ScreenWeb | screenweb.com

Screen printers who expect to get in on the traveling circus that is the Olympics have a number of ways to get involved.

By Andy MacDougall

The Olympics are upon us here in the land of ice and snow, and it’s not just athletes who compete and win when these games come to town. Squeegees race across mesh like speed skaters, silicon pads and embroidery needles pound out logos faster than a mogul skier, and the inkjet heads of thousands of printers zigzag like hockey players over anything that will hold an image.

Screen printers and other specialty imagers who decide to get connected to an event the size and duration of the Olympics can also find, gold, silver, and extra bucks for their bottom lines and an increase in business. And just like the Olympics, this is an international game. Canada may be hosting it, and local printers get a good chance at a lot of contracts, but the printers who create the branded visual backdrops and the mounds of logoed merchandising come from everywhere these days.

Screen printers who expect to get in on the traveling circus that is the Olympics have a number of ways to get involved. They need to work directly for the local organizing committee or as a sub-trade to sponsors and their on-site marketing teams. These are the official suppliers, and they can use all of the trademarked icons and phrases on event-related materials and myriad approved souvenirs.

Thousands of other entrepreneurs and smaller companies try to get in on the gravy train in the Vancouver/Whistler area through the back door. They are forbidden by law, and what seems like an army of lawyers, from using the Olympic rings, the word Olympics, or the phrase Vancouver 2010. But the opportunity to produce and sell merchandise to an estimated 1 million visitors over the month-long Olympic and Paralympic games is hard to resist.