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Today's Guest: John Sparacino of Portrait Weavers in Lynn, North Carolina
Today's Host: John Bentley

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ANNOUNCER:  Welcome to the  More Photos Photography Spotlight brought to you by morephotos.com helping professional photographers with all their internet needs. Now here is your host, John Bentley.

JOHN: Today on the More Photos Photography Spotlight we have John Sparacino. He is the Senior Vice President of Portrait Weavers with us today. Welcome to the program, John.

JOHN: We appreciate you taking time out of your day to join us on the program. Now who and what is Portrait Weavers?

JOHN: Well Portrait Weavers is actually one of the divisions of our parent company, Pure Country Weavers. We’re a 25 year old, second generation, family owned business, and our mills are in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. We’re located in Lynn, North Carolina, about 40 miles south of Ashville. And we have several different divisions. We’re the largest producer of woven goods in the world. Everything from tapestry, wall hangings, pillows, purses and blankets. And Portrait Weavers is our division that deals primarily with professional photographers.

JOHN: Now if I understand correctly, a professional photographer can send a photo to your company and have them put that photo right on these products that you offer.

JOHN: Ok, yes that’s true, but technically not. What most people think we do is sublimate or that it’s printed onto a blanket, but in reality our product is actually woven. We invented the technology that allows us to take any picture that you can put into Photoshop for instance and actually weave it into a beautiful 54” x 70” blanket. There’s over 8 miles of cotton fiber in each blanket and they’re 54” x 70”, they’re machine washable, and they won’t shrink or fade which makes our product a tapestry heirloom that people can literally have for generations.

JOHN: Now on these particular throws that you’re talking about; how big are they?

JOHN: They’re 54” x 70”. We actually have four different sizes. We have a 54” x 80”, a 54” x 70”, a 54” x 40”, and a 50” x 60”. The size is kind of dictated by the application. We do a lot of smaller baby blankets that are done in the 54” x 40” size for instance. So we actually have four different sizes to chose from.

JOHN: What are some of the other items that you weave out of these pictures?

JOHN: Well we actually do two different purse items. One is a beautiful tote bag, you know, with the longer straps; the kind that the women would traditionally carry over their shoulders. And then we also have a purse with a hard handle and that is also a woven tapestry product. And then we make two different sizes of pillows. One is a 17” x 17” and then another is 18” x 24”.

JOHN: Now when people send photos into you, I’m assuming they can just send it through email to you guys. What’s the best kind of photo to use?

JOHN: Typically it needs to be about 300 dpi. We don’t need a large file, but when they’re scanning it, it should be done in about 300 dpi, about 1mb is fine in terms of size. We have people who send us 8 or 10 mb files; we don’t need anything that large. In a jpeg file; if it’s a good clear picture, and if there’s good contrast, it’ll make a fabulous throw.

JOHN: Now when you say clear and good contrast…

JOHN: Yeah, because what we’re going to do is we’re going to make it worse if it’s bad. We’re going to blow it up almost 4 ½ x 6 foot. But it doesn’t have to be, like I say, a large file size. As long as we’ve got some good pixels that we can get ahold of, and we don’t need a black cat in the coal bin at midnight, you know, we need something with some good contrast to it.

JOHN: What about turn around time for something like this? From when you send, you order a product and to delivery?

JOHN: It’s generally 2 – 3 weeks. It’s a little longer time; could be a little longer at Christmas time, obviously because of the holidays, but we let our dealers know when our cut off date is for Christmas so we guarantee before Christmas delivery.

JOHN: Now you had mentioned that some of these products are washable. Will they fade over time?

JOHN: No they won’t. Nope that’s what the difference between a screen printed t-shirt that will flake off and start to self-destruct over time. This product will not because the dyes are actually impregnated in the cotton and so as long as you don’t use bleach. The only thing that’s going to happen to the blanket or the throw is that it’s going to get softer the more you wash it.

JOHN: We are in the studio with John Sparacino. He is the senior vice president of Portrait Weavers, and you’re listening to the More Photos Photography Spotlight.  We’re going to step aside for these important messages, and we’ll be right back. More with John Sparacino.

ANNOUNCER:  More Photos Radio is powered by www.morephotos.com the online sales solution for professional photographers worldwide. 

ANNOUNCER: Did you ever wonder why the groom is supposed to carry the bride over the threshold?  What does the saying something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue mean?  Visit www.weddingdetails.com and click on the lore and tradition section.  We've got culture and tradition information from around the world.  Visit www.weddingdetails.com tonight.

ANNOUNCER:  We now return you to More Photos Radio Photography Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.

JOHN:  Welcome back to More Photos Photography Spotlight. We are in the studio with John Sparacino. He is the senior vice president of Portrait Weavers. Welcome back to the program, John.

JOHN:  Now we’ve been talking about Portrait Weavers and some of the products that you offer. Let’s talk a little bit about the history of the company. How long have you guys been involved in this?

JOHN: Well we’ve been involved actively as a company that I know for the last 25 years, but George Clark who is the president of the company, his relatives actually go back to the time that George Washington and actually to a point where they supposedly made uniforms for them. So I guess there is truth to that. It’s on our website. Isn’t that the way it goes, John, if it’s on the website, it must be true?

JOHN: Oh, yeah. If it’s on the internet, it must be the truth. But that’s pretty neat little bit of American history to have that connection.

JOHN: Yep, there’s a real family tradition for quality and service and everything here.

JOHN: Now, this is your family, John, or…

JOHN: No it’s not my family. I work for a gentleman by the name of George Clark. It’s the Clark family that have been around this kind of business for a long, long time.

JOHN: Now do they still…are they still actively…

JOHN: Yep, very much so. You have to watch who and how you talk to, because everybody is related.

JOHN: Sure. Now let’s talk a little bit about you had mentioned in the break that you are pro-active in marketing for photographers. Tell us a little bit about how you are pro-active.

JOHN: Well, you know, a lot of times somebody takes a product like ours…a photographer will look at it and say, gee, I could sell that. You know depending on what kind of a personalized photo gift product that might be, but we try to do is we try to go one step above that and say look here’s how you sell our product. And let me just give you a couple of examples. If I find out a photographer is a portrait photographer maybe he does weddings and senior portraits, our product is an emotional product, and everybody that sees it will tell you that. I always tell folks you better have the Kleenex ready, because the typical reaction to our product is tears. It’s just so overwhelming to see a picture of somebody that you love done to this size and be able to wrap yourself in it literally. But, for instance, one of the areas that we sell a lot of throws are senior pictures. And by being able to show that to the parents, particularly the moms, they want one made, because when the daughter is away at school, and she’s missing her, she can wrap herself in it while she’s watching television, kind of that hug from a distance if you will. It sounds kind of hokey, but believe me it’s true. They sell a lot of them and not only that the daughter or the son will say well mom I want one of you and dad, because I’m going to be lonely when I’m at school too. So that gives you an opportunity to sell some throws. Same thing with events, you know, life’s events see to be big sellers for us. For instance a wedding. You hang one of our throws in a studio, and you do wedding photos, somebody will walk in I guarantee you the bride will look at you and go, John, after you do the perfect picture I want one of those made and then I want one for my mom and his mom. So there’s different ways like I say that we show folks on what to do and how to do it. I’ll give somebody a typical example. If they do pictures of grandkids or kids and families, they can actually take that picture and on the bottom of it write some text and one of the texts that is very popular is “Grandma our love will keep you warm.” and at the end of that photo shoot if you go up to that couple and say, I have the perfect mother-in-law gift for Mother’s Day or Christmas, they’re going to absolutely love you, because they will immediately order one for his mom and her mom, because it makes a perfect, guaranteed to make them cry gift for Christmas.

JOHN: Well it sounds like you guys have some great products and services to offer. Do you offer these to the general public as well as the professional?

JOHN: No we don’t. Only through our dealers. We work primarily with retail gift stores. Some of the larger folks that you’ll find out there in the photo gift industry handle our product, but we like to start where the picture originates with the photographer wherever possible, because you get a lot of the home-made or the ones that people take themselves and they’re not generally up to the quality of a professional photographer. So when we get a photo from a photographer, it’s going to be an absolute dynamite throw.

JOHN: Now, John, how long have you been with Portrait Weavers?

JOHN: I’ve been with them about 6 months, but I’ve actually been in the industry about 10 years. What I would call personalized products, and I’ve worked with companies who can put a photo just about on everything, but I’ve known George and the family about 5 years, and I’ve always told him that in my opinion and the opinion of other people, this is the Cadillac of all personalized items. I mean, you can put a photo on a mug and a puzzle and maybe a mouse pad, but I tell you what, when you see it on a throw, it’s just an emotional, jaw dropping event.

JOHN: Sure I can think right off the top of my head pets that have passed away and it would be nice to have a little pillow with your favorite pet right on that pillow.

JOHN: True. We do a tremendous amount of pets. I bet you 65% - 70% of what we do are pets. People just love their pets, and they don’t care what it costs.

JOHN: They become part of the family so it’s nice.

JOHN: Great. Now what is your website and contact information for our listening audience, John?

JOHN: Great. We certainly appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us on More Photos Radio Photography Spotlight program.

JOHN: Alright. I appreciate it. Anything we can do. If people want to go to that site, they can reach us there or johns@purecountry.com is my personal email that they can reach me at.

JOHN: Wonderful, John. We’ve been in the studio with the senior vice president of Portrait Weavers, John Sparacino, and you’ve been listening to the More Photos Radio Photography Spotlight. I’m your host, John Bentley, saying good day.

ANNOUNCER:  This spotlight is powered by vertio.net.  Vertio Talk Radio, talk radio for the 21st century.

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