The Skinny on the Dip!

Consumers may not know us by name, but they love our process.

That’s what happens when people fall in love with an innovation or brand that changes their lives without knowing its name. That’s the story of Immersion Graphics.

The water transfer process as we know it today is actually more than fifty years old. The three-dimensional decoration technology was patented in Japan years ago and was used primarily in the automotive market. Fast forward to the mid 1980’s and fashion and function collided in the outdoor sporting goods market as a result of Bill Jordan’s creation of the Realtree brand. Bill’s vision for the outdoor markets pushed the limits relative to hard-goods and soft-goods decoration. The constant push to produce the very best images available in the market led down many paths. Bill sought out the best processes and used water transfer to provide decorated hard-goods. The demand created by Bill Jordan’s Realtree brand caused an imbalance in the supply chain. Demand significantly exceeded supply and Bill set out to find the solution. In 1996, Bill licensed the water transfer technology we know of today as Final Finish®.

The Real Deal

Rewind to 1986, when Jordan designed his first camo pattern. He was still a fresh face in the hunting industry as owner of Spartan Archery, a company he started in the back room of his dad’s boat dealership in Columbus, Ga. Spartan made T-shirts at a local mill and sold them to major retailers across the country. But pushing T-shirts was tough. Profit margins were low and large orders had to be turned around quickly. To stay afloat, Jordan fished tournaments and during lulls on the water tried to figure out ways to stand out in an established market of clothing manufacturers.

Then an idea struck. He sat for hours in his parents’ front yard sketching a giant oak tree, painstakingly layering twigs and leaves over bark. The outcome was a camo pattern that looked 3-D, remarkably real, and certainly like nothing the outdoor industry had seen before. That was the beginning of Realtree, a worldwide brand that started on a wing and a prayer in a rented empty church. Jordan and a few employees worked on a shoestring budget in an upstairs office. They stored boxes in the baptismal room and used the sanctuary as a warehouse.

Today, Realtree has outgrown the church. The company employs more than 80 people in Columbus and also has operations in Europe. And from that first licensee — customers who pay a royalty fee to use camo patterns — in 1986, there’s now 1,500 more.

Testing the Waters

Final Finish® can be applied to almost any material. The technology can be found in the automotive, electronic, cosmetic and sporting goods markets. In addition, the DIY market segment has embraced the uniqueness of the technology and it continues to gain momentum.

Whether you’re an OEM or a DIY’er, isn’t it time for you to test the waters?