During the few days of October 24-26, the Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, was literally buzzing with the steady, almost relaxing, tap tap tap of dozens upon dozens of screen printers repeatedly adorning hats, shirts and other apparel. 2024 Impressions Expo, held by Impressions Magazine, brought together much of the decorated apparel industry for both trade show and conference.

  • Along with the multi-day trade show, 2024 Impressions Expo also featured educational sessions primarily focusing on new technologies relevant to the industry.

Exhibiting suppliers included many familiar faces to the promo industry – SanMar, BELLA + CANVAS and Cap America, just to name a few.

The crossover between the two industries is apparent, and in the months leading up to The PPAI Expo 2025, this served as another opportunity for exhibitors to meet with potential distributor partners while also connecting on trends relevant to both industries. PPAI had a booth present at 2024 Impressions Expo.

“I think a lot of the time people think that there’s the decorated apparel industry and the promotional products industry, and really, they coexist,” says Karsen Morgan, account advisor at SAGE, PPAI’s technology partner. “When you’re educated about the different opportunities that are out there to grow your business through both industries, it can be really powerful.”

“For SAGE, we want to make it easy for you to source product and get in contact with the supplier and then present that product to your customer.”

Two Industries Sharing “Synergy”

As both the decorated apparel and promotional products industry grow, the synergy between the two seems to grow alongside. While there are a few key differences and the supply chain is not necessarily identical, the possibilities for a business to navigate successfully within both plentiful.

“It seems like so many of these screen-printing companies are getting into promotional products based on that synergy,” says Eric Barrows, sales executive at Cotton Heritage, who also noted that come across many promo companies that have screen printed so many products that they became confident in their ability to operate in both industries. Cotton Heritage will also be exhibiting at The PPAI Expo 2025.

  • Direct-to-film technology, a widely discussed topic at 2024 Impressions Expo, also makes it easier for companies to operate with smaller orders that local screen printers often do not accept.

The founders of DGI Apparel, a relatively young company, attended 2024 Impressions Expo as a way to foster relationships in the industry that can’t quite be replicated while sitting behind a screen or through a phone call. Co-founder Ian Hinkley says that navigating both industries would be so much more difficult without similar events to educate and make connections.

“Coming from the apparel side of things, I learned so much about the promotional products industry from attending The PPAI Expo, but I also see the inverse where people come from promo products and they move into apparel,” Hinkley says. “You can kind of learn about both worlds between those two expos and get a good taste and understanding.”