Scotty's [...]]]> [By popular request, we're re-running edited versions of some of our "success stories" from an e-mail ad campaign that we did in recent years. Here's the first of a few of these fun thumbnail sketches of our apparel solutions that just might help you see what Black Duck can do for you. -ed]

Scotty's is making Fast Friends with his Promotional Tees

Essential T-Shirt

Ultra Cotton Tank Top

Scotty has a very fast group of friends. He owns Scotty’s Southwest Corvettes, known far and wide as the place in Albuquerque for Corvette repairs, restoration, and performance upgrades. His customers aren’t just interested in a quick fix, they need quality and they know where to get it. Scotty supercharges his sales by giving his customers a custom Corvette T-shirt from Black Duck. Scotty rewards their loyalty, and his faithful customers end up as walking promotions for Scotty’s Southwest Corvettes to boot.

If you attend any meeting of the National Corvette Restorers Society, NCRS New Mexico for short, the New Mexico Corvette Association, or the Rio Grande Corvette Club, you’re sure to see more than a few of Scotty’s Southwest Corvettes shirts and hear his grateful customers recommending the awesome service.

If you’d like to rev up your word-of-mouth sales like Scotty, get your quote from Black Duck for high performance promotions!

The Range [...]]]> [By popular request, we're re-running edited versions of some of our "success stories" from an e-mail ad campaign that we did in recent years.  Here's the first of a few of these fun thumbnail sketches of our apparel solutions that just might help you see what Black Duck can do for you. -ed]

The Range Cafe staff looks great with gear from Black Duck

When it came time for the Range Café to pack up their wagons and move their Wyoming location to the new homestead across the street, they knew it was time for their old logos and signage to get out of Dodge. They came to us with a picture from the sign shop and ordered the whole enchilada; tees, polos, and aprons!

Custom Screen Printed Tee

Waist Apron with Pockets

Good for them, the skilled staff at Black Duck knew just how to make their sign come alive in stitches and ink. In no time they had the finest embroidery and screen-printing on a herd of top-shelf garments in every color under the sun.

When we were finished, the Range Café had new embroidered polos and aprons for their employees and the best silk-screened promotional tees in the great Southwest!

When it comes time to circle the wagons and take a stand against the competition, remember that Black Duck can ride for your brand. No matter what you need to set up shop, we’ve got you covered, partner.

Whenever we try to illustrate the power of promotional products, car flags always come up in the conversation. These unassuming little flags that temporarily mount in the rolled-up window of your car seem like such small canvases to show a logo, but their action-packed movement and prominent [...]]]>

Proudly fly your logo everywhere you go!

Whenever we try to illustrate the power of promotional products, car flags always come up in the conversation. These unassuming little flags that temporarily mount in the rolled-up window of your car seem like such small canvases to show a logo, but their action-packed movement and prominent position above the car’s roof make car flags very effective attention-getters!

We first discovered the awesome benefits of car flags when we were contacted by a large real-estate company looking for a promotional product that would maximize the advertising impact of their weekly house tours. It seemed simple to us, if the Realtors wanted a semi-permanent solution, we could make vinyl window graphics, and failing that, we could go to the old standard of magnetic signs for the doors. Project completed, right?

Wrong! The Realtors not only didn’t want anything adhered to their window, but many of them (several driving rather expensive luxury automobiles) had no desire to find out if a magnetic sign would scuff their paint job. So, what did we suggest? Car flags! Car flags are completely temporary and don’t come into contact with the paint whatsoever! As it turns out there are further benefits to car flags for this specific use.

Imagine this scene; fifteen shining cars pull into your neighborhood, flying brightly colored flags like a presidential motorcade, pulling up to that house that just so recently went on the market. Out step twenty sharply-dressed Realtors with clipboards in hand, ready to inspect the residence. Now, what is your estimation of that house? Looks more important, doesn’t it? Even better, what would you think of the real estate company’s service? I’d certainly like to think I had 20 Realtors at the ready to move my house on the market. Suddenly the neighborhood is abuzz with talk of the house and the Realtors’ visit. Sounds like a dream, right? It’s entirely true! By our customer’s report, this happens once a week in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We made it happen for them, and now offices around the country use the self-same car flags for their home tours, courtesy of Black Duck Embroidery and Screen Printing.

If you think your company could benefit from a little mobile advertising, come see us! We can create a complete promotional products solution to help your business be the talk of your neighborhood!

Black Duck was featured in a post by the T-Biz Network’s Aaron Montgomery in a post entitled Examples of Good Marketing Tools in which Aaron gave us great praise for our unique and eye-catching signage, the engaging and professional demeanor of our staff, and the [...]]]>

Aaron was greeted by our locally-famous 3D Pilot Duck sign.

Black Duck was featured in a post by the T-Biz Network’s Aaron Montgomery in a post entitled Examples of Good Marketing Tools in which Aaron gave us great praise for our unique and eye-catching signage, the engaging and professional demeanor of our staff, and the style and condition in which we keep our showroom, production areas, and warehouse.

We were very honored that someone who, as a supplier to the Garment decorating industry, had seen so many shops in our field was so impressed with what we have done with our facility.

If you want to see our seemingly more-and-more famous decorated apparel showroom, feel free to take a look at our first-ever video showroom tour embedded in this post or come see it for yourselves during our business hours for your own special tour!

We had a great time showing Aaron around and we treat every customer with the same respect as we show our industry visitors. All the black Duck staff are proud of the company we have here, and Erich was more than happy to represent Black Duck.  If anything we only feel more pride every time someone in our industry or community points out the quality we work so hard to maintain at Black Duck.

Thanks again to Aaron, and thank you to all of our Black Duck staff for making our company what it is today!

If you are in need of high-quality decorated apparel like you’ll see in our showroom, or even signage like what we have on-site, we can help! We produced everything that Aaron saw on his trip, and we can give your shop and employees the same professional edge. Come on in to Black Duck!

Though the article is more than a bit aged being from 2007, we were deliriously proud at the time to see our own Doug Bird and our embroidery shop featured in Albuquerque’s premier independent newspaper, The Weekly Alibi. They featured us in the article entitled “Set [...]]]>

Black Duck co-Owner, Doug Bird, threading an Embroidery Machine

Though the article is more than a bit aged being from 2007, we were deliriously proud at the time to see our own Doug Bird and our embroidery shop featured in Albuquerque’s premier independent newspaper, The Weekly Alibi. They featured us in the article entitled “Set Up” covering the effects of the flood of movie industry business into New Mexico.

This article really made it clear to us how all the new work in film that we’d seen since the implementation of tax breaks for the industry was more than a blip on our radar.

Since then, Black Duck has done a great deal of work for locally filmed television shows and movies alike, perhaps most notably making our embroidery artist (and Black Duck Blog author) gleefully privy to early views of art from Terminator: Salvation.

All in all, we’re happy and proud to say that Black Duck is a part of the production machine supporting the New Mexico film industry.

In case you missed the in-text link, you can see the original article here: http://alibi.com/index.php?scn=film&story=19092 .

Here at Black Duck we pride ourselves on producing quality garments for every client, no matter if their designs are simple or complex.  That said, we were pleasantly surprised to see that one of our entries into 2009′s Impressions Magazine contest was featured prominently on their cover, and throughout [...]]]>

February 2010 Cover of Impressions Magazine

Here at Black Duck we pride ourselves on producing quality garments for every client, no matter if their designs are simple or complex.  That said, we were pleasantly surprised to see that one of our entries into 2009′s Impressions Magazine contest was featured prominently on their cover, and throughout February’s issue.

Though this design is simple, we are proud of this garment. It was made as an entry into the eco-friendly category and features a bamboo fiber shirt from Ash City and Hilos Iris thread from EnMart.  The design is a logo redrawn and digitized by our own Erich Campbell on behalf of LGI Algae International, a group studying algae for use in producing biofuels.

When this logo appeared at Black Duck, the customer had an the text and a  couple of rough sketches. We took that brilliant concept, drew clean vector art, and digitized a simple but striking embroidered logo that was both eye-catching and meaningful. Combining that logo with the eco-friendly garments and threads meant that not only was the shirt-color green, but we’d really created a product that embodied the green ethos for which LGI stands.

Our shirt at work!

We’re proud to see all of our work out there in the wide world, but we couldn’t be happier that Impressions shared our love of this awesome shirt.

Would you like your logo to have that cover-shot quality? All it takes is a trip to Black Duck! From concept to completion, we can help you make a statement that gets attention.  From apparel to accessories, we’re here to make your logo look its best.

Sometimes it doesn’t take many words to make a point. At Black Duck, our point is to make your logo look professional and polished, so that you can make an impression without worrying what [...]]]>

A competitor's work (left) vs. Black Duck's work (right) They might be the same image, but execution makes all the difference.

Sometimes it doesn’t take many words to make a point. At Black Duck, our point is to make your logo look professional and polished, so that you can make an impression without worrying what your decorated apparel says about you.

One of our customers that supplies correctional institutions learned the hard way the difference between getting cheap work and getting their money’s worth, and it only takes a glance at our example to understand. Having already purchased a digitized design from a competitor, they originally chafed to have their digitizing redone, but their reward became obvious when the new logo brought increased orders from their customer.

Even with a simple, single-color logo such as the seal pictured here, attention to detail and skillful interpretation can make the difference between a clean, professional appearance and an illegible, unrecognizable mess. Our competitor might be cheap and quick, but so is the appearance of their finished product.

When you rely on your apparel to identify you, to promote your brand, and show your pride, you don’t want a poorly decorated garment telling those around you that your logo, and by extension your company,  doesn’t matter enough to get the job done right.

From the most simple text to the most detailed images, Black Duck treats every logo like their own, no matter the size of the order.  We let the high quality of our work speak for us every day.  Give us a chance and it can speak for you too.

Knowing the way that most of your customers will see your logo makes a big difference in deciding just how you want your logo to look.  To that end, we’re going to let you on a little secret that can really help you [...]]]>

The Handshake Distance tells you how your customer will see your logo.

Knowing the way that most of your customers will see your logo makes a big difference in deciding just how you want your logo to look.  To that end, we’re going to let you on a little secret that can really help you get the most bang for your buck the next time you work with us to decorate your business apparel. We’re going to teach you all about the Handshake Distance.

Something most of us can certainly understand is the concept of personal space.  We all like a little buffer between us and the next person to be comfortable, right?  Well, that’s something that an anthropologist named Edward Hall got really interested in in the mid ’60s.  Mr. Hall studied the idea of personal space in the United States, and he identified four zones of personal space that Americans seemed to like.  For our purposes, we’re just going to talk about one aspect of his studies, what we will call the Handshake Distance.

Mr. Hall stated that a handshake will typically place strangers at least 2 to 4 feet from each other, preserving what he called the personal distance.  Now, why is that important to us, both apparel decorators, and you our customers?  Well, that’s pretty simple.  Now that we know what our personal distance is, and particularly, the distance of a handshake, we know with fair accuracy about how far our customer will be from us when they see our logo on corporate apparel!

So, how can we make good use of our new found knowledge?  Well, knowing that our customer will be between 2 and 4 feet from us will tell us just how far away we should be when we judge how big we want our logo, how much/what information we want included with it in what size text it should be. More importantly it can show us how much is too much or too little to fit into the space we have available.  Now that we have the magic number, we can really see how to get the most impact while maintaining the best look for our corporate apparel.

Though fine up close, viewed at the handshake distance, some small text may be hard to read.

Try this excercise- when deciding what to place on your apparel, print out at the finished size you want, tape it to the wall, and walk three feet away. Does your logo look cramped? Are the details lost at this size? Could something be changed, moved, or eliminated to make it easier to read, or make the logo more identifiable? Let’s say you put your phone number or your web address under your logo and you can’t read it from the handshake distance.  Now you can decide whether or not you want to make the text bigger, or perhaps, in the instance that your customer is already talking to your representative, whether you really need it at all.  Answering these questions and considering your customers’ point of view can make all the difference when preparing your logo for apparel.

Moreover, the handshake distance helps us in evaluating samples of our finished logos. Some customers will all but use a magnifying glass to check infinitesimal details without looking at the garment from the all important Handshake Distance. Though we at Black Duck are highly detail oriented to the point that we’ve probably already had the magnifying glasses out ourselves, it’s best to view a sample in the same way most will see it.  It’s not likely for your customer to stare at your shirt from 2 inches, why evaluate it that way?

With the handshake distance in mind, everything we create can be crafted to make the most impact right where it counts, in the eyes of our customers.

Come to Black Duck’s fully-stocked showroom, and we’ll show you samples of our work so that you can decide just what you need to keep your business on the top of your customers’ minds.  Our knowledgeable sales staff and expert artists can help you decide how to apply your art, whether you have it all drawn out to the last detail or just a thought and a desire to make it real. We live decorated apparel, and we can help you at any stage of the process.

You already know that wearing your organization’s logo is great for identifying you staff and building team spirit, but that’s for office hours and weekdays, right?  Though it’s a must to look professional when you are on the job, with the comfortable, stylish, and functional apparel [...]]]>

Realtors often use logowear to sell 24-7, shouldn't you?

You already know that wearing your organization’s logo is great for identifying you staff and building team spirit, but that’s for office hours and weekdays, right?  Though it’s a must to look professional when you are on the job, with the comfortable, stylish, and functional apparel that’s available to your garment decorator, there’s no reason not to wear your logo out shopping, in the gym, at sporting events, or anywhere!  More to the point, here are 3 reasons why you and your employees can and should wear your logo every day and everywhere.

1. Brand Recognition

We all know how much good traffic and signage can change how well your business is known in your local community, but what if you could walk your sign around town? When you foster team spirit by rewarding your employees with cool and comfortable ways to wear your logo in their off-time, you can do just that!

2. Personal Recognition

If you want to make sure that you are on the top of everyone’s mind, you have to be seen and identified with your company!  When you wear your logo, every errand becomes a chance for your community to see and recognize you as a representative of your business! Start wearing your logo and soon enough you will be the local go-to expert for your field.

3. Starting the Conversation

If someone is interested in your company or group, wearing your logo is an invitation to open up a conversation about what you do.  Carry business cards and make sure you have a solid 30 second pitch for your business, and even the most hurried trip can be a chance for prospecting! Even if the initial contact isn’t promising, the next time your prospect needs your service, or knows someone who does, your face is in mind and your card is in hand!

At Black Duck, we can create any look from the most casual sports and gym-wear to the most formal business attire. We have solutions for any situation. So, whether you want polo shirts for the golf course, embroidered caps and jackets to fight the winter chill, or the time-tested t-shirt for employee giveaways and promotions, we can provide you with the eye-catching design and execution you need to get noticed.  Call us at (505) 884-3656 and mention the blog to get started with one of our experts in sales!