< PreviousWritten by Margaret Patricia EatonIncreasingly, discerning consumers looking for unique apparel and home décor products are turning to print-on-demand (POD) manufacturing businesses partnered with independent artists. We decided it was time to find out what the buzz is all about.While visiting art galleries and shopping in their boutiques in pre-pandemic times, I recall seeing numerous products of giftware and apparel imprinted with works of the Great Masters – Van Gogh, Picasso, Degas, Chagall – and thinking how won-derful it would be for contemporary artists if they, too, could easily supplement their income by having their work digitally printed on quality merchandise.11BUSINESS IN FOCUS The artist and the POD companyWhile it might seem as if POD companies were tailor-made for the pandemic, some have been in existence for over a decade. One of the earliest was launched in Melbourne, Australia in 2007.According to co-founder Martin Hosking, the company is based on “the recognition that problems are global and so are solu-tions.” Hosking and his two co-founders believed that through applying economies of scale and print-on-demand technol-ogy, the company could address several retail issues, including consumer demand for individualization and customization; channels for expression of the creativity of artists; and opportu-nities for those working in the gig economy to monetize their art. What's more, in the process, it could solve the problem of disposing of mass produced items that no one wanted.While Redbubble’s growth was slow in the first three to four years, it has since experienced a steady 39 percent growth rate, becoming a publicly traded company in 2016, and with the acquisition of TeePublic in 2018 (which specializes in graphic designs on T-shirts) has become extremely attrac-tive to investors.In addition to its Melbourne office, Redbubble has offices in Berlin and San Francisco and 32 local product-fulfillment centres across three continents, with 66 percent of its business in North America.As it turns out, I’m not the only one who thought about this kind of fine art-business partnership. Fortunately, the other people who considered the idea did actually do something about it. The results are proving to be a success story for everyone – the artists and the print-on-demand companies, and especially fashion-lovers who are offered myriad unique, customized choices online, with the products delivered to their door.By their very definition, print-on-demand (POD) companies abide by lean manufacturing principles, eliminating enormous and costly inventories of unsold stock that retailers must dispose of at the end of each season as fashionistas declare this colour or that style passé.This cyclical waste is an issue plaguing both designer labels and the ‘fast fashion’ industry which mostly produces poorly made and lower priced knock-offs. While some of the leftover stock is sold at discount stores, or donated, a lot isn’t. According to articles in the Wall St. Journal (“What happens to all of the unsold clothes” by Matthew Dalton, August 13, 2020) and Eluxe (“What happens to unsold clothes may surprise you”, Dec 29, 2019), a substantial portion ends up in landfills, either because brand name designers don’t want their clothes to be seen being worn by just anyone, or in the case of fast-fashion mer-chandise, because there is just too much.Sensing the plight of all of us in need of retail therapy during COVID, the POD businesses came up with a solution. It's an opportunity to shop safely from home for a variety of apparel and gift items – women’s, men’s and children’s clothing; home décor (fine art reproductions, comforters and cushions, mugs, clocks, shower curtains and so on); phone and tablet covers; backpacks, water bottles; journals, stickers, decals and cards – essentially anything with a surface that can support digitally printed artwork.The added benefit is that customers know that the self-employed artist, whose work makes their purchase unique, is receiving a percentage of the sale price – ranging from 10 to 25 percent, with the average around 15 percent. While that is not an impressive amount, the upside is that the artist doesn't bear the cost of printing, maintaining an inventory, or dealing with sales, and is given access to global markets.“I get a thrill knowing someone I’ve never met is walking around Germany with a phone case with my ‘Enchanted Forest of Luminous Mushrooms’ acrylic pour-painting on it.” – Tara Baxendale, Toronto, Ontario-based artist12AUGUST 2021A choice of 700,000Redbubble promotes the work of over 700,000 artists world-wide, serves 5.4 million customers and, according to the com-pany’s 2019 financial report, saw a gross $328 million worth of transactions, $44 million of which was paid out to artists.We spoke with one Redbubble.com artist, Tara Baxendale, an actor, singer and visual artist living in Toronto, Ontario who, when the pandemic closed theatres, decided to put her paintings and her extensive collection of photography, assembled during travels in Europe, Australia, Asia, and North and Central America, to work for her. She now has 61 designs in her online shop.She says, “Initially I chose to work with Redbubble.com because they’ve made the design process artist-friendly and easy to use. But I keep working with them because of the wide range of good quality, super-cute products. I love my phone case with its ‘The Sun Sets on 2016 in Costa Rica’ design, my ‘Dragonfly Balanced on a Blade of Grass’ backback, and my psychedelic ‘The Enchanted Forest’ sundress from an acrylic pour.“I get a thrill from knowing there’s someone I’ve never met walking around Germany with a phone case with my ‘Enchanted Forest of Luminous Mushrooms’ acrylic pour painting on it. And there’s someone in California hosting their Zoom meetings on a laptop emblazoned with my “Sunflowers on the Danforth” design,” shares Baxendale.“In a time of quarantine and isolation, with the theatre industry benched, it’s been a wonderful way for me to continue to connect with strangers, albeit through a different artistic medium.”In addition to the global players like Redbubble.com in the POD scene, there are smaller, boutique-style companies. Le Galeriste, for example, is a wholly-owned Canadian company, launched in 2016 in Montreal, Quebec by fashion designer and CEO Thierry Charlebois.“The Enchanted Forest” – Tara Baxendale – Printful (sundress at Lake Ontario)Photo Credit: L. Cotton“Dragonfly Balanced on a Blade of Grass” – Tara Baxendale – Redbubble (backpack)Photo Credit: M. P. Eaton“A Study in Hydrangeas” with “The Enchanted Forest” – Tara Baxendale – Redbubble (comforter, cushions and painting”Photo Credit: M. P. Eaton13BUSINESS IN FOCUS In love with wearable artAccording to the company website, Charlebois, at the age of 27, had fallen out of love with the industry, but in love with the concept of creating ‘wearable art’ – paintings and other art forms reproduced on stylish clothing. To realize his dream, he spent several years investing in expensive manufacturing machines, researching printing and dyeing techniques, and hiring the best seamstresses in Montreal to produce mainly women’s clothing, but with some accessories and apparel for men.The company now has over two thousand clients and ships product to over 900 cities worldwide. Among its clients are fine art galleries, for which it produces exhibition-themed products for sale in their boutiques.We spoke with Indu Varma, a professional artist and owner of Salt Marsh Studio in Sackville, New Brunswick, about why she decided to investigate wearable art and chose to partner with Le Galeriste.“When I create a painting, I have an emotional bond with it simply because a powerful work of art emerges only when the artist is passionate about the subject. But since there is only one original painting, once it gets sold, all I have left is a photo-graph of it. I had this brainwave, that if my art could be featured on clothing or accessories, many more people could own and enjoy it, instead of only the person who bought the original,” says Varma.“Women lean toward stylish and artistically designed clothes that make us look beautiful and stand out in a crowd. I was delighted to see the artistically designed, stylish clothes on Le Galeriste’s website, which are high fashion. Unique and yet quite affordable.”Varma has since ordered several items from her collection for herself, including a dress based on her painting ‘Hope Beyond Borders’, a top with a sunflower design and a scarf from her ‘Woman Defined’ collection. She says she’s pleased with how well her paintings have been reproduced, and found the material to be of exceedingly good quality, with the custom fitting perfect.A bonus is the ability to share her clothing with other women without having to manage a physical storefront. “Le Galeriste leaves me free to create art, which is my lifeblood,” she says.“Hope Beyond Borders” – Indu Varma – Le Galeriste – (dress, outdoors with painting)Photo Credit: M. P. EatonAUGUST 202114Spreading PODThe aforementioned businesses are far from being the only POD companies. The world of e-commerce and POD is evolving quickly, with more and more companies such as Threadless, Society6, and Printful entering the market. Some, such as Redbubble.com and Le Galeriste, offer a full service program which includes printing, marketing, and fulfillment. Others, such as Printful offer a drop-shipping service that can be integrated with e-commerce platforms such as Shopify or Etsy.Etsy is a hugely successful e-commerce company, listed on the NASDAQ, that supports artists and artisans by providing a marketing platform, which in return for a small fee, gives them access to global markets. Artists, artisans, and collectors can showcase products which range from vintage and handcraft-ed items to print-on-demand items, including jewellery. With the refinement of 3D processes, 3D printers can now produce custom-designed jewellery in gold or silver.And because the market is not yet saturated, as the printed-fabric business appears to be on the verge of becoming, it rep-resents an excellent business opportunity.The future of retailWe don’t think the pandemic or the rise of POD companies and online marketing platforms will spell the end for brick-and-mortar stores, although some independents and chains have closed in this past year. But there are important lessons for traditional retailers. Consumers are turning from mass-produced goods and looking for customized quality products, produced in an envi-ronmentally responsible way.What seals the deal is when they find the ‘perfect thing’ no one else has, and which they perceive as expressive of their own individuality. And it's with just the click of a mouse. Designed by Ashley Dowling “Sunflowers” – Indu Varma – Le Galeriste (top, from painting but not shown)Photo Credit: M. P. Eaton15BUSINESS IN FOCUS Written by Karen HawthorneOffice work is so 2019. The global pandemic has forever changed how we live and how we work, signaling the end of office centricity as com-panies shift to a permanent work-from-home culture.Certainly, there has long been remote work using the internet as a connection to a central office. And now the office of the future will be a digital hub connecting remote workers. Gone are the days of long commutes, expensive downtown office real estate and water cooler gossip. In fact, many remote workers were already spending more time off-site well before COVID. Forbes reports that 31 percent were doing so all the time or almost all the time in 2016 versus 24 percent in 2012. 16AUGUST 202117BUSINESS IN FOCUS “People are more productive working at home than people would have expected. Some people thought that everything was just going to fall apart, and it hasn’t. And a lot of people are actually saying that they’re more productive now,” says Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook. Based on internal employee surveys, he says that remote workers could make up 50 percent of the Facebook workforce in the next five to 10 years.Another fact driving this change is the job market reality, with over 50 percent of office workers saying they were actively seeking employment offering flexible work-from-home options. The banking industry is one that is out in front of the trend, leading the way from dedicated office space and glitzy office towers. Banks are updating their virtual capabilities to elec-tronically service clients, with remote employees providing customer service. So when you call in for help with your credit card, you’re likely talking to someone set up at home, multi-tasking with laundry duty. While banks and tech giants such as Facebook, Shopify and Twitter have generous telecommuting policies in place for staffers, the public sector is also rapidly moving in this direction and, surprisingly, so is manufacturing.So, how are workers adapting to the changing working conditions?Forbes reports that 56 percent of bank employees rate the transition to at-home-work as positive, with the public sector not far behind at 53 percent and manufacturing at 37 percent. Manufacturing jobs are difficult to transition to work-from-home scenarios, but remote-operated robotics are changing operations, and roles such as human resources, finance, sales and marketing are shifting to offsite work.Health care, embroiled in the frontline battle with the pandemic, is also moving toward off-site work with jobs in “Remote-operated robotics are changing operations, and roles such as human resources, finance, sales and marketing are shifting to offsite work.”finance, personnel and executive staff leading the trend. Patient care has also been impacted by the work-from-home model, with many health care services offering enhanced telehealth and video-call options. The question is: are employees who work from home more productive?Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom is convinced that is the case and conducted a robust experiment to demonstrate this fact. Bloom and his research team took a group of 1,000 employees who volunteered to participate in the study. They separated the volunteers by birth dates: even-numbered birthday cele-brants got to work from home four out of five weekdays, while those with odd-numbered birthdays continued to work from the office. The workers in this experiment had repetitive, easy to track tasks that could be easily quantified and compared so the productivity could be readily measured. This research continued for nine months and the outcomes demonstrated that at-home-workers were 13 percent more productive. The results surprised the researchers who also dis-covered that 4 percent of that 13 percent productivity increase came from workers being able to complete more tasks per minute because of fewer interruptions. The remaining 9 percent of the productivity increase came from more minutes worked per shift because of lack of commuting time, shorter lunch breaks and fewer sick days. Of note, participants in the experiment had to meet a couple of key requirements. They had to have no children living at home, their office had to be a room that was not a bedroom and they had to have access to quality broadband. Now, it’s not only research projects that are promoting work-from-home. “Now that companies have built the framework – and experienced the cost and time savings associated with it – there’s no real reason to turn back,” says Mark Lobosco, Vice President of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn.Working from home does come with its drawbacks, of course. Critics of work-from-home cite a loss of camaraderie and office culture, a loss of creativity, a higher likelihood of work-related stress and a reduction in career opportunities. Working from home also blurs the work and home boundaries, and workers can find it hard to switch off, complaining of feeling overworked due to a loss of visibility with managers and the perceived pressure to appear busy and deliver higher levels of productivity. And women reportedly experience the most dif-ficulties from balancing work and home priorities, given that 19BUSINESS IN FOCUS Next >