Impressions - March 2015 - 57

"It's great when your customers truly
feel a sense of trust and reliability when
they submit an order to us," Santo says.
"They know even if something gets missed
or overlooked, we are the 'make-it-happen'
guys. We never let them down, even if it
means putting somebody on a plane to Las
Vegas to make a show by 8 a.m."

The Culture Studio
concept started as a lifestyle
brand called Chii, a high-end
T-shirt line sold in stores
across the country.

ALL ABOUT THE TEAM
Along with providing customer confidence, Santo says today's shop owners
have to be smart about how they handle
their business - especially with the way
the economy challenged the process.
"The advice I would give other shop
owners is to uphold your pricing structure," Santo says. "Every day, we hear
about another shop that will do [a job]
for half the price. Our employees put so
much passion and dedication into making
a great print, and we feel they should be
compensated for it."
Santo is a big believer in the power of
his team. That's why he is always conscious
of the best advice he ever received, a quote
that still hangs on a giant canvas in his
office: "Creating a system that enables employees to achieve great things often comes
down to the work of a single leader."
"We do many psychological studies
on our production floor and it never fails
that if a manager is adamant about something, such as packing boxes largest size on

Along with its work in multiple
apparel sectors, Culture Studio also focuses on
the music and direct-to-retail industries.

impressionsmag.com

the bottom, every single one of his team
members will have the exact same answer
when asked how to pack a box," Santo
says. "On the other hand, if the leader isn't
very particular on how to pack, each of his
direct reports will not know the answer or
[will] have conflicting answers."
For a company that does it all - in an industry that is full of diversity - Santo says
every order offers a unique and fulfilling
experience. In fact, the job he remembers
the most is the one Culture Studio wasn't
even supposed to get. After two rounds of
sampling on a 12-color photograph piece it
sent to a prospective client, Santo was told
his company didn't get the job.
No worries; you move to the next one,
right? Well, maybe that's what everyone
else does, but not Santo. That evening, he
and his team, including brothers Joey (vice
president of production) and Nick (director of operations) and Carlo Oviedo (vice
president of sales and operations), worked
through the night to redo the artwork and
resample the job. They printed hundreds
of samples, burning screen after screen.
After completing a piece at which they
thought the prospective client would marvel, they sent an overnight delivery.
Two days later, three semi trucks were
sent to the Culture Studio docks to fulfill
the T-shirt order. "There was no way we
were going to lose a job, and [we] put all
our heart into winning it back," Santo says.
"And we won."

LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD
In an ever-changing industry, where
fads and trends constantly change how
the game is played, Santo and company
are seeing new materials in garments that
may pose problems for screen printers
down the road.
"We believe that the garment manufacturers will continue working with printers
to increase printability."
As for 2015, Culture Studio is planning for big things. Moving from its
9,000-square-foot facility into a more spacious location has helped improve overall
processes and workflow. "Technology and
innovating the ordering process will continue to keep us at the top of the game,"
Santo says. "The marketplace will continue to grow significantly, as most experts
are predicting our economy being very
strong in the next three years."
As of press time, the most pressing
item on the company's to-do list is the imminent launch of its e-commerce solution,
which will enable all its clients to place
orders online.
Otherwise, Culture Studio will keep
doing what it does best: pushing the limits
of its industry.
Michael J. Pallerino is an award-winning
writer who has written for a number of national consumer and trade publications. For
more information or to comment on this article,
email Michael at mpallerino@gmail.com.
March 2015 | Impressions

57
http://www.impressionsmag.com
Impressions - March 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - March 2015
