OUR STORY
From the start, we've been passionate about our serving community.
THE OWNER
From the start, we've been passionate about our serving community.
About We Make T-Shirts
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Hey everyone. My name is Jon. And I own We Make T-Shirts.
We Make T-Shirts is a custom screen printing / embroidery shop located in Racine, Wisconsin. A small city smack dab in the middle of Milwaukee and Chicago.
I began this journey long ago. And at that time, I had never intended to become a full time screen printing shop owner. I was actually, (at that time) a pretty popular hip hop artist in my area. And with music came shirt and merch sales. I used a small screen print shop local to me, to print all of my merch. They're prices were great and they could turn my orders around pretty quickly. But then one day, they just vanished. And I never heard from them again.
I had to start shopping around for a new printer local to me, which I had never done, and I was shocked to find out how difficult it was to order shirts. Prices were super high, turnaround times were long, and there were so many rules and fees. Things like minimum requirements, crazy setup charges, artwork guidelines, etc. I realized at that moment how much of a challenge it was to order a box of shirts. It was almost as if the printers local to me DIDN'T want the work. Like "you have to jump through 100 hoops and THEN we'll print your merch". I had never had such a hard time spending money on something I wanted to buy.
I decided to try making shirts for myself so I made a little DIY setup. It wasn't fancy. In fact, it was absolutely horrible. By todays standards, there was "no way" I would have been able to print a shirt with what I had. I would make my own screens out of 2x2 boards and stretch them by hand. I used "hobby paint" as ink. I used paint scrapers from Home Depot as ink, and yes, I "cured" my shirts in the oven at home. It was ok. Because at this time, I was not looking to start a business. I was already a musician. Just needed an EASY way to get my logo shirts to people who wanted them.
Fast forward a couple years. My music days were over. I'm in my late twenties. I'm a high school dropout that works full time at Applebees with no wife and no kids. I have no idea what I want to do with my life and I'm not serving any real purpose. I'm not sure what inspired the thought, but one day I said to myself "I'm going to try to screen print some shirts on the side, because I need something to do, and I could use the extra cash". After all, I knew a ton of music people so I had an immediate sales channel. I saved up some tips and bought a "horrible, but real" starter setup. And it was at this time, that the real journey began.
From that moment until now, it's been a real journey. I'm in my 5th location. (Each location a little bigger/nicer than the last). We're currently in a beautiful 5,000 sq ft warehouse. But my first location was a literal storage room in the basement of run down strip mall.
My equipment is all brand new, top of the line, and capable of producing the highest quality printed and embroidered logos. But I've been through countless used, beaten up, presses and machines to get here.
I used to work 18 hour days. Doing everything myself. From my full time Applebees gig to my shop. Every minute of every day. But today, I have a great staff that is well trained and shares the same values that I do. And of course, I no longer work at Applebees.
We work for thousands of clients, small and large, and have become the premier print shop in our area because we boast excellent quality, fantastic prices, and phenomenal turnaround times. We focus on partnering with community leaders and regardless of what you want to order, we make it EASY.
On the personal side, I have a beautiful home with a beautiful spouse and 2 beautiful children that support my business 100%. This of course is a success story as well as I went through countless apartments and meaningless relationships to get here.
My goal and mission has never changed. And that is to make ordering custom merch easy, affordable, and enjoyable for every client we work with. As well as continuing to grow this business that has done so much for myself, my family, my employees, and my community. I encourage you to try us out when you need your next order of printed and/or embroidered merchandise. You won't be disappointed.
Everyone asks about the music. Here's a song.
WHAT OUR AWESOME CUSTOMERS SAY
We are so pleased with the wonderful job you did on our shirts. This was our 3rd order of shirts and we all wear them very proudly. We look forward to working with you again!!
Was a great experience. Took good care of me. Top notch quality and service. Helped me every step of the way. Will be doing business for a very long time.
