As an artist and business who wants to be transparent and honest I thought I’d explain what Print on Demand (POD) is and why it’s so amazing for sustainability in small to medium organisations and charities.

Traditionally, if you wanted to get sell custom printed items (whether that be clothing, homewares or books) you had to print a very large number (paying £s in advance) and take the risk they wouldn’t be bought. It was the same for large organisations as well as individual artists and I’m not going to run detailed numbers (because yawn for you and me), you have to sell all of them AND have done your maths right to get any profit. 

Downsides of traditional printing in bulk

• careful calculation required including time for packaging/postage/your hours stuffing parcels. 
• storage of printed products where they won’t get damaged or dusty. 
• One mistake means a huge number of errors arriving on your doorstep. 
• extremely expensive to make a big enough order to get low enough prices, as well as long lead times on delivery. 
• people with memory issues, trouble completing a list and shaky/sore hands should not base a business on fulfilling orders themselves 😅
• unsold products are bad business and wasteful for the environment

Enter the relatively new kid in town - print on demand. Whilst there will be positives and negatives to any manufacturing process, POD has allowed for printing of items without upfront costs. There’s a set-up cost in terms of hours, but with thoughtfully created designs and files produced to high resolution the positives can be massive. 

Positives of Print on Demand:

• No huge payment in advance required, but the cost per item is higher so the profit margin is lower.
  
• effort is in advance in terms of creation of the right design and suitable files, meaning that you can work to a set budget rather than one that inflates unexpectedly due to changing circumstances 
• No storage needed as items are created when ordered. This means no damage or decay due to damp cupboards, musty sheds or rodent friends
• Any error can be picked up early and fixed without stock recall, waste or cost in terms of time or customer experience 
• Fast addition of a new design once signed off, or change of products for seasonal events 
• manageable for me as someone who feels perfectly able but ultimately is building a business whilst working around multiple neurological conditions 
• no unsold products, no stick pouring into landfill, no waste, no more printed than wanted. Thats amazing for the earth and amazing for a small business. 

It feels rare to have such a win win situation, and the only downside as far as I’m concerned is a smaller profit margin per item. But when I put that alongside the almost non-existent risk it’s absolutely the best solution for me as an artist as well as for SMEs and especially for charities. We’re all more and more squeezed these days and have to do more with less. We can’t afford waste or risk, and I personally don’t believe we can risk the planet either. 

The new range of hoodies, T-shirts and small kit bags are all printed in the UK by an ethical family-owned business who pay living wage and package 100% plastic free. The bags are 100% recycled cotton, the T-shirts and hoodies are vegan certified, and theyre all really stunning quality. Read more about Inkthreadable and the sustainability benefits of print on demand here, I’m proud to work with them. 

Im always happy to answer questions so please do email or message me any time. I hope you love your new clothes as much as I love seeing you in them. 

You can find my hoodies and T-shirts on the website here - enjoy your guilt free browsing - and id you’re an organisation who would like to have someone create a design for you that you can make profit from with minimal risk then please email me at hello@badibidu.com