Impressions - April 2018 - 35

Sandlot SportS at a Glance
C ompan y n ame: Sandlot Sports
address: Multiple locations in Michigan
Foun ded: 2008
no. oF employees: 28 (20 full-time; 8 part-time)
servi Ces oFFered: Screen printing, embroidery, digital printing, banners,
sublimation, promotional products, order fulfillment, finishing, sports
equipment, trophies
C ompan y Website: sandlotsports301.com

Investing in Learning
McCauley remembers Sandlot Sports' first
large "Field Day" order of more than 600
T-shirts that was fulfilled with a four-color
press that couldn't hold registration and a
Little Buddy dryer.
"Our operation was borderline laughable
looking back at it," he says."But we were
determined to make it work."
Instead of resting on their laurels after
completing that order, McCauley and Dost
kept their eyes on the big picture, attending
an Imprinted Sportswear Shows (ISS) event
in Orlando, Florida, to learn as much as
they could about the decorated-apparel
industry and doing business therein.
"We took every catalog, listened to every salesman, and we split up and went to
as many classes as we could," McCauley
recalls."We were sponges just soaking up
everything around us."
Subsequently, they ordered new equipment and streamlined printing.They also
kicked their efforts working in and on the
business into overdrive.
"We were working nearly around the
clock six - sometimes seven - days a
week, doing whatever we could to get in
front of people and let them know what
we do," Dost says."If we weren't printing
or embroidering, we were doing artwork.
If we weren't doing artwork or prepping
for new jobs, we were looking for events
to sell at."
McCauley estimates Sandlot Sports made
almost $360,000 in sales in its first full
year, nearly all of which was reinvested in
the business. In fact, the two co-owners'

take-home pay for the year amounted to
a paltry $2.14 per hour."We're lucky we
didn't have families to take care of when
we began," Dost says.
The co-owners continued to soak
up knowledge from respected industry
veterans, suppliers and successful shops
as they entered year two in business.
After expanding into a larger shop,
they spent time visiting Vastex Intl.; did
training sessions with Hirsch Intl. and
Melco; attended workshops led by noted
experts Greg Kitson and Charlie Taublieb;
hired embroidery expert Joyce Jagger
to help improve the company's embroidery operation, as well as screen-printing
consultant Richard Greaves; discussed
screens and chemicals with Alan Howe of
Saati; hired Taublieb to improve artwork
production and Kitson to refine shop
layout and workflow; and did tours of
Visual Impressions, Milwaukee, Mind's
Eye Graphics, Decatur, Indiana, and JakPrints, Cleveland.
The Payoff
Ten years after its grand opening, a lot has
changed at Sandlot Sports.The company
has expanded to three locations in the Great
Lakes Bay region, with retail facilities and
showrooms in Saginaw and Bay City, Michigan, and an 18,000-square-foot production facility located in Saginaw Township.
Equipment now includes 11 Tajima embroidery heads, aWorkhorse Products Sabre
automatic screen-printing press, M&R
Chameleon six-color/six-station manual

press and Blue Max II four-color/fourstation manual press.The company recently
purchased a Douthitt computer-to-screen
(CTS) system, and also has a collection of
Hotronix heat presses.
Recognizing the importance of an online
presence, Sandlot Sports uses two platforms
- InkSoft and Order My Gear - for its
online stores, the number of which can
vary between 30 and 40 at one time, and
many more during peak sports seasons.An
online designer allows customers to create
designs and place orders around the clock.
It has proven to be a revenue generator,
as Dost estimates about 20% of sales have
been generated via the company's online
platforms.
Others in the region and state have noticed Sandlot Sports' transformation and
success.The company was nominated by
the Michigan Small Business Development
Center as the best small business in the
Great Lakes Bay region. It also won the
Main St. USA award for being the best small
business in Michigan after being selected
from a pool of nearly 5,000 other companies. Additionally, Dost won the 2016
Ruby Award for being an upward, bright
and young professional in the Great Lakes
Bay region. McCauley received the same
award earlier this year.
McCauley and Dost plan to open a
satellite retail store later this year, while
also expanding the company's online presence and reducing turnaround times by
updating procedures and implementing
new processes.
"We are both extremely interested in
[direct-to-garment printing]," Dost says.
"We see a lot of opportunity here for us
and it's something that we're planning on
adding to our offerings." 
APRIL 2018

P.35
http://www.sandlotsports301.com
Impressions - April 2018

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