eBay

Check out our store for more great used, vintage, and new items!

FOR SALE:

A Super Soft Comfy Tee Featuring Vintage Kodak Logos

2020 KODAK RETRO LOGOS T-SHIRT (5XL)

DETAILS:

Show Your Kodak Love!
This awesome retro inspired Kodak brand t-shirt features a variety of vintage logos that Kodak used throughout their illustrious past. To those who know this t-shirt serves as a visual representation of the brand history and logo history of Kodak - a company and recognized brand of wonderful high-quality products such as movie film, camera film, cameras, pre-press consumables, and so much more.

The "K" ray with stripes logo was utilized from 1983-1987 and then here and there for the next 28 years - but this one is the colored stripes version which of course is so much more rad. Created in the same year (1983) and used in combination logos and independently is the redesigned Kodak word logo in red bold sans-serif font. This logo would be used for many years as well until it's redesign in 2006. Lastly, the original and likely only logo utilized, beginning in 1997, when Kodak and Sun Chemical agreed to form a joint venture named Kodak Polychrome Graphics (A.K.A. KPG). In 2005 Kodak would become sole owner of Kodak Polychrome Graphics and eventually the venture name would almost completely be phased out of use, instead choosing to have the services fall under the Kodak name.

Size:

Adult men's size 5XL.

CONDITION:

In good, pre-owned condition. The print has some normal wear that adds to it's overall vintage look. There are four faint stain spots but because the t-shirt is heather gray colored the spots almost blend in (see last 3 photos). No holes or tears. Please see photos.

To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK.

"The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (/ˈkoʊdæk/), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated in New Jersey.[2] It is best known for photographic film products, which it brought to a mass market for the first time.[3]

Kodak began as a partnership between George Eastman and Henry A. Strong to develop a film roll camera. After the release of the Kodak camera, Eastman Kodak was incorporated on May 23, 1892.[4] Under Eastman's direction, the company became one of the world's largest film and camera manufacturers, and also developed a model of welfare capitalism and a close relationship with the city of Rochester.[5] During most of the 20th century, Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film, and produced a number of technological innovations through heavy investment in research and development at Kodak Research Laboratories.[6][7] Kodak produced some of the most popular camera models of the 20th century, including the Brownie and Instamatic.[8][9] The company's ubiquity was such that its "Kodak moment" tagline entered the common lexicon to describe a personal event that deserved to be recorded for posterity.[10]

Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s as a result of increasing competition from Fujifilm.[11] The company also struggled with the transition from film to digital photography, even though Kodak had developed the first self-contained digital camera.[12] Attempts to diversify its chemical operations failed, and as a turnaround strategy in the 2000s, Kodak instead made an aggressive turn to digital photography and digital printing.[13] These strategies failed to improve the company's finances, and in January 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.[14][15][16]

In September 2013, the company emerged from bankruptcy, having shed its large legacy liabilities, restructured, and exited several businesses.[17] Since emerging from bankruptcy, Kodak has continued to provide commercial digital printing products and services,[18] motion picture film,[19] and still film,[20] the last of which is distributed through the spinoff company Kodak Alaris.[21] The company has licensed the Kodak brand to several products produced by other companies, such as the PIXPRO line of digital cameras manufactured by JK Imaging....

HistoryName

The letter k was a favorite of George Eastman's; he is quoted as saying, "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter."[24] He and his mother, Maria, devised the name Kodak using an Anagrams set. Eastman said that there were three principal concepts he used in creating the name: it should be short, easy to pronounce, and not resemble any other name or be associated with anything else. According to a 1920 ad, the name "was simply invented – made up from letters of the alphabet to meet our trade-mark requirements. It was short and euphonious and likely to stick in the public mind."[25] The Kodak name was trademarked by Eastman in 1888.[26] There was also a rumor that the name Kodak came from the sound made by the Kodak camera's shutter.[citation needed]

Founding

Eastman entered a partnership with Henry Strong in 1880 and the Eastman Dry Plate Company was founded on January 1, 1881, with Strong as president and Eastman as treasurer.[27] Initially, the company sold dry plates for cameras, but Eastman's interest turned to replacing glass plates altogether with a new roll film process. On October 1, 1884, the company was re-incorporated as the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company.[28] In 1885, Eastman patented the first practical film roll holder with William Walker, which would allow dry plate cameras to store multiple exposures in a camera simultaneously.[29] That same year, Eastman patented a form of paper film he called "American film".[30] Eastman would continue experimenting with cameras and hired chemist Henry Reichenbach to improve the film. These experiments would culminate in an 1889 patent for nitrocellulose film.[31] As the company continued to grow, it was re-incorporated several more times. In November 1889, it was renamed the Eastman Company and 10,000 shares of stock were issued for $100.[32] On May 23, 1892, another round of capitalization occurred and it was renamed Eastman Kodak.[4][33] An Eastman Kodak of New Jersey was established in 1901 and existed simultaneously with the Eastman Kodak of New York until 1936, when the New York corporation was dissolved and its assets were transferred to the New Jersey corporation.[34] Kodak remains incorporated in New Jersey today, although its headquarters is in Rochester.

The Kodak camera

In 1888, the Kodak camera was patented by Eastman. It was a box camera with a fixed-focus lens on the front and no viewfinder; two V shape silhouettes at the top aided in aiming in the direction of the subject. At the top it had a rotating key to advance the film, a pull-string to set the shutter, and a button on the side to release it, exposing the celluloid film. Inside, it had a rotating bar to operate the shutter. When the user pressed the button to take a photograph, an inner rope was tightened and the exposure began. Once the photograph had been taken, the user had to rotate the upper key to change the selected frame within the celluloid tape.[35]

The $25 camera came pre-loaded with a film roll of 100 exposures, and could be mailed to Eastman's headquarters in Rochester with $10 for processing. The camera would be returned with prints, negatives, and a new roll of film. Additional rolls were also sold for $2 to professional photographers who wished to develop their own photographs.[35] By unburdening the photographer from the complicated and expensive process of film development, photography became more accessible than ever before. The camera was an immediate success with the public and launched a fad of amateur photography.[33] Eastman's advertising slogan, "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest", soon entered the public lexicon, and was referenced by Chauncey Depew in a speech[33] and Gilbert and Sullivan in their opera Utopia, Limited.

Expansion

In the 1890s and early 1900s, Kodak grew rapidly and outmaneuvered competitors through a combination of innovation, acquisitions, and exclusive contracts. Eastman recognized that film would return more profit than the cameras that used them, and focused on control of the film market. This razor and blades model of sales would change little for several decades.[12][37] Larger facilities were soon needed in Rochester, and the construction of Kodak Park began in 1890.[34] Kodak purchased and opened several shops and factories in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom. The British holdings were initially organized under the Eastman Photographic Materials Company. Beginning in 1898, they were placed under the holding company Kodak Limited.[38] An Australian subsidiary, Australia Kodak Limited, was established in 1908.[39] In 1931, Kodak-Pathé was established in France and Kodak AG was formed in Germany following the acquisition of Nagel.[40] The Brownie camera, marketed to children, was first released in 1900, and further expanded the amateur photography market.[41] One of the largest markets for film became the emerging motion picture industry. When Thomas Edison and other film producers formed the Motion Picture Patents Company in 1908, Eastman negotiated for Kodak to be sole supplier of film to the industry.[42] In 1914, Kodak built its current headquarters on State Street.[34] By 1922, the company was the second-largest purchaser of silver in the United States, behind the U.S. Treasury.[34] Beginning on July 18, 1930, Kodak was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.[43]

During World War I, Kodak established a photographic school in Rochester to train pilots for aerial reconnaissance.[44] The war strained supply chains, and Eastman sought out new chemical sources the company could have direct control over. At the war's end in 1920, Kodak purchased a hardwood distillation plant in Tennessee from the federal government and established Eastman Tennessee, which later became the Eastman Chemical Company.[34][45]

Henry Strong died in 1919, after which Eastman became the company president.[34] Eastman began to wind down his involvement in the daily management of the company in the mid-1920s, and formally retired in 1925, although he remained on the board of directors. William Stuber succeeded him as president, and managed the company along with Frank Lovejoy.[46]

In 1912, Kodak established the Kodak Research Laboratories at Building 3 in Kodak Park, with Kenneth Mees as director.[47] Research primarily focused on film emulsions for color photography and radiography. In 1915, Kodak began selling Kodachrome,[a] a two-color film developed by John Capstaff at the research lab.[47] Another two-color film duplitized film was marketed for photography of X-rays as it had a short exposure time and could reduce the dosage of radiation needed to take a photo....

Post-war expansion

The Kodak 'K' logo was introduced in 1971. The version seen here – with the 'Kodak' name in a more modern typeface – was used from 1987 until the logo's discontinuation in 2006. A revised version was reintroduced in 2016.[71]

Kodak reached its zenith in the post-war era, as the usage of film for amateur, commercial, and government purposes all increased. In 1948, Tennessee Eastman created a working acetate film, which quickly replaced nitrate film in the movie industry because it was non-flammable.[72] In 1958, Kodak began marketing a line of super glue, Eastman 910.[73] Its cameras were used by NASA for space exploration.[74] In 1963, the first Instamatic cameras[b] were sold, which were the company's lowest-cost cameras to date. Annual sales passed $1 billion in 1962 and $2 billion in 1966.[34] Albert K. Chapman succeeded Thomas Hargrave as president in 1952, and was succeeded by William S. Vaughn in 1960. Louis K. Eilers would serve as president and CEO between 1969 and 1972.[34] In the 1970s, Kodak published important research in dye lasers,[75] and patented the Bayer Filter method of RGB arrangement on photosensors....

Kodak's business model changed little from the 1930s to the 1970s, as the company's dominant position made change unnecessary and it made no mergers or acquisitions which might bring new perspectives.[84][37] Research and development remained focused on products related to film production and development, which caused the company to fall behind rivals Polaroid and Xerox in the development of instant cameras and photocopiers. Kodak would begin selling its own versions of each in the mid-1970s, but neither became popular. Both product lines would be abandoned in the 1990s....

In 1993, Whitmore announced the company would restructure, and he was succeeded by George M. C. Fisher, a former Motorola CEO, later that year.[110] Under Fisher, the company abandoned diversification in chemicals and focused on an incremental shift to digital technology.[85][98] Tennessee Eastman was spun off as Eastman Chemical on January 1, 1994,[111] and Sterling Drug's remaining operations were sold in August 1994.[112] Eastman Chemical later became a Fortune 500 company in its own right.[113] A key component of the incremental strategy was Kodak's line of digital self-service kiosks installed in retail locations, where consumers could upload and edit photos, as a replacement for traditional photo developers. Kodak also began manufacturing digital cameras, such as the Apple QuickTake.[98] Film sales continued to rise during the 1990s, delaying the digital transition from occurring faster.[98]

In 2001, film sales began to fall.[114] Under Daniel Carp, Fisher's successor as CEO, Kodak made an aggressive move in the digital camera market with its EasyShare family of digital cameras. By 2005, Kodak ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in digital camera sales, which surged 40% to $5.7 billion.[114] The company also began selling digital medical image systems after acquiring the Israel-based companies Algotec Systems and OREX Computed Radiography.[115][116] Despite the initial high growth in sales, digital cameras had low profit margins due to strong competition,[114][117] and the market rapidly matured. Its digital cameras soon were undercut by Asian competitors that could produce and sell cheaper products. Many digital cameras were sold at a loss as a result.[118] The film business, where Kodak enjoyed high profit margins, also continued to fall. The combination of these two factors caused a decline in profits.[114] By 2007, Kodak had dropped to No. 4 in U.S. digital camera sales with a 9.6% share, and by 2010, had dropped to a 7% share, in seventh place behind Canon, Sony, Nikon, and others, according to research firm IDC.[113] An ever-smaller share of digital pictures were being taken on dedicated digital cameras, being gradually displaced by cameras on cellphones, smartphones, and tablets. Digital camera sales peaked in 2007 and declined afterwards.

New strategy

Kodak began another strategy shift after Antonio Pérez became CEO in 2005. While Kodak had previously done all development and manufacturing in-house, Pérez shut down factories and outsourced or eliminated manufacturing divisions. Kodak agreed to divest its digital camera manufacturing operations to Flextronics in August 2006, including assembly, production and testing.[120][121] The company exited the film camera market altogether, and began to end the production of film products.[13][122][123] In total, 13 film plants and 130 photo finishing facilities were closed, and 50,000 employees laid off between 2004 and 2007.[124] In 2009, Kodak announced that it would cease selling Kodachrome color film, ending 74 years of production, after a dramatic decline in sales.

Pérez invested heavily in digital technologies and new services that capitalized on its technology innovation to boost profit margins.[114] He also spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build up a high-margin printer ink business to replace falling film sales, a move which was widely criticized due to the amount of competition present in the printer market, which would make expansion difficult.[127] Kodak's ink strategy rejected the razor and blades business model used by dominant market leader Hewlett-Packard by selling expensive printers with cheaper ink cartridges.[128] In 2011, these new lines of inkjet printers were said to be on verge of turning a profit, although some analysts were skeptical as printouts had been replaced gradually by electronic copies on computers, tablets, and smartphones.[128] Inkjet printers continued to be viewed as one of the company's anchors after it entered bankruptcy proceedings. However, in September 2012 declining sales forced Kodak to announce an exit from the consumer inkjet market....

Current products and services

Kodak is currently arranged in four business reporting segments: Traditional Print, Digital Print, Advanced Material & Chemicals (including Motion Picture) and Brand (Brand licensing of consumer products produced by third parties).[165]

Kodak is the primary provider of film stock to the American motion picture industry,[19] and also provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications, and professional services for international businesses.[166]

Kodak Alaris, UK holds the rights to still photographic films and the Kodak Moments photo kiosk businesses which formed part of the 2012 bankruptcy settlement. They also held the rights to the Photo Paper, Photochemicals, Display and Software businesses (PPDS) but sold these to Sino Promise, China in 2020.[167] In 2023 Sino Promise relinquished the photochemical rights which reverted to Eastman Kodak, who re-licensed them (see brand). ...

Motion picture

Since the 2000s, most movies across the world have been captured and distributed digitally.[168][169][170] But, some moviemakeres still prefer to use film picture formats to achieve the desired results.[171]

Motion picture camera films are produced in 8mm, 16mm and 35mm. In addition to the camera films listed below, a number of motion picture technical stocks are also produced e.g. inter-negatives, duplication sound, and final print films, together with the process chemicals....

Still film

Eastman Kodak continues to manufacture Kodak-branded still films on behalf of Kodak Alaris, which holds the rights to the sale, marketing and distribution of these products.[21]

Eastman Kodak also undertakes contract coating and/or packaging for other still film brands, including Cinestill (remjet free versions of color movie films), Lomography color negative films and Fujifilm, who starting in 2022 procured production of some color negative films from their former business rival. Due to shortage of still films, 35mm motion picture stock has also been made available to still film consumers by 3rd parties such as Flic Film.[173][better source needed]

Eastman Kodak currently produces several photographic film products in 35mm and 120 film formats. In response to the growing demand for film by hobbyists, Kodak launched a newly formulated version of the discontinued Ektachrome 100 in 35mm film format in September 2018.[174][175] The following year, the company announced the film stock in 120 and 4x5 film formats....

Traditional and digital printing

Kodak produces commercial inkjet printers, electrophotographic printing equipment, and related consumables and services.[177] At present, Kodak sells the Prosper, Nexfinity, and Uteco lines of commercial printers,[178] and the Prosper and Versamark imprinting systems.[178][179][180] Kodak designs and manufactures products for flexography printing through its Flexcel brand.[181] The company has also sold a line of computer to plate (CTP) devices since 1995.[182]

The company currently has partnerships with touch-panel producers for functional printing, including ones with UniPixel announced on April 16, 2013, and Kingsbury Corp. launched on June 27, 2013.[183][184][185]

In 1997, Heidelberg Printing Machines AG and Eastman Kodak Co. created Nexpress Solutions LLC, a joint venture to develop a digital color printing press for the high-end market segment. Heidelberg acquired Eastman Kodak Co.'s Office Imaging black and white digital printing activities in 1999.[186] In March 2004, Heidelberg transferred its Digital Print division to Kodak under mutual agreement.

BrandThe Kodak brand is licensed to several consumer products produced by other companies, such as the PIXPRO line of digital cameras manufactured by JK Imaging....

Professional Photo Chemistry

The brand rights to Kodak professional photo chemistry, passed to Kodak Alaris in 2012 as part of the bankruptcy settlement. In 2020 Alaris sold these rights to Sino Promise, China a supplier of the color chemistry for minilabs. However, in early 2023 Sino Promise decided to exit the business. This enabled Photo Systems Inc. US, who had been a manufacturer of some of the products for Kodak Alaris, to acquire the brand rights directly from Eastman Kodak in September 2023, with the intent to re-introduce the full range of Black & White, C-41, RA-4 and E6 photochemistry.[190]
Former products and services

Photographic film and paper

Kodak continues to produce specialty films and film for newer and more popular consumer formats, but it has discontinued the manufacture of film in most older formats. Among its most famous discontinued film brands was Kodachrome.[125][126]

Kodak was a leading producer of silver halide paper used for printing from film and digital images.[citation needed] In 2005, Kodak announced it would stop producing black-and-white photo paper.[191] All paper manufacturing operations were transferred to Kodak Alaris in 2013.[192]
Still film cameras

Kodak sold film cameras from the time of its founding until 2007, beginning with the Kodak no. 1 in 1888.[35] In the 20th century, Kodak's most popular models were the Brownie, sold between 1900 and 1986,[8] and the Instamatic, sold between 1968 and 1988.[9]

Between 1914 and 1932, an autographic feature on Kodak cameras provided a means for recording data on the margin of the negative at the time of exposure.[34][193]

In 1982, Kodak launched a newly developed disc film cameras. The cameras initially sold well due to their compact size, but were unpopular due to their poor image quality, and were discontinued in 1988.[194]

On January 13, 2004, Kodak announced it would stop marketing traditional still film cameras (excluding disposable cameras) in the United States, Canada and Western Europe, but would continue to sell film cameras in India, Latin America, Eastern Europe and China.[13] By the end of 2005, Kodak had ceased manufacturing cameras that used the Advanced Photo System. Kodak licensed the manufacture of Kodak branded cameras to Vivitar in 2006....

Instant cameras

Kodak was the exclusive supplier of negatives for Polaroid cameras from 1963 until 1969, when Polaroid chose to manufacture its own instant film. In 1976, Kodak began selling its own line of EK instant camera models. These were followed by the Colorburst in 1979 and the Kodamatic in 1982. After losing a patent battle with Polaroid Corporation, Kodak left the instant camera business in 1986....

Motion picture and TV production

In addition to the home market-oriented 8mm and Super 8 formats developed by Kodak in the 1950s and 1960s, which are still sold today,[246] Kodak also briefly entered the professional television production video tape market in the mid-1980s under the product portfolio name of Eastman Professional Video Tape Products.[247]

Kodak previously owned the visual effects film post-production facilities Cinesite in Los Angeles and London and LaserPacific in Los Angeles. In April 2010, Kodak sold LaserPacific and its subsidiaries Laser-Edit, Inc, and Pacific Video, Inc., for an undisclosed sum to TeleCorps Holdings, Inc.[248] In May 2012, Kodak sold Cinesite to Endless LLP, an independent British private equity house.[249] Kodak also sold Pro-Tek Media Preservation Services, a film storage company in Burbank, California, to LAC Group in October 2013." (wikipedia)

"Sun Chemical is one of the world's largest producer of printing inks and pigments and is located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1945.[1] The company has its roots as the Lorilleux & Cie. Paris in 1818, but was incorporated under the Sun name in 1945.[2] The company operates the Daniel J. Carlick Technical Center in Carlstadt, New Jersey.[3]

Sun Chemical is a member of the DIC Corporation group of companies based in Japan. The company provides materials to packaging, publication, coatings, plastics, cosmetics and other industrial markets, including electronic materials, functional and specialty coatings, brand protection and product authentication technologies." (wikipedia)

"Kodak sold the sales, marketing, and equipment service operations of its Office Imaging business and its facilities management business (formerly known as Kodak Imaging Services) to Danka Business Systems PLC. ♦ The company introduced four new KODAK GOLD Films (100, 200, 400 and Max 800 speeds) that employed COLORSHARP Technology. ♦ By February, the company had recycled more than 100 million one-time-use cameras since the program began in 1990. ♦ The KODAK Picture Network was announced, enabling people to view their photos, order reprints, and share their pictures with friends and family around the world via the Internet. ♦ In April, the company unveiled the KODAK DIGITAL SCIENCE DC120 Zoom Digital Camera, the first point-and-shoot megapixel quality digital camera under $1,000. ♦ Kodak and Sun Chemical Corporation agreed to form a joint venture, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, to supply the graphic arts market with sensitized products as well as computer-to-plate and other digital solutions. ♦ An advanced Kodak image sensor allowed NASA's Mars Rover to "see" as it moved about to explore that planet's surface." (kodak)

"200+ Years of Innovation at Sun Chemical

Beginning with the inspiring legacy of Lorilleux and Samuel Morrill in the early 1800’s, Sun Chemical has delivered 200 years of color expertise, innovative technology and an ongoing commitment to quality and service for our customers. With close to 10,000 worldwide trademarks and over 3,000 granted patents in various global jurisdictions in its history, Sun Chemical takes pride in producing solutions tailor-made to meet the individual needs of customers....

Sun Chemical enters joint venture
april 23, 1997

Sun Chemical and Eastman Kodak enter a $1 billion, 50/50 joint venture to form Kodak Polychrome Graphics." (sunchemical)

"Sun Chemical's Shares In Kodak Polychrome Graphics Redeemed

FORT LEE, N.J.—Sun Chemical Corporation today announced that Eastman Kodak Company will become the sole owner of graphic arts supplier Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) through redemption of Sun Chemical Corporation's 50 percent interest in the joint venture. Completion of the deal, which will exceed $800 million in cash, is expected in April. Currently, Kodak and Sun Chemical each own half of KPG, a joint venture established in 1998.

"Since its inception, KPG has grown into a highly successful leader in the graphic arts market based on a sound strategy and a world-class team, and is highly valued by both partners," said Wes Lucas, chairman, president and CEO of Sun Chemical Corporation. "However, with the end of the joint venture agreement coming in the near future, both Sun Chemical and Kodak agreed that now is an excellent time to stake out a clear future for KPG. The redemption of these shares creates the opportunity for Sun Chemical to aggressively pursue its growth strategies."

"Sun Chemical is the largest player in inks, coatings and pigments, and this transaction will fund strategic growth in our core markets, as well as new technologies that are key to us," Lucas said.

As part of its plans, Sun Chemical recently purchased Rycoline, Inc., which manufactures pressroom consumables such as press blankets and fountain solutions. This is part of its strategy to offer a "total pressroom solution." Sun Chemical also has begun offering Smart Colour™, a complete color solution with such benefits as color definition and control systems backed by a library of over 70,000 colors. It can be used all the way through the graphic reproduction process, from designer to press operator.

Under the SunJet™ name, Sun Chemical has long been a leader in supplying digital and UV inks for use by manufacturers of inkjet printers. Sun Chemical also launched plans to introduce a high-speed, fixed-array inkjet printer called FastJet™, designed to print four-color corrugated packaging.

Sun Chemical recently formed Sun Chemical Security®, which offers a variety of security solutions for branded consumer goods and documents such as currency and other financial instruments. In 2004, the security group also acquired the assets of Veritec Group, Inc., which provides technology and services to protect product integrity and brand security.

Through recent acquisitions, such as Bayer's pigments business, Sun Chemical also continues to grow as the industry leader in pigments used in a wide variety of applications such as inks, paints, cosmetics and plastics.

As part of the agreement, existing sales and distribution arrangements between KPG and Sun Chemical will remain in place. Lucas said Sun Chemical and Kodak plan to continue developing cooperative opportunities to service mutual customers. "Based on our successful history of collaboration, we expect to continue this fruitful relationship," he said.

Final value for redemption of the shares will be confirmed when the deal is completed in April. It will involve cash payments over future years." (packagingimpressions)

"Kodak to Become Sole Owner of Kodak Polychrome Graphics

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 12 -- Eastman Kodak Company today announced that it will become the sole owner of Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) through redemption of Sun Chemical Corporation's 50 percent interest in the joint venture. Kodak and Sun Chemical each own half of KPG currently, a joint venture established in 1998. The transaction will increase immediately Kodak's sales and earnings while expanding the global distribution network for the digital printing systems made by its Graphic Communications Group and broadening the company's solutions portfolio. "Kodak Polychrome Graphics is an established leader in supplying products and solutions to the graphic communications industry," said Daniel A. Carp, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eastman Kodak Company. "This transaction, which is immediately accretive to earnings, is another decisive step in the implementation of our digitally oriented growth strategy and strengthens Kodak's ability to compete in the fastest-growing segments of the industry." Under the terms of the transaction, Kodak will redeem all of Sun Chemical's shares in KPG by providing $317 million in cash at closing, $200 million in cash in the third quarter of 2006 and $50 million in cash annually from 2008 through 2013, for a total of $817 million. Kodak will fund the redemption through internally generated cash flow. The transaction is expected to close in April 2005. KPG revenues for 2004 are expected to be $1.7 billion. Kodak expects this transaction to add approximately $1.1 billion to Kodak's revenue in 2005, reflecting approximately nine months of Kodak ownership, and the elimination of inter-company sales from Kodak to KPG. In 2006, Kodak expects approximately $1.4 billion of incremental revenue, reflecting a full year of ownership and the elimination of inter-company sales. Kodak also expects the transaction will add approximately eight cents to the company's 2005 operational earnings and approximately 14 cents to its 2006 operational earnings. These figures are included in Kodak's stated goal of achieving operational earnings of $3 per share in 2006. On a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis, Kodak expects the transaction will add approximately five cents to the company's 2005 EPS and approximately 14 cents to its 2006 EPS. KPG will provide Kodak with an innovative product portfolio, a strong sales organization, and established relationships in the commercial printing segment, the largest market opportunity within the graphic communications industry. "One of the key elements of our strategy involves smart acquisitions that complement Kodak's existing capabilities and enable us to drive profitable digital growth,"said Antonio M. Perez, President and Chief Operating Officer, Eastman Kodak Company. "Bringing KPG together with Kodak's existing graphic communications businesses - Kodak Versamark, NexPress and Encad - will enhance our operations, extend significantly our coverage worldwide, complement our present portfolio, and strengthen Kodak's ability to serve our customers in the fast-growing graphic communications market." Based in Norwalk, Conn., KPG is one of the world's leading suppliers of products and services to the graphic communications market, with operations on six continents and an extensive global sales force, with nearly 1,000 employees interacting with customers. In addition to being the world leader in sales of digital computer-to-plate and monitor and remote proofing solutions, KPG supplies graphic arts film, conventional lithographic plates and digital color proofing products. KPG's customers include commercial printers, newspapers, publishers and packaging printers. KPG has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide. Sole ownership of Kodak Polychrome Graphics will further establish Kodak as a leading company in the graphic communications industry and complements Kodak's existing businesses in this market: Encad, Inc., a leading maker of wide-format inkjet printers, inks and media; Kodak Versamark, the world's number one maker of high-speed inkjet printing systems; and NexPress Solutions, Inc., a leading supplier of digital color and monochrome presses. Upon closing of the transaction, Kodak initially plans to operate KPG as a wholly owned subsidiary, part of the company's Graphic Communications Group. The KPG management team will remain intact, with KPG CEO Jeff Jacobson leading the organization and reporting to James Langley, President, Graphic Communications Group and Senior Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. "This transaction is a major step toward delivering on our intent of presenting one face to the customer," said Langley. "KPG's innovative products, established customer relationships and world class sales and service organization will dramatically increase our solutions portfolio and global distribution capabilities. Aligning our current and future products and services with KPG's portfolio and extensive distribution capabilities will further establish Kodak as a leading provider of integrated solutions and will strengthen Kodak's position with customers as a company that can provide a broad range of offerings from pre-press to finishing." Kodak is developing plans to integrate various operations across its subsidiaries in the Graphic Communications Group. Additionally, Kodak's Document Products and Services (DPS) operations will be integrated into the Graphic Communications Group by the end of January 2005. DPS is the world's leading maker of high-speed document scanners as well as a leading provider of maintenance services for a range of sophisticated office equipment. "We are delighted to become a full partner of Kodak as the company successfully executes its digital transformation," said Jeff Jacobson. "KPG has been aggressively moving down the digital and business solutions path and this move will enable us to accelerate that strategy and provide customers with a total solution that is unmatched in our industry." The agreement is subject to customary regulatory approvals and does not require shareholder approval from either Kodak or Sun Chemical." (whattheythink)

"In clothing, heather refers to a color effect created by mixing two or more different colored fibers or yarns.[1][2] It is interwoven yarns of mixed colors, and possibly the type of fiber, producing another color.[3] It is typically used to mix multiple shades of grey or grey with another color to produce a muted shade (e.g., heather green), but any two colors can be mixed, including bright colors. A mixed fabric color is achieved by using different colors of fiber and mixing them together (a good example is a grey heather t-shirt). Black and white fiber mixed will combine to give grey heather fiber. Heather is blended fibers combined to create a multicolored effect. Heather effect is also known as melange effect.[2]
Methods

Fundamentally it is a mixing of the different colored fibers and yarns combined in one fabric. The methods may involve one of the following

    Melange (yarn)—Fiber dyeing in different color and then mixing (in desired percentages) and spinning.
    Marl or Marled—Jaspe-Roving Grindle.
    Cross dyeing—Using blended yarns and cross dyeing

Melange yarns

The term "melange yarn" is derived from the French word mélange, meaning a mixture.[4][5] Melange yarns are made with mixed fibers dyed before yarn spinning. Melange yarns yield economical blended textile materials.[6][7][8][9]
Marl yarn

Marl or Marled[10] yarn is a plied yarn. The doubling process produces the Marl yarn. Two yarns of different colors or may be of two different types are twisted together to make one. The texture of the resultant yarn is other than regular yarn. The process helps in producing fancy yarns.[11][12][13]

Jaspe is similar yarns produced by twisting different colored yarns or spinning yarn from two different colored rovings.[14][15][16][17]
Cross dyeing

Heather yarn may be more expensive than regular yarns because of other processes involved during fiber dyeing or yarn dyeing in the case of heather effect. The cross dyeing of blends may also create the heather effect. Different fibers types respond differently to the dyes. Cross dyeing is the way of dyeing constituting fibers in different colors.[18] Selection of dyes and fiber composition plays a vital role in this case.[19]

It is important to note that depending on the percent of cotton, the fabric can still be legally labeled 100% cotton." (wikipedia)

"A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generally made of stretchy, light, and inexpensive fabric and are easy to clean. The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century and, in the mid-20th century, transitioned from undergarments to general-use casual clothing.

They are typically made of cotton textile in a stockinette or jersey knit, which has a distinctively pliable texture compared to shirts made of woven cloth. Some modern versions have a body made from a continuously knitted tube, produced on a circular knitting machine, such that the torso has no side seams. The manufacture of T-shirts has become highly automated and may include cutting fabric with a laser or a water jet.

T-shirts are inexpensive to produce and are often part of fast fashion, leading to outsized sales of T-shirts compared to other attire.[1] For example, two billion T-shirts are sold worldwide per year,[2] and the average person in Sweden buys nine T-shirts a year.[3] Production processes vary but can be environmentally intensive and include the environmental impact caused by their materials, such as cotton, which uses large amounts of water and pesticides....
The T-shirt was easily fitted, easily cleaned, and inexpensive; for these reasons, it became the shirt of choice for young boys. Boys' shirts were made in various colors and patterns. The word T-shirt became part of American English by the 1920s, and appeared in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

By the Great Depression, the T-shirt was often the default garment to be worn when doing farm or ranch chores, as well as other times when modesty called for a torso covering but conditions called for lightweight fabrics.[7] Following World War II, it was worn by Navy men as undergarments and slowly became common to see veterans wearing their uniform trousers with their T-shirts as casual clothing. The shirts became even more popular in the 1950s after Marlon Brando wore one in A Streetcar Named Desire, finally achieving status as fashionable, stand-alone, outerwear garments.[8] Often boys wore them while doing chores and playing outside, eventually opening up the idea of wearing them as general-purpose casual clothing.

Printed T-shirts were in limited use by 1942 when an Air Corps Gunnery School T-shirt appeared on the cover of Life magazine.[9] In the 1960s, printed T-shirts gained popularity for self-expression as well as for advertisements, protests, and souvenirs.

Current versions are available in many different designs and fabrics, and styles include crew-neck and V-neck shirts. T-shirts are among the most worn garments of clothing used today. T-shirts are especially popular with branding for companies or merchandise, as they are inexpensive to make and purchase....
Trends

T-shirts were originally worn as undershirts, but are now worn frequently as the only piece of clothing on the top half of the body, other than possibly a brassiere or, rarely, a waistcoat (vest). T-shirts have also become a medium for self-expression and advertising, with any imaginable combination of words, art and photographs on display.[10]

A T-shirt typically extends to the waist. Variants of the T-shirt, such as the V-neck, have been developed. Hip hop fashion calls for tall-T shirts which may extend down to the knees. A similar item is the T-shirt dress or T-dress, a dress-length T-shirt that can be worn without pants.[11] Long T-shirts are also sometimes worn by women as nightgowns. A 1990s trend in women's clothing involved tight-fitting cropped T-shirt or crop tops short enough to reveal the midriff. Another less popular trend is wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt of a contrasting color over a long-sleeved T-shirt, which is known as layering. T-shirts that are tight to the body are called fitted, tailored or baby doll T-shirts.

With the rise of social media and video sharing sites also came numerous tutorials on DIY T-shirt projects.[12] These videos typically provided instructions on how to modify an old shirt into a new, more fashionable form....
It has also been commonly used to commemorate an event or to make a political or personal statement. Since the 1990s, it has become common practice for companies of all sizes to produce T-shirts with their corporate logos or messages as part of their overall advertising campaigns. Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent designer-name logos have become popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. These garments allow consumers to flaunt their taste for designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative....These examples also include representations of rock bands, among other obscure pop-culture references. Licensed T-shirts are also extremely popular. Movie and TV T-shirts can have images of the actors, logos, and funny quotations from the movie or TV show. Often, the most popular T-shirts are those that characters wore in the film itself ...The early first decade of the 21st century saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic....The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the first decade of the 21st century, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society. These statements range from completely harmless to statements or quotes that may be found to be offensive, shocking, or...
In the 1960s, the ringer T-shirt appeared and became a staple fashion for youth and rock-n-rollers. Ringer T-shirts are a solid-color shirt with bands of a second color around the collar and the lower edges of the sleeves, with or without an additional front decoration.

The decade also saw the emergence of tie-dyeing and screen-printing on the basic T-shirt and the T-shirt became a medium for wearable art, commercial advertising, souvenir messages, and protest art messages....
Screen printing
A woman wearing a T-shirt with an architectural motif

The most common form of commercial T-shirt decoration is screen printing. In screen printing, a design is separated into individual colors. Plastisol or water based inks are applied to the shirt through mesh screens partially coated with an emulsion which limits the areas where ink is deposited. In most commercial T-shirt printing, a limited number (typically one to four) of spot colors are used to print the design. To achieve a wider color spectrum with a limited number of colors, process printing (using only cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink) or simulated process (using only white, black, red, green, blue, and gold ink) is effective. Process printing is best suited for light colored shirts.[20] The simulated process is best suited for dark colored shirts.

In 1959, the invention of plastisol provided an ink more durable and stretchable than water-based ink, allowing much more variety in T-shirt designs. Very few companies continue to use water-based inks on their shirts. The majority of companies that create shirts prefer plastisol due to the ability to print on varying colors without the need for color adjustment at the art level.

Specialty inks trend in and out of fashion and include shimmer, puff, discharge, and chino based[21] inks. A metallic foil can be heat pressed and stamped onto any plastisol ink. When combined with shimmer ink, metallics give a mirror like effect wherever the previously screened plastisol ink was applied. Specialty inks are more expensive to purchase as well as screen and tend to appear on garments in boutiques.

Other methods of decoration used on T-shirts include airbrush, applique, embroidery, impressing or embossing, and the ironing on of either flock lettering, heat transfers, or dye-sublimation transfers. Laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special toner containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat-transferred to T-shirts. ...Dye-sublimation printing

Dye-sublimation printing is a direct-to-garment digital printing technology using full color artwork to transfer images to polyester and polymer-coated substrate based T-shirts. Dye-sublimation (also commonly referred to as all-over printing) came into widespread use in the 21st century, enabling some designs previously impossible. Printing with unlimited colors using large CMYK printers with special paper and ink is possible, unlike screen printing which requires screens for each color of the design. All-over print T-shirts have solved the problem with color fading and the vibrancy is higher than most standard printing methods but requires synthetic fabrics for the ink to take hold. The key feature of dye-sublimated clothing is that the design is not printed on top of the garment, but permanently dyed into the threads of the shirt, ensuring that it will never fade.

Dye-sublimation is economically viable for small-quantity printing; the unit cost is similar for short or long production runs. Screen printing has higher setup costs, requiring large numbers to be produced to be cost-effective, and the unit cost is higher. ...Other methods of decorating shirts include using paints, markers, fabric transfer crayons, dyes and spray paint. Some techniques that can be used include sponging, stenciling, daubing, stamping, screen printing, bleaching, and many more.[23] Some new T-shirt creators have used designs with multiple advanced techniques, which includes using glow-in-the-dark inks, heat-sensitive fabrics, foil printing and all-over printing." (wikipedia)