# Bling, bling, everywhere a bling!



## jdoug5170 (Sep 8, 2010)

I know this rhinestone stuff has been around for awhile...but hey, does it have to show up EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING when I'm not doing it! How will I be able to resist another decorating method with it thrown in my face EVERYDAY!

Shirts, jeans, bras, jackets, hoodies, purses, car decals and today, I saw the excitement over shoes! Shoes!

Accidently saw a piece of the View this morning and the panel of loud, obnoxious women where up there ooohing and aweing over some shiny shoes that someone wore to a wedding! 

I know that Kacie was around a few months ago looking for wholesale source on the shoes...anyone ever hear if she found a source or did she just take the info from here and run? Anyone else doing the bling bling thing on all these different products?

My eyes hurt from all this bling...or is it, all the $$ I'm leaving to others????

Doug


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## iCreate Graphix (Mar 28, 2011)

jdoug5170 said:


> I know this rhinestone stuff has been around for awhile...but hey, does it have to show up EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING when I'm not doing it! How will I be able to resist another decorating method with it thrown in my face EVERYDAY!
> 
> Shirts, jeans, bras, jackets, hoodies, purses, car decals and today, I saw the excitement over shoes! Shoes!
> 
> ...


Don't worry Doug...you're not missing much. We offer the service, but people rarely get it...because they don't want to pay the extra $$. Our biggest business is screen printing, and the only people who ever want bling added are people wanting to start their own clothing/t-shirt lines. And even those people are few. People like to wear the bling, but only when they can pick out a mass produced blinged out tee from the mall.


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## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

iCreate Graphix said:


> Don't worry Doug...you're not missing much. We offer the service, but people rarely get it...because they don't want to pay the extra $$. Our biggest business is screen printing, and the only people who ever want bling added are people wanting to start their own clothing/t-shirt lines. And even those people are few. People like to wear the bling, but only when they can pick out a mass produced blinged out tee from the mall.


That might be true in your market, but not everywhere. There is much money to be made in bling.


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## happyhappy55 (May 22, 2011)

lizziemaxine said:


> That might be true in your market, but not everywhere. There is much money to be made in bling.


I agree with Jane, I'm just getting into the biz I bought bling it and trying to work the kinks out of it I'm currently dealing with a loading problem with my software, but anyway ladies are attracted to shiny things because we like to dazzle,


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

Bling is alive and well in my area as well. I have been blinging everything for awhile now, and selling everything I have blinged out for awhile now. If a person is selling those same tired designs seen everywhere on a plain tee then of course it's not a big seller, but if you have some unique design on unique items, they will fly out the door.


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

You're right that being unique is the key. I've been doing rhinestone designs for 4 years now and each year gets better that the next. 80% of my business is custom designs. The stock designs I post on my website are more of a tool that my customers use and want custom work done off of those designs.

Is anyone doing faux rhinestone designs using the metallic or hologram vinyl material? I was thinking about implementing this technique for some of my designs as a lower cost alternative but wasn't sure if the market was there. Any input would be greatly appreciated.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

BlingItOn said:


> Is anyone doing faux rhinestone designs using the metallic or hologram vinyl material? I was thinking about implementing this technique for some of my designs as a lower cost alternative but wasn't sure if the market was there. Any input would be greatly appreciated.


There is so much of that stuff in Target and Wal-Mart that it doesn't seem very custom anymore so I stay away from it. People really want the bling so I just stick with rhinestones.


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

DivineBling said:


> There is so much of that stuff in Target and Wal-Mart that it doesn't seem very custom anymore so I stay away from it. People really want the bling so I just stick with rhinestones.


But what I'm afraid of is with cotton prices going up, gas prices and loss of jobs consumers are going to start look for less expensive alternatives for bling. Creating the faux rhinestone look is way cheaper and faster to make plus childrens clothing would be an option again. I guess I'll just have to test the waters and see where it takes me.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

BlingItOn said:


> But what I'm afraid of is with cotton prices going up, gas prices and loss of jobs consumers are going to start look for less expensive alternatives for bling. Creating the faux rhinestone look is way cheaper and faster to make plus childrens clothing would be an option again. I guess I'll just have to test the waters and see where it takes me.


I'm not trying to discourage you at all. I'm just saying that the design time for those is the same as rhinestone design but the profit margin isn't as high. People pay more for bling because it's an emotional purchase and seems more custom, even though the vinyl design would be just as custom. But you're right about being able to do children's clothing.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

For the poor mans rhinestones or what ever you want to call it, 
I use the same designs i use for my Rhinestones,, 

Which makes it super fast and easy and sparkly,

why not use everything we have however we can,,, there is no reason to design just for Poor mans Rhinestones,, 

This is selling awesome for me with kids clothing I am having a hard time keeping up as I just added Kids clothing to my Retail Store.

And these items are flying off the hangers,, 
of all the colors i have 4 best sellers and i mix the colors as well
Here are the best selling colors 

Silver
Gold
Pink
Purple 
the girls go nuts over these. I have washed and washed and dried now for over 8 months or so one item trying to wear it out,, 
It has not changed at all,, 
Unlike foil, that if you put in the dryer it changes color because of the Heat,, 
The Poor mans Rhinestone product I use, has stayed brillant and tight to the garment.

I Price these the same as my lower price Rhinestone Shirts, and the profit is wonderful

Sandy jo


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## jean518 (Sep 23, 2009)

If you offer things to all price ranges, you are going to make sales. I am going to try something new at a small craft fair this weekend. No repeat of designs in the same material or the same shirt. I guess you could call it one of a kinds. While I will be using some of my in stock stuff, I also purchased some tanks in varying colors. Some have rhinestones and some are decorated with Stahls Superfilm using the cch2o method to get that faded look. Going to do some koozies that way too. I will take orders for repeat but will not be taking a whole bunch. Remember variety is the spice of life! I bought some little girls tanks from WM with stuff on it and embellished it with kid safe elements like hearts, etc. One was dye sub flowers etc. I made a larger flower similar to the flowers in the design. Used rhinestuds and put it on the front. Just added a little bling. I think the shirt was 5. Added a few cents worth of rhinestones. I can probably get 8 or more out of it. Little girls and big girls like bling! Flip flop designs are always good for big and little girls. I also put a large design on the front of some and then a smaller version on the back. Took a stab at between the shoulder blades on the smaller one. Did this with both bling and cch20.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Jean,

I believe Diversity in the Garment Decoration Business is the Key, as well.

Sandy jo
MMM


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## keetch (Mar 12, 2010)

just did this today with the holographic vinyl


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

sue that looks great,,


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

I tried the Hologram foil sometime ago after Luis posted a pic I think and everyone loved it until they got a close up and saw that it was not rhinestones. Not a seller at all in my shop. I guess it depends on the location.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

veedub3 said:


> I tried the Hologram foil sometime ago after Luis posted a pic I think and everyone loved it until they got a close up and saw that it was not rhinestones. Not a seller at all in my shop. I guess it depends on the location.


That's what it's like around here, too. People love the actual rhinestones. Getting them to accept shirts made with machine cut rhinestones down from Swarovski was enough of a challenge. Going to "poor man's rhinestones" would not work at all. I've had so many people show me shirts made with Korean or Chinese rhinestones as examples of what they DON'T want.

Again, this is just in my area and with my customers. It's a big country and there is a market for everything.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Seems that everyone has this a little mixed up,, lets think about children's clothing for a minute, this is a great alternative to rhinestones for that application, that is of course unless you want to gamble on putting stones on small children's clothing, for me that would be one gamble I would not take. There is just to many things that could go wrong with rhinestones in that application.

At least using this type of material you don't have to worry about using it with children under 12 with all of the lead issues and it seems that folks using this method seem to be doing well with it,, of course this is not for everyone nor is it for every area. That is why there are so many types of decorating methods out there.


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