Dye-Sublimation Brings Custom, High Impact Designs to Gymnastics Competitions Worldwide
Snowflake Designs | Clovis, California
LaDonna Snow learned to sew while growing up thanks to her mother and grandmother. After having a daughter of her own, Kindra, LaDonna used her talents to create a colorful leotard for her to wear to gymnastics class. Soon, friends began asking LaDonna if she could make leotards for their children.
LaDonna started Snowflake Designs in a spare bedroom, financing it with a single credit card. Today, Snowflake Designs in Clovis, Calif., creates beautiful leotards for gymnasts of all ages – from youngsters just starting out to athletes competing in the World Gymnastics Championships and the Special Olympics.
Expanding with Dye-Sublimation
While most of their products are produced on traditional presses, Snowflake Designs brought in dye-sublimation equipment to easily and quickly create customized apparel. LaDonna invested in the VersaCAMM VS-300i 30-inch printer/cutter and a GS-24 cutter, then added the Texart XT-640 64-inch high volume dye-sublimation printer.
“Adding dye-sublimation has really expanded our capabilities,” said LaDonna. “Honestly, the sky’s the limit. If we can dream it up, there’s nothing we can’t print.
“With dye-sublimation, we’re able to produce custom designs in a fraction of the time needed for traditional production.”
A thriving enterprise employing 35 full-time staffers, Snowflake Designs now occupies an 11,000 square-foot facility. According to LaDonna, dye-sublimated prints are an expanding part of the business. In fact, Snowflake Designs has plans to add another 1,700 square feet to better accommodate their dye-sublimated production.
Design Inspiration
Ideas for their dye-sublimated designs come from Snowflake Designs’ team of graphic designers as well as from customer requests. Popular designs include a pink and blue unicorn and a dinosaur singlet with the words “T-Rex doesn’t like handstands.”
Snowflake Designs’ dye-sublimated apparel orders can range from one to 1,000 pieces. Sometimes the designs can be quite elaborate, and some include photos.
LaDonna started Snowflake Designs in a spare bedroom, financing it with a single credit card. Today, Snowflake Designs in Clovis, Calif., creates beautiful leotards for gymnasts of all ages – from youngsters just starting out to athletes competing in the World Gymnastics Championships and the Special Olympics.
Expanding with Dye-Sublimation
While most of their products are produced on traditional presses, Snowflake Designs brought in dye-sublimation equipment to easily and quickly create customized apparel. LaDonna invested in the VersaCAMM VS-300i 30-inch printer/cutter and a GS-24 cutter, then added the Texart XT-640 64-inch high volume dye-sublimation printer.
“Adding dye-sublimation has really expanded our capabilities,” said LaDonna. “Honestly, the sky’s the limit. If we can dream it up, there’s nothing we can’t print.
“With dye-sublimation, we’re able to produce custom designs in a fraction of the time needed for traditional production.”
A thriving enterprise employing 35 full-time staffers, Snowflake Designs now occupies an 11,000 square-foot facility. According to LaDonna, dye-sublimated prints are an expanding part of the business. In fact, Snowflake Designs has plans to add another 1,700 square feet to better accommodate their dye-sublimated production.
“With dye-sublimation, we’re able to produce custom designs in a fraction of the time needed for traditional production”
“The Texart dye-sub inks let us print every color under the sun. We especially like the fluorescent inks because they really make the designs pop,” said LaDonna.Design Inspiration
Ideas for their dye-sublimated designs come from Snowflake Designs’ team of graphic designers as well as from customer requests. Popular designs include a pink and blue unicorn and a dinosaur singlet with the words “T-Rex doesn’t like handstands.”
Snowflake Designs’ dye-sublimated apparel orders can range from one to 1,000 pieces. Sometimes the designs can be quite elaborate, and some include photos.