single day. We’re making sure that we connect with people we have you can subscribe to our newsletter, our E blast. It’s, it’s making sure that we’re sharing this education, and you can get it however you want, but it’s a challenge. I’m not going to lie like social media is tough. That’s, I mean, that’s why we have Seth, because that’s not my wheelhouse at all. And, yeah, it’s, it’s a fun challenge, though it’s
Curt Anderson 15:35
a fun challenge. And I want to go here. I love the word you just said was education. So, Jen, I we have a little tagline. We love to preach. We call it for, you know, like John’s entrepreneurs that he services, and what he does a great job. As you know, I could run a small business. I don’t need to have all the vast overhead, you know. He can be my muscle, you know, I can be bigger, you know, thanks to an apparel redefine, but I can be that guerilla marketer. I can, like, go out and just like, really pound the pavement. Any advice that you have in a tagline that we’d love to say is, how do you out teach the competition, you know, and even if we’re just selling T shirts or screen, you know, whatever we’re selling, you know, if we come out as fierce educators, how? How have you guys found yourselves as being so fiercely committed to educating your customers, your clientele, your your your community, if you will? Yeah, well,
Adrienne Palmer 16:20
I think, I mean, I think that’s so important for print shops to be doing is educating their customers throughout this entire process. And of course, you can always direct people to a site like dtfprinting.com where they can really understand, but I think it’s, it’s educating the customer to know the differences between screen printing, between DTG, between DTF as you are, you are the Knowledge Center, like you are providing this information to them so that they understand that they’re getting the best quality product. Some people don’t care, but I think there are a lot of customers who want to know the difference and want to be educated, because they want to make sure that they’re putting their money toward the right product, the process is right. So, yeah, I mean, for me, education is so important, and I think content is king in this industry, whether you’re a manufacturer, whether you are in the media, or you’re a print shop owner, you know, sharing content, whether that’s case studies, projects that you’ve worked on in the past, showing people you know what you’ve done. Customer Testimonials are so huge. People are hopping on Google reviews, constantly seeing you know what people are saying about you. And so that’s a form of content as well. And you’re responding to people, you know, in the comments, even if they’re saying, like, not the best thing about your company, you know. So it’s just that presence. So if you really do want to grow and expand and find new customers, finding ways to push out content and also be an Education Source to them, I think, is just really important. Yeah,
Curt Anderson 17:54
I love that Education Source, John, anything that you want to piggyback you’ve really jumped, you know, head head first man, right into the deep end. As far as content, you know, wasn’t a priority in the past, you’ve really gone all in now, anything that you want to piggyback off what Adrienne’s sharing here,
John LaRoy 18:11
no, I just think you know, for 18 years, we didn’t do anything, you know, and it’s at the time where, Okay, I gotta do something, and it was always in my head, like, if it’s not perfect, I’m not going to do it. And as I am right now, with this light that’s shining through here in the back, it’s probably not perfect, but I’m still doing it. So getting out of your own head and just starting is what I did in my business. But to talk about my business is different, just because, again, like, I never imagined hearing myself, because I don’t like to. But one of the things I talk about Adrian and with you Curt as well, is like, I want to elevate the industry. And how are you going to do that if you never talk about it, right? So kind of shit or get off the pot type mentality that we have to adopt. But one of the things too, is like, you know, the DTF world, I think, like the way it’s marketed right now too, is like gang sheets, and especially if you’re doing what Adrian said, where you’re buying the transfers, right? So one of the things that we’re not testing anymore, because it’s full blown in production, was like the day before Adrian, or the day Adrian got here was like, the day before we started, like, print on demand with DTF, so allowing our customers like, through the education process, like, Hey, you have a merch shop right where before you could only do DTG for print on demand. Now we have embroidery. We have DTF and DTG, so that customer isn’t limited by fabric type or decoration type on their Shopify store, so that just in time, print on demand capability has been augmented by a new technology which helps people sell more, stress less, and just have more competitive offering than just a person that’s kind of pigeon holed in just a DTG space,
Adrienne Palmer 19:57
right? Yeah, being that one stop shop. OP is so huge, and online stores are just like expanding that opportunity as well. So, yeah, I think it’s so great to be everything, you know, it’s, it’s finding that niche, you know, that’s a big conversation, or kind of being everything to everyone. And you don’t necessarily have to have all that equipment in house. You can outsource everything. But I think it is still so important to find ways to say yes to your customer. You know, if it makes sense for your business plan, right?
John LaRoy 20:27
Makes sense for sure, yeah,
Curt Anderson 20:29
yeah. Well, this is phenomenal. And Adrienne, I know John, I hate. We have a running joke about, you know, how do we help people stop being the best kept secret? And you guys are absolutely dedicated and committed to helping your folks there. You know, you have some really exciting things that do you mind pulling up? Do you have anything that you want to pull up or share real quick? You know, you have a couple things that we want to talk about. You mentioned your podcast, a couple of events coming coming up. What do you want to share here?
Adrienne Palmer 20:52
Yeah, sure so. I mean, just pulling up the the DTF printing.com website right now. Um, head to DTF printing.com we have industry news weekly education sections. Our directory is actually something that we’re really promoting right now. So either your equipment, directory, print, service, directory or marketplace. And so for you know, if you’re on the Facebook groups, they can be very overwhelming, and everyone’s always on there, like, I need someone in, you know, Chicago today to print this. And it’s like, okay, well, we have more of a vetted area where you can really just plug in, you know, search near me, and you’re going to be able to find someone that is, you know, a printing service that’s local to you. And so definitely recommend checking out our directory, whether you’re an equipment supplier or a print shop or you’re looking to purchase transfers, but we also have our you know product section of the website, so any new products, you can check them out here. Our podcast, as I mentioned, every other Tuesday next or, yeah, very soon we’ll have our 25th episode. So you have plenty of content. There’s John, so make sure you listen to his episode. So yeah, we’ll be 25 episodes that you can listen to. And everyone is so unique and has really great feedback. We have an education section, which houses DTF basics, how to tons of videos, sales and marketing, and then our DTF Expo learning sessions from our first Expo, which brings me to DTF Expo, which I highly recommend if you’re looking to buy new equipment, if you’re looking to learn and you’re looking to network. And so exhibitor registration is open. I think we’re halfway full on the show floor, which will be in Mesa, Arizona, April, 1 through second of next year. Attendee registration opens in October. So make sure that you were there if you wanted to learn, network, buy new equipment, even just kind of get an understanding of what DTF is. DTF Expo 2025, is your place to be. And yeah, in terms of what’s coming up next, we have printing united, which we mentioned, and we will have a booth there in the Knowledge Center. So if you’re at printing united and you want to meet me, I’ll be there. If I’m not at a meeting or hosting or moderating a panel or hosting awards or doing everything else that I have on my my plan for that week, but I will say that on Tuesday, at 3pm in the Knowledge Center, we are hosting the semi annual DTF printing t shirt contest awards. So about 70 people registered for the contest this year, and so we’ll have 70 designs printed on a UX link, UX blank t shirt and our UX print blank t shirt, sorry about that. And we’ll be having the judges there, and they’ll explain, you know, why they chose this year’s winner. You can check out all of the different prints and kind of get an idea of, you know, what is successful in this industry or not. And that’s 3pm Tuesday, printing United Las Vegas at the Knowledge Center, trying to think if there’s, I mean, we always have tons of stuff going on, so subscribe to the newsletter and head to dtfprinting.com and of course, if there’s anything that you think that I should be covering, I have an email or a text away and yeah, let me know. Well,
Curt Anderson 24:44
Adrian outside, your enthusiasm for the industry is just so contagious. This is just awesome, John. As we start winding down, any words of wisdom, any thoughts that you want to share as we close out our conversation with the one, the only Adrienne Palmer, yeah.
John LaRoy 25:00
I just want you said 3pm on Tuesday,
Adrienne Palmer 25:02
yes, and then center right,
John LaRoy 25:06
any words of wisdom. I just feel that the support that the industry specifically has started to provide to companies like myself, whatever size you are, is really been great, and it’s been because of Adrian and her work, first in screen printing, then now in DTF. So I would, I would say, don’t hesitate to reach out to her. You know, she’s been phenomenal in what she’s done with us and for us. And if you’re interested in anything DTF, DTF warehouse is dtfprinting.com is where to go.
Curt Anderson 25:44
Love it, alright. Adrian, we mentioned. Definitely find you hanging out on LinkedIn, social media, dtfprinting.com as we close out a little question, and hopefully I don’t stump you with this one. How about words of wisdom? Any advice for entrepreneurs out there that are maybe newer to or maybe they’re seasoned veterans, but they’re just looking for a little nugget of golden wisdom, anything that you want to share with them to that would really help take them to the next level.
Adrienne Palmer 26:09
Oh my gosh. Well, it was something that I actually wanted to piggyback off of what John had said, because I just interviewed someone about this, and it kind of that just try it. Just do it mindset, um, especially if you’re looking, if you’re like, trying to figure out this content side of the business or social media. I was just interviewing precious Johnson for the DTF printing podcast, and she just went all in and just started recording herself and her in her house. She was a DTF printer, and she thought she was kind of this, you know, maybe not like a big social person, or had a presence online, and she’s just blown up, especially on YouTube and her social media accounts. And that’s and Tiktok, and that’s how she she just kind of does it. She’s like, Oh, I’m just gonna my kids might be in the background. I might be asking my husband for a beer, like, we’re just hanging out, but I’m showing you the ins and outs of my business, and you’re just like, be yourself. I think that’s so just, just try it. If it doesn’t work, that’s okay. I mean, you can fail, and that’s alright. All of us have failed. It’s something that we’ve tried, but it’s important to try and learn those lessons and figure out what works best for you and your business.
Curt Anderson 27:21
Love it. Authenticity is what I’m hearing my friend. So I phenomenal advice, Adrian. What an honor and privilege to have you with us today and again, reach out to Adrian, connect with her on LinkedIn. Just all sorts of information, as you can tell. If anything that you missed, go back and hit that replay button. She’s got tons of information, lots of excitement in the industry. So John, how about a round of applause for Adrian, for being our esteemed, wonderful guest today. So Adrian, we appreciate you. We applaud you. We commend you. Keep keep that fire burning, my friend. And so we hope to have you back. And you know what, John, maybe we’ll people will be at the Expo. We’ll go live with her there. So how’s that? Good? Yeah, yeah, awesome. So Adrian, thank you. Hang out with us for one minute and so guys, you know, connect with John apparel redefined. We’re here to help and serve you. We will see you guys next week. Thanks, Kurt,
28:14
thank you.