Ricoma Insights Quarter 4 2019

4th QUARTER • 2019 EDITION RICOMA WEBSITE GETS A MAKEOVER THE BRAND-NEW INTERACTIVE WEBSITE FEATURES A MODERN TWIST RICOMA MOVES INTO NEW HQ RICOMA IS SETTLED INTO ITS NEW HOME IN MEDLEY, FLORIDA A look back 2019on Ricoma RICOMA INSIGHTS PUBLICATION • ISSUE 0008

W ith a new year and decade comes a wealth of growth, opportunity and innovation at Ricoma. Not only has our U.S. headquarters moved into a new building here in Miami, Florida, but our R&D and manufacturing facility in China has been revamped and tripled in size to accommodate our fast-growing business. These improvements have been carefully crafted to pave the way for further expansion that will help Ricoma become the world’s leader in the garment and textile decoration industry with new technologies and innovative products. As the industry continues to evolve, we aim to adapt and push boundaries with our innovative technology, 7-day after-hours customer support and top-of- the-line embroidery equipment to provide the highest quality on the market. Going into the new year, we remain one of the leading manufacturers in the space, thanks to the hard work and commitment of our team. We have made it a point to take our customers deeper into the world of Ricoma within the pages of Ricoma Insights. Our customers have and will always be our first priority, which is why we want to share more insight into who we are, what we do and why we do it. Ricoma Insights remains a space to learn the ins and outs of our brand, vision, technological advances, new products, new areas of growth and more. Every piece of content that we share is designed with our customers and distributors in mind, so that they have the tools and resources they need to succeed in their businesses. Through Ricoma Insights, I hope you can appreciate our vision and understand exactly what makes us stand out from the rest. FRANK MA Founder & President

4th QUARTER • 2019 EDITION In This Issue... You can read through the News and Events section to get updates on the latest in the embroidery industry and Ricoma. Dive into the Profiles section to read exclusive interviews with Ricoma distributors and staff. Finally, check out the Features section to get professional machine embroidery tips and insights. FEATUREs News + Events 2 RICOMA MOVES INTO NEW HQ Ricoma is settled into its much-anticipated facility 3 RICOMA WEBSITE GETS A MAKEOVER The brand-new interactive website features a modern twist 4 NEW FACILITY IN CHINA Ricoma’s factory receives an upgrade 4 DECOSUMMIT 2019 Ricoma’s first-ever custom apparel conference considered a huge success 6 TOP 10 DIGITIZING FEATURES OF CHROMA Ricoma’s proprietary digitizing software broken down into its top 10 features 8 YOUTUBE ROUNDUP Ricoma’s top 3 videos from Apparel Academy and Embroidery Hub 10 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS WITH HENRY MA Henry Ma featured on Social Pros podcast 10 RICOMA IS HEADING BACK TO ISS LONG BEACH THIS MONTH! Ricoma to showcase equipment at popular Long Beach trade show PROFILES 11 EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT Q+A with Ricoma’s Assistant Service Manager Mark Torres 12 DISTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT Meet Hemanth Kumar from Krishna Sewing Solutions 13 A LOOK BACK ON RICOMA 2019 Our favorite moments from the memorable year 14 UPCOMING EVENTS International trade shows

Ricoma moves into new HQ Ricoma is settled into its much-anticipated facility A fter two years of planning and building and many is sectioned by department, with our account executives up permits later, Ricoma’s brand-new headquarters front, meeting tables in the middle and the marketing and officially opened its doors to the Ricoma U.S. staff service team holding up the rear. in October 2019! Spacious conference rooms and offices line the sides of the The Ricoma team moved into the building just a few days main floor, with our media room, the new home to our after DecoSummit, the company’s first-ever custom apparel Embroidery Hub YouTube series, located to the rear left. conference held in the new headquarters. The 58,000-square-foot space also holds two different With marble aesthetics and wide glass windows, this warehouses, one of which is currently being used to inspect, building is a far more open atmosphere for the team to prep and ship out the embroidery machines. collaborate in. The two-floor building holds a maximum The move into Ricoma’s brand-new headquarters is a huge capacity of 150 people, more than enough space to accomplishment for the company and comes just in time to accommodate current and future Ricoma staff. take on the new decade. With electronic standing desks, break rooms and conference “This building is a new milestone in Ricoma’s history. It is rooms on both floors, Ricoma employees can work more a symbol of the Ricoma team’s hard work and commitment efficiently and comfortably. to better customer service and support,” said Ricoma’s Guests who enter the facility are greeted by a welcome President, Frank Ma. “It demonstrates new beginnings, video playing on a TV upon the marble wall, along with a growth and perseverance in 2020 and years to come.” machine showroom to their right. Just ahead, the main floor 2

Ricoma website gets a make over Ricoma.us now becomes ricoma.com! R icoma has launched its brand-new website, ricoma.com, designed to help users enjoy their visit and navigate the site with ease and speed. While the brand colors and theme remain the same, the navigational aspect of the website is now smoother, making it quicker and easier to transition through and load different pages. Designed to include more visually appealing images, video and text, the website is also more pleasing to the eye. Each product page will feature an interactive closeup of the panel, where visitors can hover over each of the panel’s icons to read about its features. Site visitors will also be able to switch through and click into different tabs to learn the embroidery machine’s main features and what’s included in Ricoma’s starter package. Users can now easily use the compare feature for the embroidery machine and heat press categories to see a side- by-side comparison of the features for each machine. “If users loved our site before, they’ll be even more impressed with our new one.” -Shane Mehta The person behind the new and improved site is Ricoma’s “Our goal was to provide a refreshing and crisp new look UX/UI designer, Shane Mehta. and feel that brings the viewer up close and personal to Ricoma products,” Mehta said. “If users loved our site before, they’ll be even more impressed with our new one.” 3

New facility in China Ricoma’s factory receives an upgrade “Ricoma’s goal is to ensure that we only provide the best for our customers. The new facility in F ocused on improving and expanding production China is another huge milestone in our history capacity, Ricoma has moved to a new state-of-the-art and will allow us to consistently improve our R&D, production facility in China. production quality and customer satisfaction,” With the company’s growth, the old facility could no longer meet the existing production capacity. -Ricoma President, Frank Ma The facility in China received an upgrade in both size and location. Jumping from 12,000 square meters (130,000 square feet) to approximately 32,000 square meters (350,000 square feet), the new factory has nearly tripled in size. Located next to Xicheng East Road, Daya Bay West District, Huizhou, the space can accommodate up to 500 employees. The new facility will play a huge role in increasing overall output, product quality and production capacity. It will also help improve and enhance the company’s R&D capabilities, which was part of the reason Ricoma was named the #1 embroidery machine brand in China. DECOSUMMIT 2019 Ricoma’s first-ever custom apparel conference considered a huge success R icoma hosted its inaugural custom apparel top selling platforms for your business. conference at its new headquarters from Oct. 10-12, Embroidery pros and YouTube educators like Laura 2019, and the attendees considered it a success! Gomez from “Embroidery Hub” and Eve Lowry from “The The three-day conference, focused on training in different Baby’s Booty” taught attendees how to digitize and how to methods of apparel decoration, included classes and complete projects like free-standing lace and in-the-hoop tutorials teaching embroidery, sewing, heat transfer embroidery. and DTG printing as well as business seminars advising Other high profile speakers at DecoSummit included attendees on how to utilize their machinery for maximum YouTube sensations Jennifer Moore of “The Sewing Report” profit. and Reyes Gasca of “Reyes the Entrepreneur.” Moore taught “I wanted to learn how to service my machine and learn a beginners guide to sewing and Gasca taught attendees the new techniques and tricks of the trade,” said Linda Russell, process of heat transfer vinyl with a heat press! Ricoma customer and panelist speaker at DecoSummit. Guests also loved the digitizing classes offered by guest “The experience did not disappoint.” speaker and face of Embrilliance digitizing software, Lisa Custom apparel business experts like Ricoma CEO, Henry Shaw. Ma, and Gary Ajene, founder of the T-shirt Help Desk, With 100 guests in attendance, the conference was not only an covered topics from pricing embroidered products to the 4

opportunity for hands-on training and business seminars but a chance for networking with custom apparel decorators from 20-year veterans to novices trying to learn everything they could before returning home to start their businesses. Karen Johnson from Charlotte, North Carolina, said the networking aspect of the event was the most enriching part of the conference. “I now feel like I have a network of people I know personally that I can reach out to,” said Johnson. “Actually meeting people face to face and being able to ask them your particular questions is so valuable.” Johnson was a VIP attendee, which means she was able to attend all hands-on VIP classes and received a technical certification course on the VIP pre-day. VIPs were also invited to a cocktail party complete with a DJ and dancing on the second night of the conference. “Ricoma is the Chick-Fil-A of the embroidery business because of the customer service. The Ricoma staff has been so friendly, and you can tell they really want to help you succeed in your business,” said Johnson. Attendees left the three-day seminar with a well-rounded education on all forms of decorated apparel. A raffle concluded the event, and VIP attendee Fonda Farmer Howland took home a free EM-1010 embroidery machine worth $8,000! 5

Top 10 digitizing features of C Ricoma’s proprietary digitizing software broken down into its top 10 features 12 34 5 Designed for everyone from embroiderers to digitizers to With our latest update, you can now wirelessly transfer graphic design students and teachers, Chroma, Ricoma’s your design to your machine. proprietary digitizing software, is perfect for beginner to By simply connecting your machine to your designated advanced digitizers. WiFi network and IP address (if you have the 8S panel), The software comes equipped with customization tools, you can directly transfer your digitized file from the built-in styles and a simple-to-use interface to help computer to the machine. combat the digitizing learning curve that most novices If you have the 7S panel, you can do so via ethernet cable. encounter. This makes the transfer from computer to machine much With three different tiers (Inspire, Plus or Luxe) available quicker and saves you numerous steps in between. for both Windows and Mac, Chroma provides the tools needed to speed up the lengthy digitizing process. #3: Name Drops Each tier brings a certain set of digitizing features, Need to embroider a bunch of jerseys for a sports team, all depending on the level you choose! And for the sake with different names and numbers on the back? of this article, we decided to cover some of the top 10 Digitizing each name and number would definitely take features in our most advanced tier, Chroma Luxe, which a lot of time. Thankfully, Chroma’s names & numbers allows access to the software’s full range of tools! feature can solve your problem. So in no particular order, let’s dive in. The names and numbers feature allows you to easily apply stitch fills to multiple names and numbers and export #1: Stitched Snapshots them as separate files with the click of a button. Have a picture you’d like to embroider? Simply open up the name drop feature on Chroma, Chroma’s Stitched Snapshots feature automatically and select the style of lettering or numbering you’d like converts an uploaded .png image into a digitized design. and type each of the names into the provided chart. Instead of having to digitize a design from scratch, all you Once completed, you will be able to export each design have to do is make sure your design digitizes correctly and separately! make any changes you see fit! This feature drastically cuts down the time spent #4: Appliqué digitizing, so you can focus more on embroidering and Appliqué is the technique of stitching small pieces of fulfilling orders. fabric onto a larger piece to create a design. By choosing the appliqué feature in Chroma, the software #2: Design export will automatically apply the stitches necessary to make Probably one of the coolest features from our latest your appliqué embroidery project a success. Chroma update is our design export capabilities. Typically, designs are imported into a machine via USB. #5: Bubble Text From your computer, you’d save the file onto a USB, insert Chroma has an exclusive feature called bubble text that it into the machine and then transfer the file from there. allows you to apply text of your choice to a shape. You’ll find all sorts of fun shapes included under the 6

Chroma 67 8 9 10 bubble text tab, from egg shaped designs to green peppers name each color that you input, but you can also change to chess pawns! the thread weight and type to match the thread you have. All you have to do is choose your shape, add the text When you’re ready to digitize, open your palette options and choose the font combination and color of choice. and select the one you want to use! It’s a great and simple way to create a unique design with custom text. #9: Magic wand The magic wand is a unique tool that makes creating an #6: Pre-digitized monogram fonts outline around a design quick and easy! Monogrammed items have become quite popular among If you want to add an outline to a full design and don’t customers. want to do it manually, select the magic wand tool and the And to keep up with the demand for monogrammed area you would like to outline. pieces, Chroma comes equipped with pre-digitized It will also create an outline using a similar color to the monogram designs and fonts, so that you don’t have to ones on your design. create a monogram design from scratch. Simply open up the monogram tool (M icon), type in the #10: Auto-digitized cross stitch initials and choose the font and color you want! Quick As mentioned above, Chroma was designed to help and easy. shorten the lengthy digitizing process. This is possible with auto-digitizing. #7: Color blending and gradients For example, if you wanted to convert an image into a To add a unique twist to your embroidered design, you cross stitch pattern to export and embroider, you can do can use the gradient or blend tool in Chroma to mix two so using Chroma’s auto digitizing wizard. or even three different colors together! Simply upload a PNG or JPEG image, open up the When embroidered, the machine will either use complex autodigitizing wizard and select “cross stitch,” and follow fill stitch or satin stitches, depending on which tool you the instructions on the screen. This feature makes it easy decide to use. for even a beginner to digitize a design! For example, with the blend tool, you will choose a shape to digitize and convert it to a satin stitch fill. Once you Bottom Line have your bottom color, you can use the blend tool to These 10 features are just a few that come with Chroma create a different colored stitch on top of the existing one! software. Before purchasing, make sure to take a look through the #8: Palette creator features on ricoma.com and determine which tier is right It can be time-consuming to customize the colors of each for you and if needed, you can always upgrade later on. embroidery design that you need to digitize. To speed up this process, Chroma comes with a palette creator, where you can create a custom palette of colors! You’ll be able to choose colors that match the thread colors that you have prepped in your machine. Not only can you 7

YouTube Roundup Ricoma’s top 3 videos of Apparel Academy and Embroidery Hub 2019 has come to an end, and we have seen our YouTube personalized goods, but the profit potential is limitless. And channel grow exponentially in such a short amount of with infinite resources and accessible industry support, it’s time! In fact, we started 2019 with 11,900 subscribers no wonder this industry keeps growing everyday. and are ending it with over 26,000! This year, we really put an emphasis on creating valuable and useful content for our loyal followers and have seen the results of our efforts. 2020 will feature more business chats on our Apparel Academy series and more embroidery fun on Embroidery Hub! To celebrate the end of the year, we wanted to showcase our top three Apparel Academy episodes and top three Embroidery Hub episodes of 2019! Top 3 Apparel Academy episodes click here! What embroiderers wish they knew before 5 efficiency tips for embroidery businesses starting their business When you own an embroidery business, it’s important Coming in at a whopping 12.8K views, this episode of to make the most out of your time and machine! From Apparel Academy with Ricoma’s COO, Henry Ma, breaks organizing your workspace to multitasking when possible, down what embroiderers wish they knew before starting the way you use your time determines your profit potential. their businesses! We reached out to our community of After all, time is money! embroiderers and they came back with three key points of advice for those just starting in the industry. 5 reasons why you should start an embroidery click here! business Henry shares his top five reasons why crafters and entrepreneurs should be getting into the embroidery business! Not only is there a large demand for handcrafted, 8

click here! Top 3 Embroidery Hub episodes Cap embroidery tips and best practices One of our most popular episodes of Embroidery Hub this year had to be when our host, Laura, showed our subscribers the best tips and practices for embroidering on caps! Many people say that cap embroidery is hard, but it doesn’t have to be. All it takes are the right materials and some proper hooping to get it just right! Make 10x profit with embroidery with Dollar Tree Finds Did you know you can find great blanks to embroider from the Dollar Tree? In this hit episode of Embroidery Hub, Laura shared how you can 10x your profit with $1 blanks! You can follow along as she embroiders a kitchen mitt set and explains how she would price these items for 10x her profit. click here! HoopMaster/Mighty Hoops tutorial and first We can’t believe how far our channel has come and cannot impressions wait to see what 2020 has in store! 2020 goal: 50K subscribers! This video came highly requested in 2019, and Laura was finally able to film her best tips and tricks for using a HoopMaster and Mighty Hoops to get your left and right chest logo placement right every time. Before you get your hands on these accessories, make sure to watch this video! click here! 9

Social media tips with Henry Ma Henry Ma featured on Social Pros podcast R icoma COO Henry Ma continues his streak of featured spots with his first guest appearance on the Social Pros podcast! Hosted by Jay Baer and Adam Brown, this weekly internet- based podcast features social media experts who discuss current trends, best social media practices and insights into how you should be running your social media for your business. Henry shares how Ricoma implements and uses different social media and content marketing strategies to get our brand in front of the right audience. You can catch Henry’s episode here, and on the following podcast streaming services: iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube and RSS. Also, look out for our own video of the segment on our YouTube channel! click here! ISS LONG BEACH Ricoma to showcase equipment at popular Long Beach trade show E very year, Ricoma travels cross country to head to California for one of the industry’s top conferences, ISS Long Beach! Held on January 17-19 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, Ricoma will be showcasing some of our top equipment, answering questions and doing live demos of our embroidery machines. Conferences are a great way for us to not only display what our machines can do, but also meet our customers in person. If you happen to be attending, make sure to come say hi at booths #849 and #855! 10

Employee Spotlight Q+A with Ricoma’s Assistant Service Manager Mark Torres Mark Torres is Ricoma’s assistant service manager and Ricoma has developed me into an industry expert. They is this quarter’s employee spotlight! He answered a few have allowed me to acquire useful leadership skills such questions sharing his experience at Ricoma over the as organizing, prioritizing and decision-making. years! Do you think technology has paved the way for What is your role at Ricoma? How long have you been improved service like being able to webcam rather than working at Ricoma, and how has your role changed assisting via phone or traveling? since then? Without a doubt. 75% of Ricoma technicians are I’ve been employed with Ricoma for almost 4 years. webcamming with customers to visually see the problem. I started as a service technician and, over the years, I It helps to spot any user errors. On top of all this, working worked my way up to assistant service manager. face-to-face with them brings us closer to our customers. What’s your favorite aspect of working at Ricoma? What is the most rewarding part of your career here at Ricoma? Troubleshooting issues. I love challenges and this brings out the best in me, especially when working with our I say collaboration, culture and helping others internally customers. and externally. Collaboration is a huge part of it because we are all in a big wheel turning and achieving the same How has Ricoma helped you in your career goal. Our culture is so positive, because we care about development? each other the same way we care about our customers. Can you tell us a little bit more about the type of service Ricoma provides to their customers? We go above and beyond. Each service call we do is done with excellent service. We make sure every needle is running correctly, every adjustment is done with proper settings/calibration and that our customers are back up and running in no time. We want to guarantee that the machine is working at 110% for our customers, at all times. In what way do you think the new building will affect the service team’s workflow? The new building is affecting us in a good way. We have room to grow and train new hires in the new training rooms. The training room is for both us and our customers. We have all the machine models available to train our customers on how to operate their machines. This building was meant for both employees and our customers to witness Ricoma’s spectacular mission. I once said to our president, Frank Ma, “Ricoma is not just about manufacturing machines — it’s about connecting with our customers.” We want to learn from them, as they learn from us. 11

Distributor Spotlight Meet Hemanth Kumar from Krishna Sewing Solutions Hemanth Kumar, from Krishna Sewing Solutions, is a business. As I mentioned before, India has a huge market Ricoma distributor in India. We recently caught up with for embroidery machines. Our ancient people used to do him, to find out more about his journey with Ricoma. all kinds of hand embroidery. Slowly, technology evolved and new things like embroidery machines were designed. How long have you been in business and how did you So people had to change their mindset. They were taught get started? to reduce man power and get work done with machines. I started my business around 2012, as a sewing machine These are things we kept in mind for our business. company called Krishna Sewing Solutions. Now, we have Right now, 30 members are working in the embroidery six offices in different cities in Karnataka. department of our company. Ten members are working in the digitizing segment. We also sell embroidery What made you decide to sell Ricoma? accessories like threads, needles and canvas all-in-one India has a huge market for embroidery machines. I solutions. All of these things have made our business used to sell single-needle embroidery machines until successful. customers started asking about single-head and multi- What are some of your predictions for the embroidery needle embroidery machines. So I started researching industry in 2020? embroidery machines online. I got information about Actually, we are very enthusiastic and eager for next year. Ricoma after I visited the Ricoma factory in Shenzhen, We have plans to open three offices in Delhi, Hyderabad China. Their passion and management, as well as the and Chennai. Next year, we have a very good market for quality and affordability of their machines helped me embroidery. We have already prepared for the market and decide to sell Ricoma machines. Now, I’ve been selling are planning to do more changes and improvements in Ricoma machines for two years. our business. We’re hoping for the best! In your opinion, what is the best feature of Ricoma How does marketing and sales play a role in your machines? business? Ricoma machines are affordable and have a very user- Marketing and sales plays a very important role in our friendly operating system. The Ricoma machines are also made from good technology, have a large embroidery area and the price and quality of the machines are very good, compared to the rest of the brands. Also, Ricoma has a great support team. Their nature, dedication and aggressiveness toward work has made us stronger. INDIA 12

A look back on Ricoma 2019 DecoSu mmit 2019 Apparel Academy with Henry Ma CISMA 2019 Online trainings with Julia Texprocess 2019 Academy Down Under 2019 13

UPCOMING EVENTS Every embroiderer is a storyteller in his or her own way. As we continue to spread Ricoma’s mission to horizons across the world, we hope you’ll be able to share your story with us at an upcoming event near you! Here, you will meet our embroidery specialists and learn more embroidery tips to help guide you through your embroidery story. You’ll also be able to see our machines in action and ask questions in real time. USA ISS LONG BEACH 2020 ISS ORLANDO 2020 Long Beach, California Orlando, Florida BOOTH #849 & 855 BOOTH #857 January 17-January 20 April 2-April 4 GRAPHICS OF THE TEXPROCESS AMERICAS EXPO 2020 AMERICAS Miami Beach, Florida Atlanta, Georgia February 27-February 29 BOOTH #221 May 12-May 14 ISS ATLANTIC CITY 2020 Atlantic City, New Jersey BOOTH #1301 March 19-March 21 14 14

4th QUARTER • 2019 EDITION ABOUT THE AUTHOR Melissa Bango is one of the content specialists at Ricoma. An avid reader and writer her whole life, Melissa graduated from Florida International University with a Masters degree in Marketing and fulfills her passion by creating content for Ricoma’s blogs and social media! When she’s not at Ricoma, you can find Melissa attending concerts with family and friends. If you’d like to chat about embroidery or would like more information about the articles in this publication, contact Melissa at [email protected]. ABOUT THE editor Laura Gomez is the Content Manager at Ricoma. As a University of Florida journalism graduate, Laura’s role at Ricoma combines her two major passions: communications and apparel. On her free time, Laura enjoys fueling her shopping sprees and gastronomic adventures with a trusty cup of Starbucks or a Cuban colada. You can reach Laura at [email protected] if you would like to chat embroidery, write for us or have any suggestions for future articles. ABOUt THE translator Joanna Zheng is the translator at Ricoma. With an M.A. degree in Linguistics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, she has been working on translation and bilingual magazine editing since 2014. She is now working on facilitating the effective communications between the Ricoma Headquarters and the Ricoma Factory to optimize the consumer experience for Ricoma internationally. If you would like to write for Ricoma Insights or have any suggestions for future articles, please feel free to reach her at [email protected]. helpful links Join Group WATCH Embroidery & Custom Apparel Mastery Facebook group Join our Facebook community to connect with other embroiderers, ask questions ricoma.COM and share knowledge. training Embroidery Hub YouTube tutorials Scroll through this playlist to see our how-to videos such as best practices for embroidery on knitwear, 3D puff embroidery and more. Ricoma blog Visit our blog for more machine embroidery insights. Ricoma manuals and training videos Download Ricoma manuals and parts books, and view our training videos here. 15