![]() They are even beginning to expand their offerings far beyond custom apparel as their situation becomes more troublesome. They’ve been forced into a rebrand and site redesign that likely cost millions. Custom Ink has a similar solution, and even with so much funding, Teespring is struggling. ![]() Teespring, a custom decorating company with amazing tech, raised $55 million to create an amazing e-commerce platform for their customers to design and sell online. Let’s be honest: give credit where credit is due! It is extremely hard to compete with a company that created the digital design and fulfillment space for custom apparel. They were pioneers on the internet long before e-commerce truly blossomed into the economic powerhouse it is today. Think about that for a second! They’ve had twenty years of relentless focus on their specific business model. But it’s not everythingĬustom Ink was started in 1999. They don’t fulfill tons of 1,000 piece orders from a customer-focused design tool – it’s likely that their average order quantities are way under 50 pieces! Custom Ink is trapped by its own brilliant business model: small custom orders, fulfilled quickly, with little room for change or adjust course if conditions change. You are nimble, resourceful, and (most of all) not held down by the constraints of a massive infrastructure and the sluggishness that giant scale produces.Īs much as the Custom Ink design tool is a standard-bearer for the industry, it’s a real curse for Custom Ink. It’s surprising, but here’s the bottom line: your shop is far more adaptable than Custom Ink. So why in the world is it good that you’re not Custom Ink? They deserve significant praise for the work they’ve done on the logistics end. It is tough to find a design tool as good as theirs. They have their market, and you have yours.Ĭustom Ink dominates the internet with custom apparel and their designer tool (and, unfortunately, this has led a lot of shops to believe that an expensive designer tool is how to win customers, despite a lot of data saying otherwise). That’s goodĪlthough David and Goliath is a great story, you’re not destined to a cage match with Custom Ink. But for the rest of us, there’s still hope – despite the overwhelming odds. Unless your shop is featured in the nearest ballpark and shows up on the first page of Google when you search for “screen printing,” this post probably isn’t for you. Custom Ink were the first to market with a robust design tool connected to immediate fulfillment.Custom Ink invented an algorithmic fulfillment system with a coast-to-coast contract printing network.Custom Ink pays for space on MLB backstops and prime-time broadcast advertising.Custom Ink has an army of software developers, designers, engineers, economists and expert marketers.Custom Ink paid $4.5M for a Super Bowl commercial.You should invest in those (amazing) tools, too – but don’t believe you’ll be able to beat Custom Ink just yet. But more importantly, they’ve invested heavily into advertising, marketing, and SEO tactics. They have a huge network of contract printers and a robust infrastructure for fulfillment. The sheer scale of Custom Ink is unrivaled. You can’t beat Custom Ink with advertising ![]() Here’s a secret: you already have exactly what you need to compete with Custom Ink, and it’s something they’ll never be able to match. You’ve had tense conversations with a fairly big client: “Why don’t your prices match this quote I got online?”Įvery time you check Google for screen printing, Custom Ink comes up. You’re probably thinking, “How am I ever going to compete with this massive business?” They don’t even use your online design tool! Your customers send you designs they made on Custom Ink and ask you to print them. ![]()
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