SGIA’s first 2019 quarterly benchmarking survey queried garment decoration companies on products and markets in their industries. With responses from 94 garment decoration businesses, insights include:
- The average number of markets served is seven, with five products produced; 96.6 percent offer T-shirts, 80.5 percent bags, 75.9 percent hats/caps, and 79.3 percent performance wear.
- Top markets served include 73.5 percent business-to-consumer, 71.1 percent athletic, 69.9 percent corporate branding, 61.4 percent educational institutions, and 61.4 percent nonprofits.
- Markets with the highest growth potential: interior décor, architecture, printing for the trade, business-to-consumer, and healthcare.
- 78 percent of companies have fewer than 20 employees; 78.2 percent have a sales revenue of $3 million or less; and 14.4 percent top $10 million in sales.
- Garment decorators tend to offer additional products in other industry segments, most commonly graphic and sign (28.7 percent).
- 75.6 percent use a multi-technology approach to operations, with 17.9 percent being mostly digital and 34.6 percent mostly analog.
- 52.6 percent provide some type of finishing and/or post-production services, most commonly bagging/tagging and fulfillment.
- 79.4 percent experienced positive sales growth, with 8.3 percent median sales growth during the past year.
- 28.8 percent report an increase in employment; 51.6 percent plan to hire more people.
- 76.7 percent of respondents were confident about the industry.
SGIA members can access the full report online at sgia.org.