Stitchitize takes a look back at convention days

by Trevor Conquergood of Stitchitize Embroidery Design Service

The VDTA/SDTA Show was an excellent reason to go to Las Vegas considering February was the fifth consecutive month we had snow in Saskatoon, Canada. As the manager of Stitchitize Embroidery Design, I need to be at this show. I can see my customers and meet new ones, and while I’m there I might as well have a little fun. Vegas offers something for everyone: shopping, great shows, and even for some, gambling!

Perhaps one of the most exciting things for me at the VDTA/SDTA Show is to see the new embroidery machines. To me these are the coolest toys and I wish I could own one of each type. As a design supplier, it is these machines that will create new consumers for our products and for you, the store owner, these are the newest products for your store. One machine that stood out for me this year is the Janome MB-4 with a large embroidery area and four needles. I think that the challenge for dealers is to understand who will purchase this new, more commercial embroidery machine. The good news is that at the VDTA/SDTA Show they offer classes. This year there was even a class on how to sell an embroidery machine to the commercial consumer.

Another class that I found very interesting was about how to sell sewing machines to the “20 something” market. There were five very talented, young sewers that presented the class. It was more of an open forum that allowed the participants to ask questions. I learned that these people are better reached on the Internet than the newspaper. They are interested in re-fashioning old clothing into new and they don’t really want to take a class on the best way to sew a seam. They did suggest that a Stitch Lounge may be just the right approach to get them in to your store to test drive a new machine. Never heard of a Stitch Lounge? You will soon. Allyce King is one of the talented people who hosted this class and she is co-authoring a book with Nicole Thieret called My Style, My Place (being published by Krause Publications). I look forward to reading it.

My question for you is, “do you have a ‘My Space’ for your store?” Find me at www.myspace.com/embroideryadict.

There is so much more than just classes and new machines at the VDTA/SDTA Show. The show is full of talented people. I personally like to visit with the other embroidery designers. We are a strange breed that actually make good friends with our competitors. This year I had my picture taken with many of them. To the right are a few photos of me with people like John Deer (Adorable Ideas), Steve Wilson (Anita Good Design), Kaye Wood (Kaye Wood, Inc.), Simon Haskins (Jenny Haskins’ son), and Eileen Roche (Designs in Machine Embroidery) and one with my dad, George Conquergood (Stitchitize) beside my good friend Walter Floriani (Floriani, Inc.). Walter was showing a very cool new type of 3D embroidery developed by Fuwari, see the photo of the dogs.

New machines, classes and people are just a few of the things you will find at the VDTA/SDTA Show. I plan to attend next year, and I hope you do too.

See you in Las Vegas…Elvis has left the building.

Reprinted from SQE Professional, May 2007