ImagesMagUK_January_2021

list garment info, sizing, and the like in easily populated text boxes. They will be limited, of course, to products from the distributor’s own catalogue, but do allow for decorators with pre-generated images of the customer logo to paste and place such images on the garment photos. The garment photos tend to be fairly uniform and clean, and simply stack flat images with little other customisation. These tools are great for fast mock-ups with explicit T he challenge of dealing with remote sales and approval is not new; however, it has never been more important to present designs and garments in an accurate and appealing way while managing customer expectations. In this age of increased ecommerce and the move towards contactless sales and delivery even in the local market, it pays to take extra care to represent your product well, to state your policies clearly, and to pre-emptively address client concerns and potential misunderstandings before they happen. Mock-up options There is a dizzying array of tools for creating digital mock-ups of decorated garments at your disposal, each with its advantages and each with its limitations. Your best option, therefore, is to understand these limitations, use each tool for the proper situation, and manage your customers’ expectations. Mock-up tools generally fall into the following classes: those supplied by garment distributors; those provided by third-party vendors that may or may not provide decoration services; those that are part of your online design and ecommerce tools; and those that are attached to your embroidery software. Beyond that, there is always the option of using tried-and-true graphic design tools to manually create composite mock-ups. Garment vendor tools These tools are often geared towards creating sales-flyer imagery based on catalogue photography and include the ability to Third party solutions may have some off-centre, non-flat, or ‘action’ shot options, but be aware that some use auto-digitising which may be unflattering. Pairing them with detailed decoration views is preferable, especially for established clients Here, the auto-digitising has rendered all stitches as fills in a logo that would classically have no fills whatsoever. The texture and play of light is different to the rendering that a digitiser would be likely to create KB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 92 images JANUARY 2021 Managingmock-ups and expectations Erich Campbell offers advice on how to manage client expectations when presenting digital mock-ups in a world where face-to-face contact is increasingly rare