Impressions - April 2019 - 33

Being located near the Texas State
University campus means Creeds
& Crests can cater to Greek
organizations and other
university students.

Creeds & Crests At A GlAnCe
C ompan y n ame: Creeds & Crests Inc.
address: 202 University Dr., Suite 105, San Marcos, TX 78666
Foun ded: 1992
n o. oF empLoyees : 9
deCoraTIn G meTH ods oFFered: Appliqué, embroidery, vinyl, monogramming and outsourced screen printing
C ompan y WebsITe: creedsandcrestsgreek.com

wasn't exactly foreign territory. Cue the
"fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" description
of her entry into business ownership.
"After leaving the bookstore, I set up
my own business," Finch says. "Because
there are not very many sorority stores
across the country, I had to fly by the seat
of my pants for a while until I had a few
years under my belt."
Readily Available Retail
Make no mistake: Creeds & Crests is a bona
fide, 1,700-square-foot retail establishment
serving the localTexas State University and
surrounding sorority and fraternity communities. Finch says that niche comes with
a built-in customer base of about 38,000
students, a more-than-ample audience to
whom she can offer products and services.
But part of her learning-on-the-fly story
in this business included a lesson about
the absence of a retail space.
"I tried not having a retail space for
four years and what I found was that there
is always another business with a retail
presence ready to pounce on your captive audience when you are not readily
accessible," Finch says."I will never leave
the retail space again."
In addition to retail,Creeds & Crests offers
appliqué, embroidery and vinyl decorating.
Finch says offering these services in-house
boiled down to controlling delivery times.
"When I was at the bookstore, we would
often miss deadlines because the seamstress
did not get products back on time," she
recalls."I hire college girls and teach them
to sew. They like getting the store discount
and can make their own gifts."

The shop also provides camp uniforms
to a pronounced cheer market, which
mandates on-time delivery, Finch says.
Improving Quality & Consistency
The company's embroidery and appliqué
work is done on three Melco singlehead
embroidery machines and a Highland singlehead. Screen printing is outsourced due
to space constraints, and Creeds & Crests'
in-house embroidery digitizer even sets
up the screen-printed art.
"We outsource our screen printing
because we only have 1,700 square feet,"
Finch says."I had [offered] it in-house at
one time, but it is easier to outsource and
not have to pay for the square footage you
need at a high-dollar amount. I wanted to
be in the prime location for retail."
Finch says customer demand dictated
diversification instead of offering only appliqué,which was wildly popular."Appliqué
used to be the only thing the sororities and
fraternities would wear," she says. "Now,
with screen printing being so readily available online and around town, appliqué is
more for gifts than everyday wear.Vinyl
just happened by accident.We wanted to
create new shirts but didn't want to do
a lot, so we found out that we could do
some really cool stuff with vinyl and got
it going."
When it comes to marketing its products
and services, Creeds & Crests takes advantage of social media, spreading the word
via its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
platforms. It also sponsors the Creeds &
Crests Classic volleyball tournament at
Texas State, where it offers gifts in kind

to coaches who, in turn, send them to
program donors.
Philanthropy and the Future
In her career, Finch has checked a lot of
boxes when it comes to accomplishments:
successful business owner; positive influence for community members and fellow
Greek organizations; and jobs provider (in
addition to employing five college students
and the in-house digitizer, her mom, aunt
and uncle help with sewing and paperwork
when the company is in peak season).
One of her prouder endeavors has been
working with underprivileged citizens in
Haiti to make items that she can purchase
and resell at Creeds & Crests. Finch says
she recently taught a woman how to sew,
and when she travels back to the country
this month, she will take pillow tops that
the woman will embroider and make into
pillows. Finch then will buy them so the
woman can make a living. She also will
take leather tools and items to teach young
men how to work with them, with the
goal of buying what they produce so they
can be sustained.
"I feel like I have been so blessed as a
business and as a person born in America
that I need to give back to those who do
not have any safety net," Finch says. "We
are so lucky that we have so many programs
here to help us.They do not."
Finch says expansion isn't on the
horizon at the moment. But if there's
one thing her years of experience have
taught her, it's that things can change at
any moment.
"I never say 'never,'" she says. 
APRIL 2019

P.33

http://www.creedsandcrestsgreek.com

Impressions - April 2019

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