April 2025 Recap
Seriously, where did the month go?
We’re starting to post a monthly blog more for us than anything- just as a way to look back on where we’ve been, but you can also follow along with us on our journey!
THE GROUND HAS BEEN BROKEN!
We’ve been a little quiet about it but we’re starting to let the word out- Skyline HQ is currently under construction in Bentonville (800 Village Loop!) and seeing the pile of dirt take shape into a foundation and parking lot has been way more exciting than I would’ve guessed.
More details and info to come on this entire project, but Team Skyline is psyched to be all together in one spot in central Bentonville to serve the Walmart and vendor community here in town with a level of service we haven’t been able to offer up until this point. Huge thanks to Bryce Larry and everyone at Legacy Bank. We have worked with Legacy for several years on all their bank merch so to partner with them on our building financing brings it full circle.
DTF EXPO
April kicked off with Lana and myself attending the DTF Expo in Phoenix/Mesa. DTF Expo is only in its second year of existence but always offers us a lot of insight on the growing print-on-demand industry. Much of the topics were around AI usage in the print industry – from art creation to customer acquisition and marketing. Big shoutout to Adriene and the team at DTF Printing.com for hosting the event.
A really sick new machine introduced by M&R that allows for fully automated heat press / robotic film removal that was at the Expo
RACE RACE RACE
Faster, faster…
Bentonville Half Marathon- This April we were honored to partner with Bentonville Parks and Rec, and Run Bentonville to produce the finisher hoodies for the Bentonville Half Marathon. This print job kept us busy for a day or two.
Square 2 Square – while we’re talking about the local parks and rec offices in Northwest Arkansas, its City of Fayetteville’s turn to host the Square 2 Square bike ride from the Fayetteville square to the Bentonville Square. If you haven’t been a part of this fun event, I would encourage you to try it sometime! It takes place every spring and fall- alternating direction and host cities each time. The event is highlighted by pit stops all along the Razorback Greenway where sponsors shower participants in freebies and activities. Its kid friendly – the entire ride is around 30 miles. One of our favorite parts of the race is the t-shirt they give to all participants- 2025 was the first year Skyline partnered with City of Fayetteville to produce the event merch and we’re hopeful its the first of many years!
Jackrabbit 5K was another race we were excited to partner with again this year, Flagstone Church of Christ in Bentonville hosts the easter themed 5k every year and we have been able to print the Jackrabbit merch for the past 6 years.
Easter weekend usually separates our calendar from “winter/spring” and “spring/summer”, everything post-easter is gearing companies and organizations up for their summer programs, camps and initiatives. But Easter week this year, our production schedule was loaded full with baptism tees, church merch and Easter event tees.
Tariff fun… just refer to my other blog post about this. Yes. Hopefully we can look back and laugh at this short period of freak out but time will tell.
Ledger Merch Lab –
Merch Labs by Skyline give organizations the opportunity to have us come on-site for an in-person activation where people have the chance to create a completely unique t-shirt. In April, we did a collaboration with Ledger Bentonville to do an activation for all their members to create a t-shirt. Pizza, drinks and a t-shirt bar- what else could you want from a sunny Thursday afternoon?!
Huge thanks to Emily and her team at the Ledger for including us on this one!
NWACC Graphic Design Field Trip-
We hosted one of NWACC’s graphic design classes at our printshop in Gravette. Once we’re all settled into Skyline HQ Bentonville, we will be hosting several interns out of the NWACC design program under what we’re calling “Camp Skyline” – a semester long real life design internship with practical week-by-week assignments. We believe being local means just that and what better way to pour into our local NWA community than inviting students into our space to learn. Thank you Kelsi Turk for bringing your class out to visit the T-Shirt Farm (skyline’s current printshop is on my family’s farm in case you missed that memo- so somedays we call it the T-Shirt Farm and other days we just call it the funny farm..)
The current economic and political climate around tariffs is enough to make your head spin and is changing moment-by-moment. That being said, this is written on April 16th, 2025 by a human (not AI so sorry for any typos!) and may be outdated as soon as its posted. We’re all on this rollercoaster ride together, so we might as well look around and enjoy the views.
1. Prices will go up.
Unfortunately, we are already seeing prices increase across the board on all blank apparel.
Globally, apparel manufacturing is somewhat elastic, allowing production to move from one country to another to help offset spikes in seasonality, shipping costs, raw goods cost (i.e. cotton), as well as the most important aspect of manufacturing, the humans that make up the workforce.
The industry has seen a shift to near-shoring, a manufacturing strategy tobring a lot of manufacturing back to countries close to the US (Mexico, Central America and Caribbean countries), which helps shorten timelines and now currently have more favorable tariffs than Asia. That being said, almost all imports are seeing a rise in tariff costs. These prices are pushing all the way through to end consumers.
2. Premium is the new Basic.
We have seen a rise in popularity of premium blanks over basic blanks since 2020 and covid-era shortages when inflation hit and prices of all products rose.
Consumers were opting to spend more on a premium product vs going with a basic. As brands like Lululemon, Alo Yoga, and Skims grew in popularity, commanding $128+ for a hoodie, it has given the consumer as a whole an appreciation for premium goods.
My personal opinion is that price increases across brands like AS Colour (who currently has touted having 30 months of inventory in the United States market) and domestic brands like Los Angeles Apparel or Royal Apparel will remain somewhat low. These brands may fare well against the rising cost of more basic goods coming from Asia that will see a much more dramatic increase making the premium option closer in price to the basics.
This may only be temporary but will give the fashion forward brands a runway into growth.
3. New brands and styles will emerge
I think as the market begins to digest the price increases and repositioning of manufacturing, we will see mainstream brands release new styles (something similar to the already released Gildan 3000 Light Cotton T-Shirt) that will cater to the budget end of the market.
New brands offering a lower cost option will pop up and consumers will be more likely to try these products than they would in the past. Smaller brands may chip away at some of the market share of mainstay brands (Gildan, I’m looking at you) simply because they’re more nimble to import smaller batches if and when some of these tariffs get negotiated down.
4. Overall Demand will decrease.
This one is simple economics. The price increases will cause some projects to not move forward. I don’t see this causing major problems but it is an effect we are prepared to face.
If a non-profit was buying shirts for all 200 of their volunteers at a budget of $2000 and now that same order is $2650, the entire line item may get cut.
We understand that t-shirts are not always the most critical item on a budget and for some projects and events, it no longer makes sense at a price. The best way to work around this is to let us know up front what your budget is and we will do all we can to recommend products and print processes that will help hit your price target.
5. Print-on-Demand Market will gain speed
If you’ve been asleep for the past 5 years, you may have missed the meteoric rise of the print-on-demand market (POD). This has been fueled by the increase and advances in direct to film (DTF) printing, influencer marketplace, and the advantage it gives suppliers to not predict and hold inventory.
Essentially, products are not produced until they are purchased by the end consumer. They are, then, produced in small quantities (as few as one piece) by digital print methods and shipped directly to the end consumer. This cuts out an entire need for warehousing and 3PL and gives influencers and brands the ability to sell to trends almost immediately.
POD also gives companies the option to instantly pass on cost increases to the consumer as well (or decreases should tariffs be negotiated down). At Skyline, we are re-introducing our online store platform this summer of 2025 with new features and options to help streamline the online ordering process for schools, non-profits, and businesses. This takes all the risk of “how much do I order? Which design will be most popular? I don’t have the budget to front all this inventory” away from the organization.
We will do our best to keep you informed of supplier increases and changes in the market as they come about!
Thanks!
Jacob Scott
Owner
Five Money Savers when Planning your next Merch order
The two designs below show the difference between an premium (ahem… more expensive…) option vs. a budget friendly option.
