The annual Apparel Decoration Summit, which took place from June 2-4 in Nashville, Tennessee, offered industry professionals a space to connect, collaborate, and gain valuable insights.

With curated 1:1 business meetings, targeted networking opportunities, and strategic information-sharing sessions, the event fostered meaningful conversations that helped attendees strengthen partnerships and uncover new business opportunities.

The event opened with a keynote session led by Lisa Cross, principal analyst, Alliance/NAPCO. Cross and a panel of three other female decorators discussed some key data from the State of the Decorated Apparel (SODA) survey, offering an in-depth look at the current state of the apparel decoration industry.

Megan Griffith, owner of P&M Apparel—a woman-owned, third-generation family business, spoke about the strategic adjustments her shop is making in response to external economic factors, according to Apparelist.

“We don’t do any advertising. We don’t really do any cold calling or cold sales,” Griffith shared. “We just let our reputation do the selling for us. And I think this is the first year that we decided not to just sit and wait for falling apples. We’re starting to change how we do that, starting to market more, sending out samples and stuff like that to companies that we want to get business from.”

The other panelists, Angie Stiles, owner of High Desert Prints and Nicole Reynolds, sales and production manager at Apparel Lab agreed that the first half of the year was a bit rough, and each of their businesses was in a holding pattern, but they are optimistic and have used this time to capitalize on the opportunities rather than wallow in the challenges.

Cassie Green, content director of Apparelist commented on the overall responses she received about the opening panel, saying “We received a lot of feedback that it was nice to hear from a female panel about a topic that isn’t about being a woman in the industry, demonstrating the importance of hearing different business perspectives and highlighting the important leadership voices that women bring to the table.”

If you missed this year’s Apparel Decoration Summit, don’t stress! Watch this brief wrap-up video Cassie Green and Allee Bruce, content director of Promo Impressions, filmed here on what stuck out the most to them at this year’s summit.

The event will be coming back to Nashville in 2026. Check the Apparelist website for more details.