For the Business of Apparel Decorating
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/865605
18 || P R I N T W E A R S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 Lon Winters learned screen printing from the bottom up, starting his 20-plus-year career reclaiming screens. He has won nearly 50 international industry awards and honors, published numerous articles, and led several in - dustry seminars and workshops. Currently, he is president of Colorado-based Print This, Inc./GraphicElephants.com, an international consulting firm specializing in technical advances, plant design, layout, troubleshooting, productivity, quality analysis, and complete garment-embellishing solutions. Visit www.graphicelephants.com for more information. Contact Winters at lonwinters@aol.com. Happy 40th! 42nd by now… S hirt Stop is a Colorado-based provider of custom embroidery, screen printing, and promotional items. The owners, Steve and Lura Fredrick, are celebrating their 42nd year in business. The company's mission has always been to develop and maintain long-term customer relationships by providing expert, friendly ser- vice, exceptional value, and timely delivery of quality decorated apparel, but a big asset is the staff. All Shirt Stop employees have at least five years of experience and take pride in producing top- quality work. Because of the production facility, equipment, and experienced staff, Shirt Stop handles a wide range of jobs. Minimum orders are as few as one piece, but 1,000-piece jobs and rush orders are not out of the ordinary. Clients include, among others, corporations, contractors, churches, sports teams, conventions, reunions, ASI companies, and the military. We have known Steve and Lura as well as the team at Shirt Stop for almost three decades and done a little work with them over the years. When they came to us in 2015 to contract our services to design and spec a 40th anniversary T-shirt, we were on board. We have to throw out an apology for not getting this in the pub back then, but the "story" is arguably worth the wait. It went down something like this: Hi, Lon! Not sure if you are still traveling or if you are home for a while. I did want to move forward with what we discussed at the show in January; to use your creative talents to create our anniversary shirt for this year. July will be here before we know it, so I'd like us to meet while it is still somewhat quiet around here. Also, we may use the shirt art as a general theme for the anniversary celebration on print media, etc. Do you want us to come up there? If so, what do you need us to bring to get the creative ideas rolling? Look forward to hearing back from you and working together on this project! Thanks! Lura Hi, Lura! Of course, whatever you need. Back in the office, for a few days anyway. We can certainly give you a hand on this. Time does move quickly, and we should try to get started ASAP. I have several appointments on Tuesday on the south side. Perhaps I can take a drive to your place, and we can hammer out some details of the anniversary project? We can also discuss your art needs at that time if that works. Let me know if Tuesday afternoon makes sense. Time for lunch? Thanks, Lon FROM SOFTWARE TO SUBSTRATE B Y L O N W I N T E R S We may be a few years late, but the 40th anniversary shirts for our decorator friends showcased the community they work in and love. (All images courtesy the author)