The installation of a Mimaki JFX100-160 has helped printed giftware company Nerdy Banana launch a new bespoke inflatables brand, Air Bod, just in time for the current Christmas season.
The company has traditionally used Epson dye-sub but invested in the Mimaki machine because, as Nerdy’s founder Charlie Rodman said: “Sublimation is excellent but there are some things you can’t sublimate, which is why we approached CMYUK [through which it bought the new printer] as it offers products across all ink technologies.”
Nerdy Banana is the umbrella company for eight direct-to-consumer brands. It was started by Charlie Rodman who began producing T-shirts for friends. Today the company has a permanent staff of 24 and fulfils 200,000 orders per year to over 40 countries. Brands include Super Socks, Dogsy, Snugzy, Petzopia, Nifty Gifty, Meowie, Thunder Buddy, Bunker Buddies, Doodle Togs and Bikimi. Not only does the company manage its own D2C brands, but its in-house agency helps start-ups and businesses make online impact by offering web design, video content, paid social to SEO, PPC, and brand development. It holds licenses from Warner Bros England and numerous football clubs for its personalised gifts.
In 2020 Nerdy Banana began a relationship with Selfridges London, Birmingham, and Manchester plus sister brand, Arnott’s in Dublin, to install a physical Super Socks shop in-store where customers can design their own socks, which are printed and sublimated on heat presses while they wait.
When the company required a printed solution for its new Air Bod customised inflatables brand it approached CMYUK’s demonstration facility in Shrewsbury. “We came up to CMYUK where we printed our materials on the Mimaki. We then took them away to wash and came back again. We really put the printer through the mill, and it was all good,” said Rodman. Nerdy Banana opted for a 4-colour model, as it prints to a white base material and so the company didn’t require the white ink option or the clear ink either.
New brands are planned, and the physical retail while-you-wait operations may well expand too – and the company is setting up a warehousing and manufacturing facility in Los Angeles to service the growing US and Australian markets.
