© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study

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Wrangler Jeans Lands More Orders with Short-Run Digital Production of Sample Cards

Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study www.podi.org © 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative

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Project: Wrangler Jeans Lands More Orders with Short-Run Digital Production of Sample Cards

Vertical Market: Manufacturing

Business Application: Collateral Management and Fulfillment/Stock Collateral Literature

Wrangler Jeans needed a faster, more cost-effective and more efficient way to produce Swatch Cards—sample cards the company’s sales team uses to promote product lines of new garments to retailers. The all-digital workflow created by ImageSet Digital has reduced the production cycle, cut its annual costs substantially, and helped increase sales.

Program Objectives

• Produce collateral more quickly

• Eliminate handwork from production workflow

• Reduce problems with color matching and image reproduction

Significant Results Reported by User

• Shorter production cycle

• Client reduced substantially its annual costs through elimination of handwork and associated fabric costs

• Better representation of products

• Increased sales

Description

Wrangler Jeans needed a faster, more cost-effective and more efficient way to produce Swatch Cards—sample cards that carry an image of a piece of clothing and related information. The company’s sales team uses these cards to promote upcoming product lines to retailers. A set of cards for each line is needed four times a year—one for each season. Prior to turning to ImageSet Digital to revamp the production process from start to finish, Wrangler Jeans had the cards produced with a traditional workflow involving traditional photography and offset printing. This traditional workflow often produced images that were not accurately color matched to the garments, and the entire process took too much time out of the three-month sales cycle. In addition, Wrangler Jeans had to have fabric swatches cut by hand and applied by hand to each card. This part of the process alone was time consuming and expensive.

© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study

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The ImageSet Digital workflow employs digital photography, high-speed image transfer, and digital image retouching to complete all the work needed for a set of cards in four weeks. ImageSet Digital personnel handle every step of the cycle, including preparation and photography. The three-day image production cycle includes the prepping of the garments, hair styling, make-up, and styling of the garments on models. Once the garments and models are ready, the digital photography part of the process begins, and more than 50 garments are photographed on each of the three days. While ImageSet Digital staff members are photographing one garment, other staffers are busy sending the digital images of garments photographed earlier in the process to ImageSet Digital via wireless high-speed data trans-fer. At ImageSet Digital, the production team handles the color correction of the images and inserts them into the print files that have already been prepared with the text description of each garment. Samples of the fabrics are scanned at ImageSet Digital, and the images are color corrected and added to the print files. The color-corrected and edited images are also posted in an image database for Wrangler Jeans and ImageSet Digital staff to view and use later for other projects. Retouched images are often viewed and approved online during the actual photo session. Kathi Woolsey, Vice President of Sales at ImageSet Digital, says that the digital workflow is not only fast, but also flexible. For example, if there is a detail about the fabric used for a sample garment that doesn’t accurately portray production garments—something that can happen if design changes are made after a sample has been produced—then ImageSet Digital can usually make those changes to the digital image of the sample using photo retouching (draping) techniques.

Wrangler Jeans Lands More Orders with Short-Run Digital Production of Sample Cards

Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study www.podi.org © 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative

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Since traditional photography was used in the previous production process, Wrangler Jeans was faced with the choice of either using a photograph that did not accurately portray the finished garment or leaving the image off the card entirely. Once all the files are ready for imaging, ImageSet Digital prints them in full color on letter-size white card stock. Then it trims the cards, collates them into sets, and drills three holes into each card. The Wrangler Jeans sales team gets full sets for two lines of girls’ clothing and three lines of women’s clothing.

Faster Production, Improved Sales

It now takes about four weeks instead of five or more weeks to produce a set of cards, and all five sets of cards are done in the same four-week cycle, with one cycle every three months to coincide with the upcoming season. Wrangler Jeans has also been able to eliminate a substantial amount of its annual hand-work and fabric costs through the use of digital images of fabric swatches instead of actual fabric swatches glued to the cards. In addition, the improved color matching and digital imaging has reduced the percentage of returns from retailers who were unhappy with the differences in appearance between the garment as shown on the card and the production garments they received. Woolsey says the overall improvement in the representation of the garments and the ability to modify images of sample garments for a better match to production garments has resulted in increased sales for Wrangler Jeans. “For example, the Wrangler Women’s line has experienced dramatic growth in the last several years. Wrangler believes that the improved quality of their swatch cards plays a major role in this success.”

© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study

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Client Wrangler Jeans

www.wrangler.com

The Wrangler brand is part of the largest and most profitable division of VF Jeanswear, a division of VF Corporation. VF Corporation is the largest manufacturer of apparel in the world.

Print Provider & Agency

ImageSet Digital

www.imageset.com

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ImageSet Digital provides digital, short-run, and color printing services. The company also offers related services including color proofing, bindery, fulfillment, and shipping.

Hardware HP Indigo 5000 digital press, Xerox 240 color copier

Software Adobe CS including Photoshop and Adobe Portfolio; Group Logic MassTransit

Finishing Cutter, trimmer, and hole punch

Target Audience Managers of retail stores that carry the Wrangler brand

Distribution 200 to 250 cards per season, four seasons a year

Date Sets are printed every three months