BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 22 images OCTOBER 2026 In my last article, I argued that the company store is just the front door. The interesting stuff happens behind it. Once an order enters the system, somebody still has to decide where the product comes from, whether it should be held in stock or produced on demand, how it should be decorated, where it should be packed and, ultimately, how it gets to the customer. And this is where I believe another important change is taking place in our industry. For years, we have tended to think in alternatives. Inventory or print-on-demand (POD). Screen printing or digital printing. Large production runs or one-piece orders. But increasingly, the best answer is not one or the other. It is both. Alldifferent, all the same Consider a company employing several thousand people across Europe. It may have a core range of ‘teamwear’ – branded polo shirts and jackets that manufacturing and office employees order throughout the year. These are predictable, fast-moving products, so holding decorated or undecorated inventory makes perfect sense. But that same company may hire 50 new employees this month who each need a personalised welcome kit shipped directly to their home. Producing those items on demand may make far more sense than stocking hundreds of finished garments in every possible size, name and configuration. Then marketing announces a major event requiring 5,000 T-shirts. Suddenly, POD makes no sense at all. This is a classic high-volume screen printing job. A week later, the sales director wants 30 premium quarter-zips embroidered for an important customer conference. Different quantity. Different product. Different decoration technology. Yet from the customer’s perspective, these should not be four different supply chains. They should be one merchandise programme. That is the power of the hybrid model. Inventory provides speed and efficiency where demand is predictable. POD provides flexibility where demand is uncertain or personalisation is required. Screen printing delivers extraordinary economics at volume. Direct-to-garment (DTG) and direct-to-film (DTF) make short runs possible. Embroidery provides the premium appearance required for other garments and applications. None of these technologies is the answer. Together, they are the answer. And increasingly, I believe this is where the role of the apparel decorator and promotional distributor becomes much more interesting. Disappearing act Our customer shouldn’t have to understand the economics of DTG versus DTF. They shouldn’t need to decide whether 300 shirts should be stocked or produced as required. And they certainly shouldn’t need five different suppliers simply because their merchandise program contains five different types of orders. That complexity belongs to us. Our job is to make it disappear. It’s the modernday equivalent of a screen printer deciding to add a single-head Tajima or a desktop transfer press to increase his decoration portfolio and provide a better service to his customers. Behind the scenes, that may require multiple suppliers, several decoration technologies, inventory in different locations, ERP integrations, production planning, individual kitting and shipments going to hundreds – or thousands – of addresses. But to the customer, it should feel like one system. That is also why I believe POD is entering a new stage of maturity. The first generation proved that we could economically produce one customised item at a time. The second helped entrepreneurs, creators and ecommerce brands build businesses without investing heavily in inventory. The third generation is different. POD is no longer the solution. It is one tool inside the solution. And perhaps that is the larger lesson. Our industry has traditionally organised itself around products and production technologies. The customer increasingly doesn’t care about either. They care that the right product is available, decorated correctly, delivered to the right place at the right time. They are not really buying screen printing, embroidery, inventory or POD. They are buying confidence that we will choose the right combination every time. That is a much more valuable thing to sell In the second part of his ‘Beyond the webshop’ series, John Lynch reveals why he thinks the future of merchandise is hybrid JohnLynch, MBA, is a former strategic management consultant and the founder and CEO of Lynka. Founded in Poland in 1992, following the fall of communism, Lynka is now one of Europe’s leading full-service suppliers of corporate apparel, casual fashion and sportswear. www.lynka.eu In my last article of this three-part series I’ll look at the integration advantage and explain why becoming part of a customer’s operating infrastructure can be a powerful competitive advantage. Lynchpin THE A masterclass for garment decorators
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