At the core we're all gear-heads at Corporate Casuals.  Today was a good day for us.  I just got back from the shop where i received a new embroidery machine!  Our first in almost 5 years.  We did get a direct garment printer last month, so that was fun but we got a new SWF dual function machine which (to me) is the best new machine technology in 10 years (since the new hat frame technology was introduced in 1996-97).  We have plenty of capacity with almost 100 embroidery heads but the new dual function technology is amazing.  you can run two seperate 1 unit orders at the same time on the same machine.  Incredibly efficient when you can have one operator run one order while setting up another without having to move between machines.  I'm not really sure about SWF machines since we are a 'barudan' shop but figured it was worth trying.  We  saw it in Long beach, CA in january but I was kinda waiting for Barudan to follow suit with a similar machine.  then Dicksie(the big boss..especially when it comes to machines) saw the machine yesterday we bought it on the spot.  well, to be honest, we had my dad broker the deal and knock a bunch of cash off...then we bought it. 

Personally, I just can't get enough of Machinery or technology and was thrilled to receive the new machine tonight which should increase our small unit capacity quite a bit. On another subject, I haven't run a machine of any kind in 10 years but while i was waiting for the new embroidery machine to arrive I ran 25 t-shirts for the Brain tumor Society ride tomorrow to support our friend Nathan Long who has brain cancer.  I didn't do that great of a job but its for charity and it was nice to play with the machine.  other than that, business is cranking.  Our new additions, Jared and Lisa are doing well..so the combination makes work real fun these days

We're getting slammed with rain this past week.  more rain than I've ever heard of: 12-15 INCHES!  thank goodness for a dry march (dryest in 100 years) and that it's late spring so the plant life can suck up some of the water.  hopefully this morning is our last pounding for the week.

on biz news, we're excited that Jared Whitaker will join our team later this week.  He's worked for Charles River Apparel for many years (a contract customer & supplier of ours).

For the first few years we offered private-label online stores for embroidered apparel but found it very difficult to "sell it".  First, folks didn't believe that we'd offer a free store without inventory requirements and second folks were terrified of integrating technology (eventhough its just a link).  So, we abandoned our online store focus to offer an online design center where folks can design and place an order for embroidery online without minimums.

During our store days we launched two major non-profit stores; one for www.OutwardBound.org and one for www.Nature.org.  The nature Conservancy store has been running ever since but Outward Bound went through a few organizational changes and took down our store for a few months.  Once we got our ducks in a row, we relaunched the Outward Bound store last friday.