Legacy Merch Shop Tour | 10 Years of Screen Print Shop Growth

Join us at Legacy Merch in Ft. Worth, TX. Motorcycles. Beer. Screen prints. Skateboards. Tattoos. Texas. From 1 manual screen printing press to 2 giant autos in just a few years. Sounds great, right?

Read the full story: https://www.printavo.com/blog/legacy-merch-shop-tour

Legacy Merch in Ft. Worth, TX has spent more than a decade developing a tightly-knit team. Most of the staff has spent more than a year in the shop. As Legacy Merch enters its next phase of growth and development, they’re approaching growth with an eye toward sustainability. They're primed to make a decisive shift away from high-volume contract printing toward more lucrative retail printing.

“We’re taking less contract work now. [...] When you build a machine to do that much work, you can’t just turn it off without getting rid of your staff. We don’t want to do that.” Contract printing taught them to be fast, effective, and lean – a great way to learn the business, develop processes, and stack experience.

But contract printing simply isn’t the most profitable (or sustainable) type of printing for their team and their business.

Over 9+ years, they've moved to 3 different spaces. Right now, they're not concerned with growing the business in size so much as changing the substance of their work. Instead of an 80% contract, 20% retail split, they’re aiming to do 70% retail printing in the long-term. This will surely impact the way the shop feels, since the retail vs. contract printing workload is so different.

Matt says the change is powerful, telling us that “[t]here are 10% fewer shirts coming off the press now, but we’re making 20% more profit in the business. It’s better all the way around. Morale is higher. We’re not rushed. The team is happier. We can pay more.”

Terminus Tees' Jon Ladd is a big proponent of the story behind the shirt as the best way to market your screen printing business.

The thinking goes like this: anyone can print a t-shirt. But it takes a truly special company to tell the story behind the shirt – to get at the why instead of the what. This is a powerful technique for creating a connection that goes beyond a transaction for some shirts. You speak your client's language, enter their world, and make an effort to understand the things they really care about.

Legacy Merch has zoomed in on their clients with a laser-focused eye toward their success. They don't just tell you that they've printed for a bunch of high-profile clients. They share the entire brand's story with an interview. This puts their customer front-and-center – not the merchandise, not their prints, not their shop, not their inks – and tells the story behind the t-shirts. Check out their cadre of customer stories right here.

Legacy Merch has also expanded into live printing. This is another powerful way to get at the story behind the shirt: live printing is often called "live activation" because it imprints potential customers with a positive experience.

Instead of trying to get people to come to you, go where they like to have fun and become associated with that story. Like skateboarding? Find skaters. Like music? Find bands. Want to print for motorcyclists? Find the local clubs and ride with them. "Man, the Legacy Merch guys really had a blast at our event. I've got to get a shop like that to do my merch!"

We are so thankful that the awesome team at Legacy Merch let us drop by and talk shop. Seeing their tight-knit team, fun-loving shop environment, and transformation from a side hustle into a business that sustains 10+ employees is inspiring.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth area is growing quickly, and we anticipate further growth and development for Legacy Merch. As they transition into a stronger mix of retail and contract printing, they'll develop powerful relationships with local businesses and extend their reach further into their community.

Check out Legacy Merch on the web: https://www.legacymerch.com
And be sure to follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legacymerch

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