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AC Apparel News
Section
Announcements, comments and random thoughts
December 2006
We're entering the final printing stages of the year - with the holidays and such we like to take time to relax with family and friends ourselves...! We won't be doing the 12 hour 7/day a week printing work ethic right now...We'll leave all the 'rush' orders up to the big print houses...We'll relax and take a breather while we gear up towards the beginning of the year onslaught of orders!
For those that actually take the time read this news section - we haven't really done too much in the past with updates and such - but for those customers who have allowed us to help them with their businesses, jokes for friends, bowling teams, dart teams, in loving memory items - and the huge assortment of other printing we've done - thank you so much for making this our best year yet...We continue to strive to treat our customers the way we'd like to be treated and we hope we've done just that for everyone.
June 2006
We get a LOT of requests for one or two custom shirts - as a result we will shortly be launching a new website specifically designed for those that only want one or two (even three will work) custom t-shirts. There are a few stripulations - such as we cannot screenprint an 8 color front and 8 color back in 2 days for $15. That won't happen. But by far the majority of people wanting 1 or 2 shirts only want a funny saying - or something to impress their friends or to even put down on a shirt something that only you and your friends will ever understand. We'll have a link to our new site on our frontpage shortly!
June 2006
Its this time of year that we see our regular customers return to us for their yearly shirts. Whether the need is for company shirts for a yearly event, or fun shirts for the local beer-chugging 3rd string championship team - we enjoy hearing back from our clients each and every year. We have made improvements in our systems and production and continue to keep our production times as short as possible. This has been another difficult year for us again as far as email goes as we had more problems with our service provider - but things are all back on track!
Please remember - our primary focus is email - NOT the telephones. Leave us a message please - but please remember to follow that up with an email!
Looking forward to hearing from you shortly - jim
January 2006
New 877 number for our company! In case you aren't a regular or return customer, our regulars know that the fastest way to actually make sure your message reaches us - is typically email. With all of the electronic gizmo's on the market today - with wireless this and bluetooth that - emails that come into our mailboxes are distributed to different people within the company immediately. Well we've decided to take our business one step further with a toll free number - 877-yes-tees (877) 937-8337. Ya its a vanity number...but hey it was worth the small amount we paid for it and we think its fun and easy to remember! This number is toll free and is a voicemailbox only - meaning messages come in - and is immediately transferred via email and handheld devices - so the messages are typically heard immediately during business hours... Being a small shop - at times we really do focus on production - not the phones... We get too many calls about the mortgage, lending rates, ink cleaning chemicals...etc.etc.etc... that we found as long as we get back to our clients in a timely manner they're happy with our service.
September 2005
New employee - welcome aboard Katie!
For those
of you that have called, you've probably noticed a new fresh voice on the phone - That's Katie. Since I know she's going to hate me putting anything about here on the website, I figured this would be the perfect spot to give her the spotlight - in our news section.
Katie's young, fresh and vibrant. She brings a real energy here to AC Apparel at the front desk - and we're glad to have her on our team! Katie will be taking care of the front office work as well as our level 1 quotes. Adding a new face around here means more growth for AC Apparel... something we've done with great care and thought. So take a second and say hi! Chances are it'll be Katie you speak with in the near future!
September 2005
Wow! - been far too long since we've added anything here!
Time to gear up again for winter orders! We want to say welcome back to customers returning to us this year for their re-orders. We've always believed that a customer is only truly a 'customer' after they've returned to place their 2nd order. Making a sale is far easier - than earning a customer. So for those returning for their fleece, long sleeved t-shirts, and blankets..welcome back! We're looking forward to gearing up for this year's lineup of orders.
April 2005
Most of our customers know we're a small shop. We treat people the way we'd wish to be treated and with that in mind, Jim decided to get rid of some of our excess inventory - at below cost. No kidding, no 'loss leaders' here...From time to time we just have more inventory of specialty items than we know what to do with...so we'll offer it and see if it sells. For this month we'll liquidate the overstock of blankets we have... and yes we have blankets!
March 2005
We're coming into busy season once again! Its warming up here on the West Coast, and AC Apparel is preparing for the business. We have so many plans this year - new equipment - more space! More inventory! We're looking forward to our seasonal customers again this year!
November 2004
RUSH service now available!... - OK, we're going to make
a change in our basic pricing...and yep - its gonna cost you more - BUT...for
some, its been a lifesaver (not literally). Imagine needing t-shirts,
designed, proofed and printed in a day or two. How about the phone call
on Monday - to tell us you have to have your shirts for your team's party
on Saturday? Dealing with a screenprinter that has a minimum order and
a two week leadtime just won't do. RUSH Service is going to cost more,
and its service is subject to production variables, so before anybody
starts to rely on 2 day 500 shirt delivery - we must confirm via email
that we can produce your garments in a short period of time when our normal
3-5 day delivery just won't do. ALL rush jobs have to be quoted via email
before we commit. There may be times when it just can't be done, but we'll
try to do what we can!
October 2004
New phone number! - Our phone number has changed - (661)
942-0223
July 2004
What's a Girly Man?
Addition of Girly Man Shirts to our lineup
We've added a line of a dozen or so shirts to our lineup
that can be ordered directly from our website! These shirts have
been quite popular these days!
March 2004
Chat Function Added to our website!
At the top of every page, you'll now see the button - 'click here to chat with
us'
We're going to be testing how useful real-time chatting will
be. If you'd like to get an instant quote on shirts, talk about your order
and where it sits in production - have at it... No guarantees that we'll be
available 24x7, but we'll do what we can.... :)
February 2004-
Sample Shirts
For customers that are looking at selecting us as their shirt
vendor, ask us about sending you a free sample shirt. They're
provided as a service to selected customers just for the asking.
ITS LEAP YEAR!!!!
Check out the Leap Year Shirt we're selling
(link on the main page) - this shirt has been removed - its no longer leap year silly.
Heat Transfers!
Seems people like our quality, our honesty and our products!
We've just recently gotten ourselves into the heat transfer business!
We're really excited about heat transfers, as they open up an entirely new
approach for us to offer our products and services. The secret to a good
transfer is print quality and quality of transfer materials used. Give us
a try! We've been told by our customers that our transfers are excellent -
and we don't mind agreeing to those statements...
One area that is perfect for heat
transfers would be with pictures - something we're quite excited about!
Imagine having us at your kids soccer,
baseball or football games, taking pictures of the team and individual
shots. We'd create the transfer right there on the spot for you for a very
low price, and apply it to a shirt of your choosing! No waiting, no
pre-paying, no delays! Many of our customers that are now coming to us
looking for a very small number of shirts, such as 1 or 2 have been happy with
their new shirts which were created using heat transfers.
January 2004 -
We will now take orders for 1-5 shirts!
We are now test marketing printing 1 or more shirts. We
have read the emails! We've been asked by some if
we'll print only ONE
shirt! Well, its time that we opened the doors to those that only want
one, two or maybe 3 shirts.
Shipping and Handling - Most all of our customers are
surprised, and GLAD that we don't have a 'shipping and handling' charge on our
invoices. We believe that charging 'shipping and handling' is a sneaky way
of increasing how much money comes out of your wallet or purse! We let the
shipping companies make their money in shipping... We always tell our customers
- if we're shipping by UPS, then you can go to their website, and calculate your
shipping costs... simple. Like our sticker business... we really do sell
fifty cent stickers and charge a whopping fifty cents for 'shipping'. So
when you buy from AC Apparel...you know you're getting a good product for a
great price.
December 2003-
Monthly Hotsheet is now available as well as the AC Apparel mailing list.
The hotsheet
will be the place to look online for our monthly specials.
This will be a quick and easy reference for you to see the price list.
Shopping for prices on the internet is such a sport! There's always
going to be someone cheaper today, possibly tomorrow. So AC Apparel
isn't looking to be the internet's low price leader. We want to
sell a great product for a very fair price. Let us earn the opportunity
of quoting your next shirt order!
November 2003-
Humor line of assclown shirts
announced!
One of the people here at AC Apparel
had an idea for some humorous shirts, he kicked around different ideas but
nothing seemed to click. One day, we sat down together and brainstormed on
what his vision would look like. We approached one of our artists with the
concept, and before you knew it, assclown himself was created. We took one
look at the image, and knew that this was what we wanted for a humor / sarcastic
shirt line. The term 'assclown' is becoming more and more used these days,
and we're seeing more and more people coming to the site looking for assclown
stuff. So he's here now... cheap assclown shirts, what more could you ask
for?
October 2003-
VINYL DECALS!!! We were asked by one
client to look into whether we could produce vinyl decals... the type that go
onto car windshields... We researched what startup costs would be, and with a
few phone calls... AC Apparel is now in the vinyl decal
business! including those very popular window decals for cars. Your
average car sticker runs from $2.00 to $15.00.. more in some cases... but let us
quote your stickers! We have pre-made artwork that can be printed as well
as taking your design and turning that into a custom window decal. Looking
for a car decal to promote your website or business? How about a 4"
x 30" window sticker (white)... for $25.00 ! We'll be running that price
until the end of the year to help promote our vinyl business.
September 2003-
The business has spread quite well.... our regular
customers are coming back to us with re-orders now, and are spreading the word
that our company, AC Apparel can delivery a very high quality product, at an
affordable price, in a short period of time. Although we're
not looking at becoming the low price leader, we have found a market that needs
some TLC.... The company works with each and every client to make sure the
product we deliver, is the product they want to pay for.
Sometime in 2002 - Feb 2003-
After a few camping trips last year, a group of friends
gathered to discuss getting T-Shirts made for a group of about 40 campers that
meet regularly each and every year. We thought it would be a great idea to
'remember the moment', by ordering t-shirts. Our experiences in shopping
around for a shirt vendor were well, less than spectacular. After our last
camping trip, a decision was made that we could take our collective experience
in the print trade, and develop T-shirts for people. We did our research,
we formulated a business plan, and obtained our initial capital...AC Apparel was
born. The company was formally in business in February 2003. Our
product - T-Shirts and Custom Graphics.
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