Revolution 2013: A Brief Overview

2013 was a big year for us at Revolution Screening.  A year that saw Mike celebrate 5 years in business, the addition of his first full-time employee, the opening of a store-front and warehouse, and the addition of several new pieces of equipment and a wide range of new product offerings.  It has been a great year and we are very thankful to all of you who have trusted us with your company's workwear, school uniforms, team jerseys, advertising material and everything else.  We truly would not be where we are without the support and loyalty of our clientele and we feel blessed to have such a great group of people working with us.

We look forward to 2014 as we continue

Get Into the Spirit of Giving

This time of year there are many opportunities to get into the giving spirit and we at Revolution Screening are excited to be offering a great opportunity for you go join us.  We love what we do and love even more the ability we have working in the apparel business to help the less fortunate in our local community.

Volunteers of America approached us with a proposition to collect as many articles of warm clothing as possible.  We gladly jumped on the offer and we're looking to our clients and fellow local businesses to help us make this Warm Clothing Drive a huge success.  VOA is a charitable organization that works with homeless men, women, and families.  They help shelter, feed and clothe those in need and offer programs to get these people back on their feet.  They offer life skills training of all kinds and help with job searching etc. Check out VOA's website to learn more about what they do.

Our flier for this drive is posted below.  You can come to the showroom to drop off clothing that you have no more use for, or you can call or stop by to purchase a new item of clothing from our catalog.  This drive works great for all budgets with new items for donation costing as little as $3.   Call 916-604-6865 for more information or email info@revolutionscreening.com . We hope you'll join us in this venture.  We'll be accepting donations from now until December 14th.

5 Promotional Gifts You WILL Receive This Holiday Season

The Holiday season is just around the corner.  Companies are planning and preparing for the gift-giving season by thinking of items that will make a lasting, beneficial impression on the recipients.  We are constantly asked which items would be an appropriate and effective use of their advertising budgets.  Below is a compilation of the 5 most popular and effective items for this time of the year.  There are hundreds of other options in all price ranges in addition to these 5 categories.  If you see something you like or need further inspiration please give us a call at 916-604-6865 and we'll help you find the perfect gift for your valued clients.  

5. BAGS
Embroidered or screen printed bags are extremely popular during the holidays. Options are plentiful whether you want a high volume handout like a reusable shopping bag, or an executive leather briefcase customized with recipient's name. Gift bags filled with treats (see customized edibles further down) and gift cards can make a valuable lasting impression on your clients. The treats will likely be shared among offices as well increasing the impressions made. 

4. DRINKWARE
Americans love coffee! What better way to get your name out there? Gifting a nice mug, or travel coffee tumbler can literally put your company logo in the hands of a potential client every day.  These can also be filled with goodies such as tea bags or ground coffee to make even more of an impact.  Drinkware is not limited to hot beverages, however. Think about handing out wine glasses or beer mugs to your target market. These items are reused often and make many impressions over the lifetime of the product.

3. EXECUTIVE GIFTS
Do you want to give a special gift to the CEO or Board of Directors? Go executive with your gift giving. A company logo combined with a quote or accomplishment can adorn an engraved desk clock or a leather gym duffle. Our website, www.promoplace.com/revolutionscreening is loaded with executive gift options. Check it out for ideas.

2. EDIBLES
Customized edible gifts include chocolates, mints, lollipops, and cookies to name a few. You logo can be printed on the wrapper or embossed directly onto the food item itself!  Pair these up with some drinkware or holiday gift bag for maximum impact. 

1. CALENDARS
The 2013 holiday season marks the end of another calendar year and renders 2013 calendars useless. 2014 calendars will be in high demand and you can capitalize on this need by custom printing your logo onto an item that will see use for an entire year! From pocket sized to oversized desk calendars, you can pick and choose from many styles and sizes.  Your company can even create a fully custom calendar including images of your choosing for each month. The title of Mr., Ms. or Mrs. March (or whichever month you prefer) is within your grasp.

The Importance of Shopping Locally

Did you know?

When you shop with local merchants, more of your money stays close to home; supporting the parks, recreation centers, libraries and other things that make this community a great place to live.

Quote taken from : www.shoplocally.com

Local small business has long been regarded as the backbone our economy. They recycle more of the revenue received back into the local economy, helping communities grow in prosperity.  Local businesses tend to have more fun character quirks than a national chain as well, just stop by our shop and see for yourself.  The employees at the Grocery Outlet in West Sacramento each have their names on their shirts offering a more intimate shopping experience.  Also, the owners of local businesses often are members of important community organizations such as the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, local school boards, or even hold positions on the City Councils.  

We at Revolution Screening are focused and committed to being an active member in West Sacramento.  We are proud to work with many local companies in West Sacramento and the surrounding areas and seek to build relationships with our clients rather than just push through transactions.  Our long-term goal is to create several jobs offering livable wages and additional benefits.  

We understand the importance of competitive pricing, quality product, and great personal customer service and we are confident to say that our pricing structures rival and often even beat our online competitors while offering high quality customer service.  We've built a showroom where our clients can see, feel and even try on samples of clothing that they are interested in.  We even refer clients to other local businesses for services that we are unable to provide.

Here is a link to a nice Top Ten list of why the author supports local businesses.   Thanks for reading and we hope to hear from you!

Happy 100th Anniversary, T-Shirt!

100 years ago, in 1913, the U.S. Navy included the T-shirt in its standard issue uniforms and an American fashion staple was born.  Yes, it was relegated to undershirt duty for decades, but eventually burst forth during the Beat Generation of the 1950's to claim its own place in the world of fashion. Tie-dye, happy faces, catchy slogans and colorful images of all kinds have come to find a home on the simple clothing item.

Some fun survey stats (according to a survey conducted by CustomInk)
-95% of Americans wear T-shirts
-87% own at least 1 T-shirt they keep due to sentimental reasons
  -most commonly, these shirts are from a group they belong to or and event they attended
-76% of Americans are more attached to custom designed (rather than mass-produced) shirts
-The most popular T-shirt design of all time......I (heart) NY

You can read more on the history and significance at Wikipedia , or browse through our catalog of T-shirts at our online store. You can also visit our showroom and try on as many T-shirts as you like!

Our I heart West Sac shirt did not make the list of the top 10 shirt designs of all time

55 T-shirts for $5.55 each

55 T-Shirts

$5.55 each*

fast turnaround time!

 

*special includes white 5.4 oz Port & Co t-shirt with

one color one location print, sizes sm-xl

Hey there everyone.  We are pleased to announce that we will be running our special 5 year anniversary pricing on T-Shirts from now through the end of 2013!

Word is spreading about our new location and we have been excited to work with so many of you in West Sacramento. We want to show our thanks by offering this special deal to our clients, new and existing.

If you're looking for something a little more complicated, please contact us and we'll help make your idea a reality. Our goal is to build your brand with you and we offer our expertise to help you find the perfect items for your advertising or promotion.  We offer thousands of promotional products to suit your needs. Remember, NO ORDER IS TOO BIG! We can handle a softball team or birthday party all the way up to a large-scale marathon or promotional giveaway.

Give us a call or stop in the showroom to get started today!

Revolution Screening
2523 Evergreen Ave
West Sacramento, CA 95691
916-604-6865

Quarterly Update :::::

Hi everyone.  We are already nearly halfway through the year and want to give you a little update. This quarter we have focused on making Revolution Screening the place to go in West Sacramento for your customized goods.  Our Grand Opening in May was a great success thanks to the West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce and help from our friends and family. Our name is spreading thanks to referrals from you! This last month we were pleased to work with Fitness System, our neighbor, the West Sacramento Foundation, and several of the All Star Teams for Washington Little League and Softball League. Because of all this new business we were looking to add to our personnel. We here at Revolution Screening are happy to introduce our 2 new employees to you. Below is a little blurb of each one. I haven't snapped a picture yet of Lisa, but as soon as I get one I'll update this post. We are very excited about our recent growth and these two new smiling faces will definitely help us to continue it. Without further ado...

Lisa Breckenridge
Position - Front Office Assistant (really she is keeping us organized)

Lisa has held a variety of jobs throughout her life, primarily working in an office setting. She has worked for an auto and tractor supply store as a parts runner, a customer service rep for Montgomery Wards (remember them?), an administrative assistant for a geo-technical firm and she was an office manager for a mechanical engineering firm.  Lisa has a 9 year old son who is involved in soccer and Little League baseball.  She gladly wears the hat of Team Mom for both of his teams.  When she is not play team mom or working hard at her job, Lisa enjoys keeping up her garden, going camping or just spending time outdoors.  We are happy to have her working with us and keeping our paperwork in order. 


Kyle Olson
Position - Screen Printer extraordinaire

Kyle started working with us at the end of May.  He splits time working with us and a local restaurant in Davis. Kyle really enjoys the process of screen printing and he actually taught himself how to print T-shirts while on a year-long tour with his band, "Calling Morocco." He is a talented musician (we enjoy listening to one of his Cd's in the shop) and has toured the world playing music. Below are some of his musical accomplishments.

Played in a band called SecondShot from 2003-2010.

-We played 10 of the west coast Warped Tour dates in 2005
-Toured Japan in 2005

-Toured France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Japan in 2008

Played in Calling Morocco from 2009-2012

-Toured for a full year straight from 2011-2012

-We printed all of our t-shirts from the road and that's how I learned to print

A neat fact that ties Kyle into the screen printing industry is that he used to play shows with Ryan Moor of Ryonet when he was in high school and Ryan's band, "Not Long After", would come through on tour. Ryonet is the company that we purchase many of our supplies from. Small world!  Kyle has really sold into Revolution Screening and what we are trying to do. We are lucky and happy to have him working with us. 

Internet, Sales, Tax

                                                                
It's coming. The previously tax exempt world of retail called "The Internet" will no longer be a tax free zone. Congress just passed a bill that will force retailers of more than $1 million in gross receipts to collect sales tax. This is estimated to generate tens of billions of dollars of sales tax revenue for states across the country (except, of course, for the states which do not currently collect sales tax). 

This gives you just one more reason why you should believe in our slogan and "do business with a person, not just a website." At Revolution Screening we have been competing with internet-based screen printers since the day we opened our doors. We chose to focus on delivering personal service and a top-notch quality product to our local community. We believe that people want a person to work with to build their promotions and company identities, not just an online order taker.

This bill is meant to offer businesses such as ours the chance to compete with the internet stores on pricing.  While this affects online shoppers, it will in no way affect the way Revolution Screening conducts business. We will still offer you the personal service and quality that we always have. We want to work for you.  

And please, if you like what we're doing here, tell a friend or colleague about us. Personal referrals are the fuel that keep us going.  Thank you.

If you want to read about the tax bill click the link below to be taken to a Google search page.
Latest news on the internet tax bill

We do that!

“Do you know someone who can help me order pens? “

We hear questions like this all the time. Yes, our business name is Revolution Screening and we pride ourselves in our quality and cost-effective screen printing. Most people know that we do embroidery as well and we have a loyal embroidery customer base. But for some reason no one seems to realize we can help you get your promotional products as well. Our showroom is filled with hundreds of different kinds of products on which you can place your logo. From headphones, to color changing stadium cups, to water bottles, stickers and even custom neckties. We have got you covered.  Make sure to ask us how we can help you get your logo noticed on a promotional product that fits your needs and the needs of your customer base. We'll help you pick out the perfect item for your promotion.

We are changing the way this business works. We want to be your one place to outfit your business, sports team, event, fundraiser or school needs. We provide superior customer service, free artwork, and quality promotional products. Join the revolution today and give us a call for a quote on your next promotional product need.

Grand Opening Event

We are excited to announce our Grand Opening and 5 Year Anniversary celebration event.  There will be games, prizes, free giveaways, food, local companies, music, and fun. Bring the family and visit our new location.  Events will take place from 4pm-7pm on Friday May 10th.  There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony put on by the West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce at Noon on May 10th. Please join us for that if you can.

We will also be handing out many coupons for future orders on many of the products we offer. The saving will be significant and only available to those who show up to our event!

 

Some of the businesses that will have booths include:

NorCal Performance

Robles Fitness

Jamba Juice

The Cultured Kitchen

Calhoun Transportation

and more...

 

 

:::::Quarterly Update:::::

Now that winter is coming to a close and the busy (but fun) summer is coming up we wanted to make a few announcements.

First, we will be announcing a date for our Grand Opening soon. It will take place in early May and will be open to the public. We will have lots of freebies and coupons to hand out, food and beverages and lots of fun. We hope to see you there. Stay tuned for details.

Also, we will be running a HUGE special every month. For March we ran our 55 T shirts for $5 each special. In April, you heard it here first, we are offering Free Embroidery on all qualifying orders (20 items or more). All you need to do to claim these amazing offers is "Like" us on Facebook and sign up for our Newsletter (which you can do on Facebook). Every month we'll have a crazy deal for current and new clients.

For anyone who picks up their orders at our storefront (2523 Evergreen Avenue, West Sacramento, CA) we will have some free giveaway items. There will be a mixed bag of goodies for you to choose from.

As most of our clients and followers know, Revolution Screening has been undergoing some major changes. Because I love lists, I've made a short list of some of those changes:

- New Storefront
- Added thousands of new Product Offerings (license plate frames, kitchenware, custom watches, etc)
- New Employees
- Expanded Web Presence (Facebook, Twitter, this Blog, Google+)
- Updated Website and Online Store (Pardon our dust, site is still under construction)
- New Newsletter
- Weekly and Monthly "Specials" for our followers on Facebook and Newsletter subscribers

This has resulted in a growing client base (thank you to all our past and new clients) and a new way to take care of those clients. While we have an expanded digital presence, we want to remind everyone that we still hold true to our slogan, "Doing business with a person, not just a website." One of the ways we do this is with our showroom full of samples for you to browse to make sure you're picking just the right item for your needs. We expanded our products offerings so we can take care of all of your advertising needs. We have a warehouse that we are filling with inventory to help serve our customers who have last second needs. We also have a new office phone (916) 604-6865 and fax (916) 403-7403 to help better serve our clients. At Revolution Screening we want you to feel comfortable communication and ordering with us in whichever way you choose. We also offer you our cell phones for immediate, personal service (please see Facebook or Google+ pages for contact information). Please click the links below to follow us on any of our outlets.

Online information for Revolution Screening
Facebook
Google+
LinkedIn
Website
Online Store

We have plans in the works for more enhancements to our company. We hope to give the best possible experience to our clients and also look to make a positive impact in our community. As new updates are available we will continue to share them with you. Thank you for working with us and we are excited for our future!

Screen Printing

We all love graphic Tees. We like to wear shirts with Disney characters, our favorite clothing brand, our favorite childhood video game and companies’ logos printed on them. While there are many methods of printing shirts, the most common and highest quality style is called silk screening (aka screen printing). Here’s an idea of what that means:

Silk Screening as defined by Miriam-Webster Dictionary:

a stencil process in which coloring matter is forced onto the material to be printed through the meshes of a silk or organdy screen so prepared as to have porous printing areas and non porous non printing areas

Basically, a screen is prepared through which ink is forced through only the area of the screen that contains the design. The rest of the screen is blocked out. The resulting product is a T-shirt, or nearly any item you can imagine, with our desired design printed on it permanently. Silk screening is popular for its ability to produce vivid, bright colors. It is also considered the most durable, long lasting printing style.

Silk Screening was originally created in; you guessed it, China, around 1000 AD. Their original process of using leaves to block ink from passing through has evolved into a highly technological process of electronic high speed presses, but the basic science remains the same.

Some examples:

 

 

This process can be used for simple one color logos or designs, or can be used to recreate photographic quality images. Depending on your desired outcome, and budget, nearly anything can be accomplished with silk screening. As with most custom processes, the cost per unit drops as quantity of each unit increases. Silk screening is ideal for high quantity orders. However, small orders work just as well and small quantity orders are very common. If you have questions or are looking to order custom printed T-shirts, bags, jackets, sweatshirts or anything else please visit our website or call us for more information.

Revolution Screening

 www.revolutionscreening.com

916-604-6865 office
916-717-5052 cell (Mark)

Or visit us at our new showroom:

2523 Evergreen Ave.

West Sacramento, CA 95691

Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn

Embroidering your Logo

What makes a good embroidered logo?

There is no questioning the draw of embroidery for putting your logo on apparel. Embroidery offers a professional, sleek look and will definitely get your logo noticed. Some applications for embroidery are polo and collared work shirts, towels, bags, along with many more options.

Many people might not realize but custom logos need to be set up or “digitized” to be embroidered. Many times logos need to be slightly adjusted so they look sharp when stitched out on the item. Some font types such as anything with thin, tapering lines are difficult to embroider. Thick, simple fonts like Arial work great and the threading comes out clean and sharp. Here is an example of complicatde fonts and an example of ideal fonts.

BAD FONTS

Engravers mt    Algerian   TIMES NEW ROMAN

IDEAL FONTS

ARIAL      CALIBRI     HUMANST   

Another item to consider is the size of the font. Font size makes a big difference in how well the finished product will turn out. The larger the lettering, the cleaner it can be embroidered. If the font is too small the letters might not be legible. For instance, a lower case "a" or "e" can become muddled and filled if sized too small.

When creating your logo, which will be the face of your company, think of the applications you want it to be used in. A logo that looks great in print might not be easily transferred to other mediums like screen printing or embroidery. If your current logo is more complicated, using shading techniques or several colors, it may not be cost effective to screen print. The logo can probably be altered to a one or two color logo, however. See how this logo was simplified to a one color format.

 

 

You can see that the original has many half tone colors and shading. In the revised version the logo maintains its overall feel while allowing the finished product to look great. The artwork can still be altered to include more colors if desired and can easily be embroidered as well.

So, when you consider embroidery for your logo, trust your embroiderer, be a little flexible and be excited. Your finished product will turn out great and your logo will get noticed.

If you have more questions about embroidery or would like a quote, please call or email us.

916-712-4458
mike@revolutionsp.com
Follow us on Facebook

Special thanks to East Sacramento Chiropractic for allowing us to use their logo.
 

QR Codes and Promotional Products

We have all seen them popping up at the end of commercials or printed on some direct mail flyer that came to our mailbox. We know they serve a purpose, but maybe don't know just what they do. QR codes are the funny looking boxes, like a mutated UPC code, that have found a place in marketing campaigns of all types and sizes. The code works as a direct link, when scanned with a smart phone (through one of many free apps, QR Droid is my choice), taking the potential customer directly to the web page of your choice rather than hoping they search for you on their own. They look like this:

 SCAN THE CODE AND "LIKE" US ON FACEBOOK!

 

And when paired with information about where the code will take the prospect once scanned, they can really drive traffic to wherever you want the consumer to go, and instantly. Take a minute to install a scanner, open it and scan the above code. As you might expect, it will take you to Revolution Screening's Facebook page where you can "like" us.

QR codes are applicable across all types of marketing mediums. They are very popular in direct mail and door to door flyers. But paper printing is only one of many options. We can print your QR code on anything you choose. Guinness got creative with a QR campaign by printing the white spaces onto a pint glass. When the glass is filled with the dark Guinness stout beer, the code can be scanned.

 

Pairing an interactive activity like QR codes with a promotional item can work wonders. We can print these codes on t-shirts, pint glasses, water bottles, and many more items. Whether you want to drive more traffic to your Facebook page, or to an online coupon for first time customers, or to a web page about an event you're hosting, you're sure to find a useful application for this tool. You are limited only by your imagination when it comes to what to do with your QR code.

Call Revolution Screening today and let us help build your next marketing campaign or promotion. We'll work together to decide if using a QR code can help your campaign be even more successful.

The Oscars Swag Bag

We would probably all love to get our hands on one of those gift bags they hand out at the Oscars. This year the goodies inside that bag are estimated to be worth a combined total of $47,803. This seems an exorbitant amount (not compared to the $90k bag from 2010) until you realize how many companies are fighting to get their products into those bags.

Giveaways are a tried and true marketing strategy and even in this economy, they are still a top choice for advertising. Putting your logo onto a product not only adds significant value to your advertising campaigns, but also drops your cost per impression drastically. Imagine the number of times your logo and/or slogan will be seen while a loyal customer wears it on their jacket or t-shirt. Remember, you're not wasting money when you buy promotional products, you're advertising.

Here's an interesting piece of information. The Oscar trophy is actually manufactured by industry supplier, R.S. Owens. Maybe we can't talk them into customizing the Oscar for you, but we can definitely get any of their other products for you.

Getting Close!

February has been a busy month. We have been happy to serve our clients who have ordered through January and February so far. We have also been working diligently on organizing the store front of our new location which is turning out to be more work than anticipated! Our internet provider gave us a small runaround this last week, but we managed to make enough phone calls to customer service to finally get a worker out to set us up. That means we are fully functional in our new location! This was a huge help as we had been running between locations or stopping in at coffee shops in order to access the internet and fulfill orders. Thank you to everyone who ordered with us during this time for your patience and understanding. We will be excited to return to our normal turnaround times very soon.

If you followed us on Facebook or Twitter this week you probably also noticed a revamped site. We are currently working to improve our presence in the social media world and encourage you to "like" or "follow" us, and let your friends or fellow business know to do the same, in order to stay up to date on our progress and to grab some exclusive discounts and specials for our followers. We will also be posting pictures of new products or finished items for you to view and get ideas for your company.

Our renovated web site will be live within the next few weeks. We will have a fully functional, searchable, database of nearly every item we carry as well as a shopping cart. We hope that this new feature will help streamline the ordering process for some of our clients who prefer the online process. This is a big step for Revolution Screening that shows our dedication to offering our customers the best service and turnaround times possible. We will let you know when this site is up and running.

We are planning to have a "preview party" in the next couple weeks to show the new space to our clients, friends, and family and will update via Facebook, Twitter and this very Blog. Stay tuned.

Finally, we have received the OK to open our doors to the public and will do so this Monday, February 18th, at 10am.  Our standard business hours will be from 10am until 6pm. Please stop in the store to say hi. We look forward to having this location for our clients to pick up orders, place orders, or come in to ask questions. Below are pictures of our store and a great shot of the bridge taken by our owner, Mike. Enjoy. We'll see you soon.

We're Here

Hello everybody and welcome to the shiny and new Revolution Screening blog! We are undergoing many changes and upgrades so far in 2013 and we're excited to have this new format with which to share with you. Look for us across the social media world and "like" or subscribe to us on Facebook, Twitter, or here at Blogger and follow our website at www.revolutionscreening.com.

Why should you read this blog? First of all we will be updating regularly with industry news and tips to help you keep up with changing trends. We will also be posting with our own company news and events that we think will be of importance to you and occasionally we will post about events and news regarding our local community in and around West Sacramento. Oh, and of course we'll be offering up periodic deals and discounts for our regular followers so make sure you check back often. Here is one such deal now...

Subscribe to our blog from now through February 2013 and receive 5 additional shirts with a minimum qualifying order of 24. That's 29 for the price of 24! Email us at mike@revolutionsp.com to cash in your deal.

We are also excited to announce the opening of our new storefront in West Sacramento and the celebration of our 5 year business anniversary. We plan to have our doors open to the public on February 11th of this year so make sure to stop in to say hello. Anyone who places an order in person in our shop will receive a free gift. You can find us at 2523 Evergreen Avenue, West Sacramento, CA 95691. We're located 2 doors down from NorCal Performance.

As you can see many great new things are happening for us in 2013 and we are excited about the direction we are headed. Thank you to all our loyal clients who helped us get to this point and for joining us as we continue to offer exceptional service and quality for the next 5 years and more.