EnMart Embroidery Talk

Every once in a while I like to do a post where I tie up a bunch of loose ends that aren’t really big enough to warrant a post of their own,  but which are annoying me by hanging out there.   Monday always seems like a good day to do one of these posts (plus Miscellany Monday has a nice alliterative feel to it)  as it leaves the rest of the week clear to forge ahead with new topics.

First up today is something you may already know,  the Ricoh GX e3300N printers are back in stock.   I mentioned this in the Friday Round-Up post as well,  but I felt it warranted another mention here.   Now that the Ricoh 3300 is back in stock,  we offer a complete entry level printer solution array.  If you want to do wide format printing,  we offer the Epson WF 1100.   If you’re only interested in printing smaller transfers,  then the Ricoh 3300 should suit your needs admirably.  Either printer is a great option for setting up your sublimation shop.

Second,  I wanted to mention the Electric Youth article in Stitches Magazine.  Much of the embroidery for this article was done by our friend Erich Campbell of Black Duck Inc.   The colored metallic thread used in many of the designs Erich did came from EnMart.   Sadly,  some of Erich’s most spectacular designs didn’t make the magazine.  I’m hoping to have pictures of those designs to share with you later.  Erich did some awesome work and it deserves to be seen.

Third on the agenda of miscellany today,  I wanted to remind everyone that EnMart is on both Facebook and Twitter.  If you want to keep entirely up to date on what’s happening here,  and be the first to hear our latest news,  it would be a good idea to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.  While the blogs are a great source of in depth information,  the Facebook and Twitter profiles get updated more frequently.

Fourth up on this Miscellany Monday,  I wanted to remind everyone where EnMart will be this Summer.  We have quite an extensive trade show schedule over the next two months.   If you’ve been wanting to meet our sublimation and embroidery experts or to see the entire array of what EnMart has to offer,   please take the time to stop by our booth at one of the shows we’ll be attending.  We always love meeting our friends,  fans and customers and stopping by our booth will definitely be worth your while.

Finally,  I wanted to ask a question,  what sort of topics would you like to see covered on this blog and on the SubliStuff blog?   EmbroideryTalk has been around for almost 3 years now,  Sublistuff is seven months old,  and there are times when I’m stuck for ideas or wondering if I’m covering the topics you all want to see.  If you have a suggestion for a post or a topic you’d like to see covered,  please leave it in the comments section.   All suggestions will be considered.

It’s always fun when a product you sell gets mentioned in or spotlighted on the cover of a national magazine.  It’s even more fun when your product ends up on the cover because an embroiderer likes it so much, he or she chose to use it in their design.   That, marvelously enough, is exactly how Iris Thread ended up on the cover of the February issue of Impressions Magazine.

The first inkling we had of Iris Thread’s moment in the spotlight was a message on Twitter.  It came from our good friend Erich Campbell at Black Duck Inc.

@EnMartian Have you seen this month’s Impressions Mag? That eco-friendly sample on the cover is ours, but it uses your Hilos Iris threads!

Erich had become a good friend and supporter of EnMart since winning the 2009 Stitches Magazine Golden Needle Awards, Design of the Year – Artistic Corporate & Best Multimedia Design – Fashion.  EnMart put up the prize for that category and that was the start of a great relationship.  Erich and Black Duck Inc. design and create terrific embroidery, and EnMart, as was the case in the design on the Impressions Magazine cover, supplies the thread that helps makes those designs a reality.

When asked why he chose Iris Thread for use in the design that was featured on the cover,  Erich had this to say:

When it came time for me to select thread for my entry into the Eco-Friendly category of the Impressions Awards, I really didn’t know whose product really fit the bill. Kristine showed me the merits of the Iris line carried by EnMart, and I was sold. Here was a thread that not only came from a plant that was conscious about its usage of water and energy, but also used environmentally friendly dyes in their preparation.  The logo looked great and though I didn’t win the contest, Black Duck’s product still merited the February cover of Impressions. I couldn’t have done it without Kristine, EnMart, and Iris thread!

Besides working and blogging at Black Duck,  Erich is a member of the Stitches Advisory Board, and writes a terrific blog for the magazine.   He knows his stuff, and we’re proud he chose Iris thread to use in his design.

EnMart is proud to announce the expansion and relocation of our warehouse and shipping facility located in New Jersey. The EnMart East facility is now located 148 71st Street, Guttenberg, New Jersey and will offer expanded services to customers of EnMart and parent company Ensign Emblem.

Established in August 2008, EnMart East has grown rapidly over the past year. The new facility will provide more space to meet EnMart’s expanded inventory needs, as well as space for production facilities for parent company Ensign Emblem.

Orders placed by our customers on the East Coast will ship from the New Jersey facility or can be picked up at the facility by local customers.  EnMart customers may still place their orders through the EnMart website, www.myenmart.com. Orders will be routed to the location that can offer the fastest shipping time and that has all items in stock.

Enmart is the second company in the Ensign Group. The Ensign Group is anchored by parent company Ensign Emblem, Ltd., which has over 30 years of embroidery and embellishment experience.

As many of you already know, EnMart recently added Sublimation inks, printers and supplies to our product mix.  We are now proud to announce that we’ve also added sublimatable blank items as well.

A sublimatable blank is any item that is coated with a polymer coating, making it suitable for sublimation printing.  All of the quality sublimation blanks that EnMart offers have been carefully hand selected in conjunction with our suppliers as the very best, top selling products that are available today.  So, when you purchase blank sublimation imprintables from Enmart, you can be assured that you are not just purchasing excess inventory or slow moving products – these are all fast moving, top sellers that will enable you to make the most profit and sales from your business.

EnMart is also doing away with the volume purchase requirement.  We don’t require that our customers  buy a case of an item when they really only need a few pieces.  What if you only need a dozen sublimation mugs, 20 mousepads, or 5 keychains? You shouldn’t have to buy a case of 36, 48, or 100 just to get a few items for an order or two.

Our inventory of sublimatable blank items will continue to expand, so please check back often to see the latest products.

EnMart is proud to announce we have added sublimation and Chromablast printers and supplies to our product offerings.  If you are searching for a efficient and inexpensive way (when compared to direct to garment printing) to decorate cotton and polyester garments,  sublimation and Chromablast are the perfect solution.

Sublimation is the process by which a solid converts directly to a gas without going through a liquid state.   Dye Sublimation is a full color digital decorative technology through which you permanently dye a blank, synthetic product by vaporizing ink under heat and pressure.  The sublimation process can be used on any polyester garment, or on any item, like a mousepad or mug, with a polymer coating.

If, instead of polyester, your decorating preference is centered on cotton, EnMart can be of assistance.  In addition to sublimation ink and supplies, we also offer Chromablast ink and supplies.   Chromablast is a unique patented ink and media system which creates the best cotton imaging system available.   The Chromablast ink and associated products allow businesses of all sizes to take part in the profitable garment decoration market without sacrificing image quality or going to an enormous expense.

EnMart’s parent company, Ensign Emblem, has been working with sublimation for several years, and was the first to bring inkjet sublimation to industrial laundries.  That experience is at the disposal of EnMart and its customers.  If you are interested in entering the world of sublimation,  the EnMart staff is more than qualified to be your guide.

Our sublimation experts have also put together a great sublimation combo package, which would be a perfect way to get everything you need to set up a sublimation shop.   If you are new to sublimation, a combo package allows you to get all the supplies and equipment you need at one great price.   Additional combo packages will be available soon, so keep an eye on our web site for the latest details.

EnMart is proud to announce that our store has a new look.  As of today, EnMart’s online presence has been remodeled and revamped for the convenience of our customers.

Some of the new features you will see include:

Monthly Specials – All of our monthly specials are now conveniently collected on one page.  Instead of hunting through the entire site to see what’s on special in any given month, you can just visit this one page.  All our monthly specials are neatly laid out for your convenience.

Shopping Cart on every page – When you add something to your cart you can see your total cost, plus shipping charges and tax, no matter where you are on the site.   There’s no more waiting until you start the checkout process to see what you’ll be charged.

Separation of menus – The menus on the site are now separated so it is easy to find what you need.  The left hand menu contains all the product categories for the site.    The top menu contains links to informational pages.  Finding what you need is quick and easy.

Handy drop down menus – Menus with secondary categories now drop down so you can go directly to the product or item that you want.  The new style of menu eliminates tedious clicking through to get to the information or product you need.

Over the next few months, we will be adding additional products and fine tuning the EnMart shopping experience.  If you want to keep up with all that’s happening at EnMart,  we would be happy to add you to our mailing list.  To be added to the list, simply contact us and ask to be added.

Every once in a while we here at EnMart sit down and take a look at what is currently on our site, and then make some decisions about what we’d like to add.   We always examine our list of the products that customers have been asking for and generally add items or create categories of items based on that list.  We also take a look at the capabilities that EnMart and our parent company Ensign Emblem possess, and decide if and how any of those capabilities can be used to create products for the EnMart store.  That is how the idea for our latest potential new product category came about.

Ensign Emblem supplies emblems and garments and garment decoration for industrial laundries.  They have been doing so for over thirty years, and in that time the company has become quite expert at creating machine embroidery designs.  It only seems logical for EnMart to take advantage of this expertise.

Right now we are in the process of determining what our design sets will be and in what format they will be offered.  That’s where all of you come in.  We are definitely open to any and all suggestions from our customers.  We do, after all, want these design sets to be useful and an attractive option for those who purchase from EnMart.  The best way to make that happen is to create design sets and packages that appeal to our customer base.

If you have a suggestion for a design set, or a request for a particular design format, please leave a comment here,  contact us through the EnMart Twitter feed, or through our web site.   We are open to any and all suggestions, and we’d love to hear from you.

EnMart is proud to announce that we have now added variegated polyester thread to our product offerings.  This thread, called Variations, is 2 ply trilobal polyester.   It features 1 inch color breaks and comes in 1100 yd mini cones.  We currently offer this variegated thread in 24 different shades.

We are also working on some new thread palettes which will feature Variations thread as an accent thread.   Variegated thread is a great way to add interest to your embroidered pieces.  The variegated color changes add dimension to your designs and bring an added warmth to the colors you choose to use. Variations thread also harmonizes nicely with the Iris polyester thread included in our thread palettes.

If you’re looking for some designs that use variegated thread, here are a few web sites where you can find information that may be of help.

Designs in Stitches – Variegated Thread Stitchouts

Needle Passion Embroidery – The Feather Designs

Sew Teri-Fic Designs – Creepy Crawlies

As many of you already know, EnMart has three locations in order to ship your embroidery supply orders more economically and efficiently.  Our main headquarters is in Traverse City, Michigan, and then we have warehouses in North Bergen, New Jersey and Reno, Nevada.  This gives us a location in the Midwest and a location on each coast.   You can see address information for all our locations on our Location page.

EnMart has now also added an “in-store pick up” option to the shipping options in our online store.  When you select this option, the order will be sent to the appropriate EnMart location and will be packed and waiting for you to come and pick it up.   There is a small $2.50 fee when you select this option, but in-store pick up is far cheaper and faster than regular shipping, so the fee is really negligible.

To opt for in-store pick up simply choose this option from the Shipping Options pull down menu.   It is on the bottom of the list of options, so make sure you scroll through the entire list.  Once you’ve made your selection, select Apply, and “in-store pick up” will be selected as your shipping method.

EnMart is proud to announce that we have added some new items to our product offerings.  We’re excited about these additions to our inventory, and we think you will be as well.

Run Rite Magnetic Bobbins -  There’s a new magnetic bobbin in town, and we’re proud to say EnMart has it.  Run Rite Bobbins have one entire side that is a magnet, offering better control and consistency than other magnetic bobbins.  Because these bobbins come 144 to a box,  these bobbins will not only save you time, they will also save you money.

Flame Guard Fire Retardant Thread -  Our customers asked for it, and we delivered.  EnMart is adding 15 colors of fire retardant thread to our product lines.  This thread has extreme resistance to heat exposure and is perfect for garments where resistance to heat is a necessity.

Variations Variegated Polyester Thread -  Variations is the perfect accent for all your fine embroidery.  Available in 25 bright, vibrant shades, this thread sews smoothly and easily.

Dazzling Metallic Thread – Iris Dazzling Metallic thread is now available in a larger size, 5500 yard king spools. Our Dazzling Metallic is 100% commercial grade metallic thread.

Smooth ‘N Silky Rayon Thread -  The remaining 200 c0lors of Iris Rayon thread will join the 100 colors already listed on the EnMart website.  EnMart will now offer the entire 300 color spectrum of Smooth ‘N Silky Thread.

All the new products will be added to our online store in the next few weeks.    If you would like to be notified when the new products are added, simply contact us and we’ll be glad to add you to the notification list.