Impressions - June/July 2019 - 29

PROUD TSHIRTS AT A GlAnce AT A GlAnce
C ompan y n ame: PROUD TSHIRTS
address: 2099 Opa Locka Blvd., Opa Locka, FL 33054
Foun ded: 2016
n o. oF employees: 4
deCoraTIn G meTH ods oFFered: Screen printing, embroidery
C ompan y WebsITe: proudtshirts.com

PROUD TSHIRTS boasts Google
among its roster of primarily local
clients, including conferences, churches
and clothing brands.

Prints, No Stitches
Currently,PROUDTSHIRTS'production
equipment includes a six-color,eight-station
ROQ automatic screen-printing press and
a Riley Hopkins four-color, two-station
manual press. The company also uses a
single-station manual press from Ryonet.
The automatic press can comfortably
print about 400 pieces per hour using two
operators. The manual press is used for
special jobs, such as sleeve prints, inside
neck labels and one-color, quick-print
jobs. PROUD TSHIRTS also does live
screen printing with the manual press at
select events when and where it makes
sense.
The company has intentionally stayed
away from in-house embroidery to spend
time strengthening its screen-printing production processes and staff. But PROUD
TSHIRTS is slowly entering the embroidery arena in a different way.
"We've connected with a couple of
strong embroidery partners in Miami,"
Gavin StGeorges says. "They help us
out with production if we get a crazy
job. I think once we openly advertise
that we offer embroidery in house, it
will raise the profile of the business a
little bit.We are not ready to do that yet."
The Clientele
How's this for a 3-year-old venture:
PROUD TSHIRTS once was selected
to print T-shirts for Google.
"When we got the email [Google

was] considering us to print for them,
we seriously thought it was spam," Gavin
StGeorges says."We found it was no different from most other jobs we get. It was
a referral from a previous client we had
done work for.They respected the work
we were doing [in] our client's community,
so that made it that much more special."
He says the company's niche is with
people who understand PROUD
TSHIRTS' tone and vibes. "Miami is
definitely a unique place," he says. "It's
a vibrant city with lots going on, but
the screen-printing space is extremely
crowded.There are people looking for a
shop that offers quality work combined
with a personal and friendly touch. We
think we offer that."
Based on Google reviews, PROUD
TSHIRTS is one of the highest-rated
screen-printing shops in Miami. It has
provided decorated products for local conferences, summits, churches and Haitian
brands from all industries.
"Our top clients are spread among three
main areas: conferences, church events
and clothing brands," Gavin StGeorges
says."We do conferences and local events
on a more regular basis, so I would say
that is our top group of clients for now."
He says his most memorable business
experience so far was when PROUD
TSHIRTS printed onsite for the Haiti
Tech Summit.The company collaborated
with Allmade Apparel, whose partners
and founders pay Haitian workers a living
wage to manufacture T-shirts.

"This live printing event was in Haiti and we're from Haiti," he says. "The
curiosity and interest from people were
really good to see. It reinforced to us how
cool and life-changing screen printing is."
Gavin StGeorges says the experience
was challenging, which made its success
sweeter."After having pulled it off, it was
super satisfying," he says. "Partners like
Allmade Apparel, Life SA (Haiti), Haiti
Tech Summit, and Olivier Desire and
his family helped us and believed in us."
On the Horizon
Gavin StGeorges' goal is to streamline
the company's back-end processes and
systems as much as possible. "Because
we are a small team, right now it is a
challenge balancing the production aspects and customer-service aspects of the
business," he says."I feel like production
steals a little bit too much time from
customer service."
He says PROUD TSHIRTS' best
clients are those with whom the team
connects on a personal level or who have
similar interests. Serving these types of
clients is more like helping out a friend,
he says, than carrying out a transaction.
"The best part about this journey is
that we've experienced some really cool
moments and we've met some really
inspiring people - both within and
outside the industry," he says."We have
our eyes set on doing some projects in
Haiti. Let's see what happens." 
Jennifer Morrell 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 Jennifer at
jennmorrell@hotmail.com.
JUNE/JULY 2019

P.29
http://www.proudtshirts.com
Impressions - June/July 2019

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