It’s already December, and I must admit that it came upon me more quickly than ever.  So much so that I almost forgot to submit my Christmas Wish List column to this publication.  Seems to me that I am closer to being the white-bearded icon with a fading memory than Santa himself.

Frankly, there is increasing evidence that Santa is a hoax, and a cruel one at that.  When I was 13, I wanted a mini-bike.  It didn’t happen.  My father’s name was Lionel (No, not that one.  He was a drycleaner, but he was white and lived in Massachusetts), so I felt a bit entitled to a Lionel brand train set.  This did not transpire.  One year, I saw a wristwatch, packaged in water.  I loved the novel idea, surely done to underscore just how water-resistant this watch really was.  My mother bought one all right, as a gift to my father!   Truly disappointing.  But sometimes the best gifts are those that you didn’t know that you wanted.  In 1967, the Dodge Charger was born and that Christmas I got a slot-car set featuring two Dodge Chargers!  I loved it!  So, it is with that “you-don’t-know-that-you-need-this-yet” spirit that I present stuff that the industry needs, but doesn’t realize it just yet.

Christmas list – December 2015

Ah, Santa Claus!  Sometimes you make me feel like I’m always asking for that mini-bike that I wanted when I was 14.  I was in denial about how totally and completely out of the question getting that from my parents as a Christmas gift that year really was.  What I want this year is really easy stuff.  I admit to having some fantastical ideas for this, my annual Christmas Wish List, in years past, but this year its easy stuff.  We can make this happen folks!

Thick buttons on shirts have been around for a while now and shirt presses can reduce these buttons to dust.  It’s so annoying.  Back in my plant days, there weren’t very many think buttons, thankfully, but if there had been, it would have been so annoying.  And it’s gotten worse.  Some shirts have three-dimensional buttons, which are simply unserviceable.

So here we are, once again, the end of the year Holiday season and time for my annual wish list. I work on this column year round because I am always looking for new and better ways to do things. It helps to keep my mind open. When I expanded my business into India, I was quite impressed with the focus on presentation of finished goods; the packaging. I said this before, when I wrote about my experiences in India; I was so enthralled with how great my clothes looked that I didn’t unwrap the last shirt for over a year. It literally looked better than new. I have at least one client that is a boutique cleaner, and their could teach all of us a whole lot about packaging. Many garments are returned to the customer in decorator boxes. “Better than new” is an understatement. But this isn’t what I’m asking Santa for. This sort of packaging already exists. What I’m thinking of is a line packaging for all type of garments that raise our level of professionalism to new heights. The folded shirts from India were folded over a cardboard that was much larger than what we see here. I guess about 9 inches wide and 15 or 16 inches tall. This was covered by a crystal-clear wrap that was somewhere in between cellophane and poly. And the cello-wrap fit snugly over the shirt, resulting in a package that was durable. You can’t toss around a folded shirt that’s been packaged here. It would easily fall out of the loose bag and fall apart. Not so with a shirt that’s been securely packaged. You could toss it around a room, for sure, but more importantly, such a package could travel in a suitcase around the world and still look better than new. I know, because I’ve done it. As a bonus, the image enhancement would be unparalleled. This industry needs a full line of affordable but effective new ways to present our hard work. Let’s get out of the box!