Yes, it was better before...
2023 has been a tough year for many in our industry. It has also been tough for us retailers. I am in very close contact with a number of retailers and manufacturers both inside and outside of Sweden, and all of them report declines and rush times. Inflation in the US reached unreasonable levels and the exchange rate went bananas. The expression - It was better before... probably never sounded better? Although times are urgent and everyone is fighting to the max here at home, it is of course nothing in comparison to those suffering in Gaza or Ukraine. You are ashamed of how it looks in the world and also here at home. The news today is just a big fucking black hole of hate and misfortune. It feels like the whole society is out of balance and the vast majority of people walk around like zombies and don't care about anything more than good coverage on their phone or how many likes you got on your last post.
Soon a tattoo artist will not have to design any tattoos himself. AI takes care of that for the customer. AI will also filter out the least popular tattoos for us in the future. "Google" will be a thing of the past. AI will tell you what is best and what is worst.
You can already see a difference in the tattoo artists who today market themselves on social media with They have more to do than those who do not market themselves as well. The older generation of tattoo artists who are unable to market themselves in the same way as the younger ones unfortunately. Does that automatically mean that anyone who doesn't market themselves digitally is a worse tattoo artist?
This also applies to where to buy equipment. Wish, Temu, Amazon, CDON etc are the new platforms for everything. Many people think: wow, I might as well buy paint cups and plastic film at Temu. It is much cheaper than at Lundberg Custom. Many have also chosen to start buying their needles directly from China. We have Emalla, Pepax, JCOONLY, YABA, CNC, etc., etc. Some of these needles are crap. They cost significantly less and shipping only takes a few days. Damn, how nice! TEMU's slogan "Shop like a millionaire" echoes throughout the western world! We are kings!
Or?
The only thing the Chinese cannot take from us is product development. Product development comes from us in the west. It will of course be copied directly, but from the Chinese side I have not seen a single smart product being developed. However, an enormous amount of stupid and sometimes downright dangerous products. Those who work in the retail tattoo equipment industry in China don't even have a tattoo. They don't know what works or what doesn't. They want to know and they can produce, but they will never be able to develop until they themselves have the knowledge within the country. Which they will actually have shortly. On my first visit to Shanghai maybe 15 years ago, there were three studios from what I could find via the internet at the time. Today, according to those I know in the area, there are several thousand studios in Shanghai alone. China is where we were maybe 15 years ago. Tattooing has become popular and it is slowly becoming accepted in all social classes. Maybe with a bit of luck the Chinese manufacturers will focus more on their market at home than in the rest of the world? You can always hope.
Another and perhaps even more important aspect of equipment directly from, for example, Temu is how it was produced and how they can be so damn cheap? Is it the case that I, as a developer of equipment, extort and salt my prices to the mild degree or is it due to my conditions as opposed to the Chinese's own conditions?
The first time I set foot in the factory where we manufacture our tattoo needles today, I saw flaws in the environment. I said I don't want to see this shit. There were row after row of mostly young women in their 25s and 30s, soldering needles without any kind of extraction. A woman was also pregnant. I didn't even want to stay in the room for 2 minutes. There, the women sat in rows 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week, inhaling toxic gases from the smoke from the needle soldering. Endel had a piece of cloth in front of his mouth, but it's a bit like having a cigarette filter or not... I was pissed off and said I have to look for another supplier. The manager at the factory freaked out and said I could get a better price. I got even angrier saying I'm happy to pay more if you just make sure the working environment is good for those who work. Four days later I am invited to the factory once more and it is like night and day. There was exhaust at each soldering station and it smelled fresh. They had even cleaned the soot from all the windows so the daylight shone in in an almost religious way and everyone was in a much better mood. Today, this is one of the world's largest producers of tattoo needles. You see brands such as TatSoul, Bishop and actually parts for Cheyenne. Believe it or not but I was the first to make tattoo needles in that factory and thanks a lot to me the mentioned brands exist in this very factory. The factory is one of the world's oldest factories for acupuncture needles. Today, they hardly make any acupuncture needles at all anymore.
I must have visited about 50 factories in China over the years. Only three of these factories have been or become good in their working environment. I have seen children, that is, children of 8-10 years sitting and screwing together coil machines that are sold for 1 dollar, ONE DOLLAR! Feel it! I have seen those who sit and package second sorting needles in blister packs with an already printed indicator marker for completed sterilization process. I've seen tattoo inks poured straight from dirty cans off a dirty industrial floor then printed famous American labels and pasted onto similar bottles. My trips to China have been educational but also terrifying at times.
In recent years I certainly haven't revisited the factories I saw making so many mistakes but I think it's pretty much the same now as then. I want to make a trip again soon mostly just to check what's going on out there. I want to be able to sleep well at night and know that I have done everything I can so that our products measure up and that those who work there have a dignified working environment.. Everything is not just money. Quality before quantity, I repeat time and time again to those who manufacture for us.
What can you as a tattoo artist do to be sure that the products you use are well made and fit the bill? Make demands on your suppliers. Think about whether it is really that extra kroner you save if you use color cups from TEMU versus our color cups from Portugal, which are manufactured according to European standards. Our colored cups are guaranteed not to contain endocrine-disrupting substances or cancer-causing phthalates. Probably none of your customers will be affected by this, but the question is whether anyone at the factory in China will be affected?
Are Emalla's needles really better than the western needles or do you just feel like a millionaire when it's so cheap?
I still hope that 2024 will be a better year for everyone. In any case, I will do my utmost to see a bright future. I will plan new products and ignore what pops up on Temu, Wish and Aliexpress. They have become my biggest competitor and there are other retailers that include the previously mentioned brands from China in their range. Mostly because they feel such pressure and demand. I won't do that. Then if that becomes the nail in the coffin, so be it.
I have written about this "chronicle" several times and unfortunately come to the same negative conclusion. It is almost impossible not to be bitter or tired of the way things look today. When I started, everything skyrocketed. But since the pandemic, it has only been one step forward and two steps back. I have been tattooing equipment around the clock for more than sixteen years and even before that was in the tattoo business for a few more years. So I've been in the industry for around 20 years and I unfortunately have to say that it was better before...
It was a bitter read for those of you who managed to read this far. But don't hang your lip. It will probably get better, you'll see! Happy New Year and drive hard in 2024!
See you/ Mattias Lundberg
PS. I didn't write a single word about Reach…