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It all began when a screen printer botched a simple T-shirt order. Naturally, the client was upset. But in hindsight, it was the best thing that could of happened to him. The client, George Kilian, took matters into his own hands and printed the T-shirts himself. Sixteen years later, the former manager of a rhythm-and-blues band owns and operates Sharprint, a contract screen print and embroidery business that grosses more than $8 million annually. "Sharprint started in the basement of my band's house, says Kilian, who initially built his own equipment and taught himself screen printing through trial-and-error. "We printed T-shirts for our band, and when other bands saw them, they wanted some too. Then nightclubs wanted wanted some, and soon everyone was coming to us and we had done very little marketing or sales. Kilian changed his tune on a career in the music industry when he realized the lucrative potential of screen printing, eventually calling it quits as a band manager. By selling to his music contacts, he instantly hit a high note, creating more business than he could've anticipated. "It seemed like we were moving every three years (to a larger facility)," he says. Today, after relocating five times since 1985 to accommodate its steady growth, the Chicago-based business resides in a 40K square-foot warehouse, which houses two new state-of-the-art 12-color automatics, two fully automated 16-color automatics, and one brand new all-over 18 color giant, as they like to call it, which has enabled Sharprint to produce gigantic prints.

  As a leader in the custom decorated apparel industry for over 30 years, Sharprint brings both the quality of a world class screen printer / embroiderer and the enterprise service structure required to work with some of the most demanding apparel companies in the world.  Sharprint is the preferred vendor for brands like Mc Donald's, NFL, MLB, NBA, Harley Davidson, Threadless.com and many others. 

 

 

 

Leveraging hundreds of embroidery heads in our 40,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Chicago, IL enables Sharprint to turnaround even the largest orders within 5-7 days.  Furthermore, its central location in the midwest allows for lower shipping costs to your costomers.

 

Buy peliCAN t-shirt NOW!

Our friends at Threadless (Twitter, Facebook), a community-based online t-shirt design competition company based in Chicago has collaborated with Threadless member Frederik Wepener of South Africa and Threadless’ own super star artist Ross Zietz to create an original design in an effort to bring a bit of hope in a very devastating situation. Threadless.com provides artists from around the world a platform to share their work, gain recognition and shop for their peer's winning t-shirt designs. Every design on the site is voted on by the global Threadless community, winners are chosen weekly and compensated with cash prizes, name recognition on every shirt printed and most importantly the well earned respect of the community that made it possible. Threadless's success has sparked a huge shift in how online retailers see their customers and they continue to be advocates and innovators for the artist community they serve.

This design, peliCAN, is the result of a collaboration where all proceeds from the purchase of this shirt benefit the Gulf Restoration Network (Twitter, Facebook). Both Ross and Frederik have donated their standard designer payment to the cause as well. When Threadless came to us here at Sharprint with this idea we immediately jumped at the chance to help by donating the printing services. We used a high mesh screen and water-base "eco-friendly" inks to archive this print. The result is bright print with a very soft hand feel.

The Gulf Restoration Network is a 15-year old environmental non-profit organization committed to uniting and empowering people to protect and restore the natural resources of the Gulf Region for future generations. They’re the only environmental organization working Gulf-wide, and since the first days of BP’s oil drilling disaster, they’ve provided independent monitoring and advocacy focused on holding BP accountable and ensuring an effective and transparent response to the crisis. Take action, stay informed, and donate to these efforts by supporting the Gulf Restoration Network and staying informed.

>>> Click the Image to Purchase the PeliCAN t-shirt and help restore the Gulf!