The screen printing business changes with the season. Different seasons bring different challenges and different demands from customers. To help you prepare you business for a successful summer, we’ve prepared our two-part Guide to Successful Summer Screen Printing. Our first blog in the series will focus on summer merchandising and marketing.

If you’re not adjusting your product offerings throughout the year, you should be. While t-shirts and hoodies are always in demand, customers’ preferences will change depending on the season. When deciding what to offer for the summer, here are some things to consider!

Popular Summer Styles

Come summer, people are looking for great styles that keep them cool and comfortable. Tank tops, jersey dresses, polo shirts and baseball tees all make for great summertime apparel. Depending on your target market, you can even consider jersey shorts, bathing suit coverups and beach bags. While sales of heavy-weight fleece sweatshirts might drop during hot summer months, lighter weight terry sweatshirts or lightweight jackets are a nice option for cooler summer months. If you’re looking to go beyond apparel, consider summertime hobbies: aprons and glassware are fun for summer cookouts, and beach towels, blankets and insulated bags are great for beach getaways. Other summertime items that make for great screen-printed products include drink koozies and water bottles, golf towels and golf balls, and umbrellas.

Trendy Summertime Colors and Prints

Summer also brings a change in color palette. Come summer heat and sunshine, consumers generally search for more vibrant colors. Depending on your demographics, that could mean softer pastel colors, or it could mean fun, bright neon colors, which have seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years. You also might find customers looking for products with fun summer patterns, such as tropical prints, floral patterns, bold beach stripes, classic nautical stripes or summertime checks and plaids. While basic colors will always be a mainstay, make your shop more colorful and give your customers more options by embracing summertime colors and prints.

The Best Fabrics for Summertime

In summer, people often seek softer, lighter fabrics to keep them cool and dry on hot days. Heavy-weight cottons give way to combed cottons or poly-cotton blends. Moisture-wicking performance fabrics have become increasingly popular because they keep wearers cool, avoid wrinkling and dry quickly to maintain comfort. Performance fabrics are especially great to offer for sports teams, sporting events and golfwear. As you shop for the specific summer garments, keep in mind that a nice drape is especially important when it comes to lightweight summer garments.

Marketing Your Summer Apparel

Once you choose your lineup of summertime products, it’s time to market those seasonal products. Make samples to show customers or hang in your storefront to show off the brighter colors and softer fabrics. Contact your regular customers to see if they’re interested in summertime items. As you look for new customers, take some time to consider who would be interested in the types of products you’re offering for the season. Local pools, tourist destinations and restaurants all might be interested in summer gear sporting their logo. Of course, summer music festivals and races are in the market for screenprinted summer apparel, but don’t forget to also search your area for summertime golf tournaments, food festivals and fairs to market your gear to.

Taking the time to adapt your product offers to the season is a great way to grow your business. Your summertime offers can encourage additional sales from your existing customers and help you appeal to new customers whose businesses or events calls for summer-specific apparel and goods.