Costa Mesa-based AnaJet Inc. wants to makes its imprint on the apparel industry through digital color printers.
The investor-backed company, which hit sales of $2.5 million in 2007, now is generating about $1 million per month.
AnaJet makes and sells printers from its 45,000-square-foot headquarters off Redhill Avenue where it employs 45 workers.
AnaJet printers cost about $17,000 and are sold to small clothing printers, promotional product makers and clothiers with the help of distributors.
The printers are AnaJet founder Chase Roh’s answer to the clothing industry’s problems with traditional screen printing.
Traditional screen printing requires the use of a lot of materials such as screens and ink, which he said can become costly for manufacturers. The process, which is best suited for printing large quantities of clothes, is also messy, Roh said.
AnaJet printers allow promotional product makers and clothiers to print smaller loads of T-shirts and other clothes with images that are digitally transferred from computers.
The printers use non-toxic, water-soluble ink that is soft to the touch when printed on fabric.
The industry, which generates about $23 billion a year, is dominated by printers that use the traditional screen printing method, Roh said.
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AnaJet printer: sells for $17,000 |
Digital garment printing makes up less than 1% of the entire industry, Roh said.
Roh started AnaJet in 2003 and spent some three years developing the company’s technology and machinery.
AnaJet isn’t the first company that Roh has started.
Roh left South Korea in 1966 and ran ShiArt Technology, an Illinois-based company that made eyes for robots in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The venture capital-backed company moved to Irvine in 1983 and sold to a competitor in 1985.
Roh then started AnaJet’s predecessor, Anagraph Inc., which generated about $4 million a year before it was acquired in 2000 by Gretag Imaging Group, part of Switzerland’s Gretag Imaging Holding AG.
Roh retired after selling Anagraph but was soon itching to start another company.
Roh decided to launch a business that would apply his knowledge of ink jet technology to the garment business.
“The garment industry was crying for a digital revolution,” Roh said.
The company is seeing an uptick in business from startups in the promotions and apparel industries, Roh said.
About 30% to 40% of AnaJet customers are new businesses with more than half of those businesses being home-based.
Part of that trend is being fueled by the economic downturn, Roh said.
“Many people in difficult economies have to start their own businesses,” Roh said.
Private Label Skincare
Irvine-based Control Corrective Skincare Inc. has launched a private label subsidiary called Global Beauty.
The 10-year-old company has carved its niche in the spa industry by making and selling its namesake cleansers, lotions, face masks and toners at more than 4,000 spas nationwide.
The idea of making products for others was never something that founder Ellen Clark considered until now.
Clark is looking to the private label as a way to boost Control Corrective’s sales in an economic downturn.
Global Beauty has formulated a line of wrinkle creams, cleansers, lotions and other products for salons, spas, beauty supply stores and drug stores that want to brand them as their own.
The subsidiary also offers custom-made products and product packaging, Clark said.
Companies that want to offer a cosmetic skincare line without manufacturing it themselves could turn to Global Beauty, which taps laboratories to make products in the U.S.
Control Corrective is privately held and doesn’t disclose revenue.
Clark is mum about how much Global Beauty is expected to generate in sales but she said the subsidiary should help Control Corrective grow its sales 25% next year.
Control Corrective counts five workers at its 3,000-square-foot headquarters and a handful of sales representatives.
Rough Start
Janice Briggs couldn’t have launched a business at a worse time.
Briggs took a big risk when she left a career in healthcare philanthropy at University of California, Irvine, last June to start her Irvine-based luxury vacation travel agency La Dolce Vita Retreats.
She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but Briggs did not anticipate the worst financial crisis in recent memory.
The travel industry is one of the hardest hit by the economic downturn.
Airlines have reported sharp declines in passenger traffic, hotel occupancy rates are down and corporate travel managers are demanding new concessions on deals that already were negotiated. Cancellations on travel arrangements at upscale hotels also are starting to rise.
Despite the economy’s travails, there’s no turning back for Briggs.
She’s already invested more than $250,000 in La Dolce Vita just to get it off the ground.
“It’s a little scary, but I have faith in this business,” Briggs said.
She wanted to start a luxury travel agency that would offer upscale retreats for women where they could relax, wine and dine, work out, learn and participate in other activities that promote wellness.
“I wanted to offer a kind of holistic retreat,” Briggs said.
Briggs works directly with hotels, restaurants and other vendors to create packages.
She said the economic downturn is pushing many vendors to go above and beyond to offer travelers nice experiences.
La Dolce Vita’s trips are geared toward women who may have children who are about to leave the nest and those on the cusp of retiring, Briggs said.
Briggs, an avid traveler, offers vacation packages to Europe and the Bahamas.
The retreats, which can hold up to 20 women, aren’t cheap.
They cost $7,850 to $15,900 and include airfare, hotel, food and activities such as sailing, gourmet cooking classes, perfume making and yoga.
La Dolce Vita’s vacations have the potential to still attract the ultra rich, but Briggs has noticed that even people with deep pockets are being conservative with their spending.
“Even people who can afford these trips now are very wary,” Briggs said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
