Innovative Styles in New Slant on Promotional Gifts

Carrollton-based In Your Face Apparel, a 3-year-old venture in the promotional apparel business, is in the business of getting corporate clients noticed.

The company makes and sells fashionable, "blinged-out" clothing items and custom apparel nationally to big names like Bud Light, Hooters, Mercedes Benz and Hawaiian Tropic, as well as to local businesses, schools and other groups. Beyond regular customization, the company also has a program that puts a client's name directly on a garment's label.

In Your Face founder and owner Doug Stayman says that getting his company noticed by the right people -- in this case the independent promotional products distributors that sell the items to corporate America -- hasn't been simple.

In a market that relies more on proven staples than innovation, In Your Face is something of a maverick in terms of its styles and use of a decoration called crystal transfer, an embellishment that layers hundreds of tiny "crystals" over a print or logo, visually pumping up its depth and dimension. In Your Face has an exclusive agreement with the company that invented the crystal transfer process. Stayman declined to disclose the name of the company.

"The challenge we have in the promotional market is that it's a 'me-too' industry," Stayman said. "A pen is a pen and a mug is a mug -- they don't have to explain what it is."

In Your Face is providing something quite different.

In 2003, Stayman set out to fill a demand for garments that are as trendy as anything purchased at the mall.

"What is hot in retail is not readily available from promotional-product suppliers," he said. "We saw there was a gap in the promotional market and in what the supplier could do for the customer. We are retail in style, in fabric and in decorating."

The company's trendy product offerings have led to fast-rising sales. So far this year, sales are up 578% from last year and orders have gone from 10 a month to hundreds. This year the company expects to generate north of $3 million in revenue, up from $2 million in 2005.