#25 - Merch on a Mission - Impressions Expo - Before the Show

Print Theory is a Screen Printing Business in Kingsburg, California. This week we are heading to Impressions Expo in Long Beach. Listen to the team share stories about what happens behind the scenes.

Music: "Feel the Air" by Ikoliks
https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/feel-the-air/122583

Co-host: Daniel Murrieta
Co-host: Sarah Murrieta
Co-host: Brandon Hirsch
Producer: Nathan Gomez

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Hey everybody and welcome to the Print Theory Podcast. We are in the office.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Near the office. Setting? On a mega desk. Mega desk.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

We've always dreamt about this. This is proof.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

This is proof that it can be done. It is and most likely could be done in the future. Could be done. Nathan's really excited about it. Mr.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Producer, sorry. Mr. Producer's excited about the mega desk. Mr. Producer. I'm going to have to get used to this. I'm going to have to get. Would we have people on this side and that's right?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

We have to get used to this. We can't stick with this. This isn't state. She's saying, wait, this is not stayed.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Well, I'm Dan and we got Sarah.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I don't think we've ever enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

I think we just as people may know. But just if you're listening.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Okay, so you're Dan. I'm Dan. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

I do stuff around here.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Do lots of stuff? Yeah. More stuff than you should have to.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

I don't know. Maybe one day.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

It's a privilege.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

It's a privilege. And you are Sarah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

And I do a lot of things. It is my pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

And I am Brandon, and I do one thing. And I sell.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Very well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yes. At times.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

At times.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

It depends. Depends on the season. All right, guys. Guys, we got Impressions Expo this week. You guys are leaving today, too, Dan, and half the team's leaving today. Yeah. Yeah. Who's already mentally packed and already?

SPEAKER_03 1:48

I don't think I'm mentally packed or physically packed. I have to go back to the house.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

And he's leaving in like, I don't know, three hours. Yeah, a couple hours, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

We're about to go learn everything that we can so that way our customers don't have to. Yeah. Are you ready for that?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

It's always a fun time.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

I feel like it's it's kind of if you've never been, we and this year will be fun because we're taking staff that have never, yeah, it'll be their first time. But it's really the when you go to it for the first time, it kind of just blows, you know, the lid off of anything is not possible with apparel. It's like, oh my gosh, you don't realize how big the industry is, or it just I I don't know. It's it's it's a really amazing place to go see and and a show to walk for sure.

unknown 2:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

It definitely I I love it. I love it. It is such a fun time. I look forward to it every every year. It's just so much fun. You go and it's like you build some team morale and you get to hang out and some good, you know, company team bonding, and we have a lot of talks, a lot of late night talks, which is pizza awesome. We do have lots of pizza. We would only have pizza if it was up to Dan. And it is so hey, we don't have to find it.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

It was one of the contingencies this year is that we're not having pizza more than one time.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

That's buratino's is fire. I'm excited for that. We have to. That's tradition.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

And I don't know what else is here.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

I've never had burratinos. Wait, so it's not here, she's not. No, so in all the times that you guys have gone, you go to burratino's first because you can't wait.

unknown 3:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

And then nobody wants to eat that pizza again. Not because it's not amazing, just because it's weird to eat the same exact thing two days in a row, which means that by the time I get there, the burratinos is off the table. Yes, I did. There was leftovers in the fridge, which if you know our family, we're, you know, not necessarily lovers of leftovers. So I'm not the meal prepper, you know. Like I can't, I could never meal prep and then eat that food seven days later. I could I said can't I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

I like the idea of it. I don't think I could do it either, but I like the idea of it.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

But you guys freeze a lot of stuff. Yeah. You freeze it and then you like undo it, don't you? Like frozen rice bowls. Don't know, don't you do do like an egg thing or something?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Oh, yeah, that was fire. Okay, that was good. That's good. Yeah, Sarah, my my wife is is named Sarah also. I know.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

And wild, we have a lot of dans and a lot of Sarah's.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

A lot of dans and lots of Sarah's. And yeah, she makes these like croissant sandwiches with eggs and cheese and ham. And she'll make them in one day or in one morning, and she'll freeze like five of them. And then I just like I wake up, you know, whatever, and I'll I'll put it in the in the microwave or something. And I'm not gonna lie, those are so good. Oh, those are so good. Especially with the little air fryer. Oh man, sorry. I'm getting even on it.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

I'm gonna take your word for it. Hey, I saw a video yesterday of somebody taking, and this was like a private chef for an NFL football player. She got the blueberry, cream cheese, Costco, Danish new looking things, and she cooked it in an air fryer. And she was like, This is like a thousand out of ten. And I thought, maybe that's where I'm going wrong. I'm not putting it in an air fryer. So I'm not getting that crisp and that crunch, you know, it just tastes like a soggy croissant.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

I can see that.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

I don't know. Maybe we should try that at the show. We'll take the air fryer, Christine will be down.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Wait, they have an air fryer.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Do they?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

I don't know. Oh it's been a year, maybe they do.

unknown 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Maybe. I guess we'll find out. Okay, guys, when you think about last year's trip, because we're it's it's happening. It's happening. When you think about last year's trip, what's like the first moment that comes to mind? When you think of Impressions Expo trip, ISS trip 2025. Don't think too hard about it. What's the first thing that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_02 6:01

I think every time I go to these shows, I go to make deals. Ooh, it's my favorite thing to do. It's my favorite thing to do. And the whole year. I love it. And last year, we made great deals. Yeah, we made pretty good deals. We made great partnerships. Um advanced imaging.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Yeah, on the last day.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Like I think, you know, you always go in and you're like, okay, this is what we're looking for, this is what we're gonna shop for. And then I do my exploring on Friday. I start having conversations, I make sure that we got all our numbers in place. And then Saturday, I close. And man, that was such a rush. Because I think I I got into the show at like 9 a.m. and just immediately started making the pit stops. But I had to, I was trying to construct a deal to acquire three different pieces of equipment inside of a budget that didn't quite make it all fit. And we really needed them. Uh, we needed all three, you know, to work in for for the shop. We really needed all three. And it it worked. It worked, and it was amazing. And man, what a game changer of a year. It's definitely changed. The first year we don't clean screens by hand. Thank you, Blue Water. You guys are amazing. Thank you, Blue Water. Yeah, your equipment is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Shout out.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

And and our whole production team thanks you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Makes their job way more like they love, it's not like, oh man, I have to clean screens for the next two hours or three hours.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

It's like cut back a whole bunch of time too. Oh, yeah. They're more productive out there in the shop than just in a room cleaning screen.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

They can focus on what they what what we like to do and becoming the experts. Yeah. And experts in print.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah. I I do think it totally reallocated that time to creativity, which was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Um, I I somebody had asked in like the comments recently on a post on Instagram about the blue water. And I was like, you know, the thing with this machine is it's not just that it it's consistent and it makes the job quicker. I mean, you can literally clean screens without having somebody standing there manning the machine. You know, if somebody's just popping in, feeding one through, like they can do multiple things at one time while cleaning screens, which was never possible before. And they do it faster. But I think the probably one of the biggest things is this year, if I look back over the whole year, this is the first year that I don't think we lost any garments to pinholes or screens just releasing. I break, you know, with the occasion of like one or two where the screen actually like broke itself, but but because the quality of our screens were so much better because they were so much cleaner and it was so consistent, we we saved a lot of time on press. We saved a lot of time rerunning garments, like it was if we made mistakes on press, they were our mistakes, they weren't something like the screen gave way or the emulsion release. So that was a win.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

That's true. Dan, what about you? What's one thing, what's one moment that you like that you that you that you think about when you think of ISS Impressions Expo 2025?

SPEAKER_03 9:20

I think for a fun moment would be when uh I think didn't we play all rock, paper, scissors, everyone? And then it came down to I think you and Dan. And then for where we were gonna eat dinner. Yeah, for where we're gonna eat dinner. And then he got to pick where we ate. And he picked I was like, that's pretty cool. What did he pick? Pizza? I think he picked he picked sushi first, but then he changed his mind to Italian. Because Dan's sushi. I think you wanted sushi. I wanted sushi. And I think he wanted Italian. And then uh we ended up doing the Italian. But really, I thought that was fun. That was a creative way. We gotta do it.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Let's do it again. Let's do it again. So be like, all right, we're going wherever you're going.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

As long as we as long as we eliminate whatever we ate the night before. Like if you eat pizza, you can't have Italian the next night.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

It's whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

It's whoever wins whatever they want. Dan's gonna practice in the mirror. Darn.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Hey, he made it all the way to the final round last year.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

It's true. No, little Dan. That was little Dan that went. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Well, we won't talk about that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

I think let me think, let me think of my moment. When uh when I think of last year, there's a lot, it was a fun. We did a lot of like on the floor podcasting, a lot of floor, like on the floor media content, uh, which was a lot of fun. Sorry for Nate for having to lug around a lot of the stuff. But it was really cool, and we got to we got to have a podcast with Brian Richards.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

That was fun. We've never done a podcast. And that's probably my as I'm workshopping this in my mind, right? That's actually probably my my favorite moment. That's the moment. When we had the podcast on the floor in the rock activation area at ISS.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

I never would have thought that we would have the opportunity to do that. Uh and that was cool. That was that was really fun to get like set up, and then people start like walking by, like, what the heck is going on? And we're like, yeah, and our branding is like on point with rock branding, and it's like Yeah, it was cool. This is what we got to do, and we and people were like, Oh my gosh, like you guys are partnered up with Rock. It was really cool. It was cool to be able to do that and just have an awesome talk and just do that there on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Was uh that was cool. That's probably my that's that's what I remember.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

That's good. It was a good moment.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Okay, what's one thing I got a couple like a couple back-to-back questions. What's one thing you learned last year that still impacts our shop today? Taken from either that trip or something that happened at the show.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

I th I think for me, and it resulted in us buying the CTS machine, but the level of detail was attainable with that that like truly was attainable on press. You know, sometimes just because you can just because you can print and expose a screen doesn't mean that you can actually make that screen go on press. And so I think working with advanced marketing to to hone that machine in and then actually seeing it perform was a I I didn't realize that like I don't know. It just it was a level of quality that was pretty mind-blowing to me. And so that's definitely something that has changed our business for sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I agree with that. I mean that was that was definitely because we didn't find out about that machine, the CTS machine till the last day, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:07

No, or we had I didn't see it till the time. I so the way I remember. Oh, we remember say it. Was uh we were pulled into that booth when the guy was like, Oh, print theory, he I think he started talking to Dan or Ryan. Nathan or Nathan, okay. And so he was like, Oh, I I know you guys, like I've seen you guys around on uh social media and stuff, and so we go to the booth and they're showing us this this machine that prints it directly to the screen and then it exposes it and it's all done, like within one or two minutes, and we got all the stuff. And I remember when Sarah came the next day or two.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

You gotta see this.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

We were like, Oh, you gotta see this. I showed her the thing, she's like, uh like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

I was like, guys, it's a CTS machine, okay? There's nothing magical about it.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

We know about these things. The guy from New York took her over there, was like, this is what you got by, you know. And it was that machine.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Well, it it it uh and I think like you knew when we were talking to him, I can't remember his name.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

I want to say his name was Paul or I have him on uh in uh Facebook or something. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

We'll find him this year. We'll find him.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Shut up, Paul or something, whatever your name is.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Something um it's he was telling us about this machine, and it just I mean, he just made it sound amazing. And then he was like, Look, I just want to show you. And I told and I'm looking at Dan like, see Dan, like I you know, we'll look at your machine next, but like I I think there's like, let's just go look at like maybe there's something here. And then the guy takes us to the same machine that you guys saw, and you guys were like, This is what we've been telling you about, like this is what we're saying.

unknown 14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

So that was just blew my mind.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

It blew my mind when we saw that, like when he when he was showing the screen of uh, I think it was like a it was it was uh something an artist could come up with, and it was like an older an older age man kind of smoking and stuff like that. But it was like so good. And I was like, this is one screen. You can do this.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Well, and I think the shocking thing was the screen was exposed and washed out at 90 LPI, which is like unbelievable. So to lay eyes on a screen and be like, look, I know that I can coat. Like I know I can code it in a way that's gonna achieve that, but getting the washout at that level is is very difficult to do. Um and man, it was it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

It was I loved it. That was that that was probably the thing in my in my mind.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

Well, it's changed so much of our shop time. Yeah. Like your the process for one job now to get from you know, printing instead of printing film and then having to register it and then expose it and then wash it out. Like we could do three jobs in the time it would take us to do one. Um probably more, um, depending on what the job is.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

But I think that was beside I venture to say that was the piece of equipment that changed everything for our I mean besides like the other we added the added the Tojima, which helped cut down on our turnaround, but that was probably the most impactful piece of equipment because that changes that changed our process, our turnaround, our uh our detail, uh it changed the way that I then now pitch stuff on on the sales side. It changed.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

I think definitely for the sales side, like it was the most impactful piece of equipment because it expanded your ability to sell and offer things. And then to like our our turntime on printing got better. I think every shop is trying to get to a place where they're fully automated. You know, we're like a scoop coder away from being fully automated on our print side, which is maybe the thing to explore for this next year. Um I yeah, certainly those two pieces, the blue water and the CTS, um, absolutely transformed uh and bettered our production.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

I love it. I love it. See, and I I know every year we're always like, man, we come back better than when we left. And so what's what's one moment that you guys realize like, dang, this is why we do these trips?

SPEAKER_02 17:46

I mean, I I think probably like I I think one of the benefits of taking our team is that they can be there to watch us assess and do some of the decision making live. So like, you know, we're I'm sitting with Dan and Ryan and and then and you know, all of us, and we're talking about making this enormous investment into these two pieces of equipment that radically change their daily life in the print shop and make it for the better. And and yet like it's still a huge investment. And so being able to sit with them and and like them kind of understand that decision-making process and and be a part of it and speak into it, I think it just creates a lot of value for our team. I think they f they they understand like we care about what they think, we care about them, we want their jobs and their daily life to be better, but also like we want to make smart choices as a business. Yeah. And so I I think I don't know, I just think in terms of like the sense of team, it's a really positive thing. Um I don't know. I I think it just glues it glues our team together when we do these trips.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

I think I totally agree with that, actually. I love it. The whole team bonding, you're in a house. There's something about just like we could get hotel rooms and and it would work. It's it's a work trip, right? But it's something about like we're all in the house together, and you know, we're waking up doing breakfast together, we're hopping on our laptops, we're this, we're going to the show together. And yeah, we split up, you know, throughout throughout the day, or our team of our team goes to classes, some go like on the f on the show floor. But there's just something about the the togetherness feeling of that trip that really does solidify uh the camaraderie and the team morale and the bonding that we like the talks that just result in us spending time together and the memories that are made are like really cool that we talk about throughout the year. We're we're and we're referencing different stuff. Every trip we come back with new funny sayings or stuff that just like just it just happens, or like moments I mean, just funny moments that I remember like when we're in the in the in the dance truck in the parking lot, waiting to leave the the parking lot from the show, and we were laughing about something, and Christine starts laughing, and we're then we're all laughing and joking. It's like something like that, and I'm like, man, I love being on this team. Like, I love because you would you don't get that a lot. You don't get the anywhere else for real.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

The water bottle, Christine's water bottle.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Magically uh refilling.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, funny story. So Christine is drinking water by the gallon on the strip. Like she does this all the time, you know. She's like Stanley'd up. So you see Christine, she's gonna be walking around with one of those quart-sized jugs of water.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Uh, you know, really encouraging us all to hydrate.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

I'll say good for you, man.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

She went through a gallon of water in like the evening. So she she came with four gallons of like bottled water. And in the morning, she drinks her gallon of water at night and she sets her empty jug outside her door. And we kind of all thought that was funny because we were like, what is this? Like, is she waiting for housekeeping to fill her jug or what? You know, so we were kind of joking about it. But then Dan was like, I'm gonna fill it. So Dan went down and he filled her jug. And when we got back to the house, she says, You guys, somebody, somebody's been in the house. And she's like, I don't, I've checked everything. I don't think they took anything, but they filled my water jug.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

They didn't take anything, but they filled, they left me with more.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

They left me with more.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

I don't know what to think about it.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Oh, it was so funny. We just we just let her go for a while on that. And then finally, I think Ryan and Dan were like, Hey, we filled your water jug when you left. Oh, it was so funny.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

I think about when uh when little uh when Nate was. Uh you were finalizing the podcast or finalizing a video for the podcast or for social media from the podcast, and you had clipped a little part of the sound where it sounded like I made a sound of something. I don't remember what it was, but I made like a high-pitched sound or whatever, and it was like this funny, funny thing, like, oh man, like this was a funny sound, and then all of a sudden it turns into a clipped a clipped version that then little Dan makes into a ringtone and then puts on his phone, and then it's just the ringtone of little uh We need to find that.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

You gotta find it.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

It's on social media somewhere right here. Yeah, I can't do that. Sorry, I can't do that sound. Anyways, but it was like it was so funny to be like, oh my gosh, and then I was like, send that to me. I want to put that on my and I literally put that on my uh alarm for the next morning to wake up to, and it was terrifying. It was terrifying to wake up to that. But I did it, and I was like, oh shoot. Little stuff like that, and I'm just like, oh man.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah, fun takeaways.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

It is okay. What feels different about this year compared to last year? Is is there anything you can kind of like pinpoint?

SPEAKER_03 23:10

I don't think anything feels different.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

I mean, we have bigger vision, we got clearer systems, we got a stronger culture, we got definite new goals. Oh yeah, yeah, so yeah. Um I in my mind I'm like shoot. I'm going to the show with a different with a different with a different head on my shoulders to figure out like how can I achieve these uh you know, for lack of better words, uh or using the words from uh from the science of scaling book that we're reading together, you know, setting these impossible goals, like using time as a re as as a tool and not a reality. And it's like that's so challenging. But as I've been thinking about it the past couple nights, I'm like, okay, like what what's the mentality of going into the show? Not just to have fun and and find some new cool things and find skews, but like, okay, how am I gonna come back from the show with tools or with ideas to make my everyday life or to make sure that in in the everyday life back from the show we're hitting these goals. Yeah, yeah. Because there's so much stuff. You're we're gonna see all the new trends, we're gonna see uh any new equipment like last the last two years was heavy DTF. Or sorry, it's uh DTF and DTG.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Yeah, and I kind of wonder if we're gonna see that trend back a little bit because DTF is good, but it's good for small quantity, it's not a volume thing. And so I know that it, you know, I've seen them try to apply it that way or make it that way, but it's really not an application that you want to use in place of screen printing. So I it was interesting to me to see the show go so heavy on DTF. And I think probably because, you know, printing a lot of colors is uh can be costly if you're doing lower quantities. Yeah, that's true. But I think, you know, this book has challenged us a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

A lot of it for me.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

It yeah, it's challenged us a lot, and it changes my frame of mind going into this show because I think in previous years I've been more of like, let's expand what we do, let's expand our offering, and let's come home with a new form of decoration. And I think this time I'm going into the show saying, hey, who do I need a network with to take the form of decoration and to take the things that we do really, really well as a company and take them to the moon? Like, how do I 10x the stuff that we do really, really well? Because the reality is 10xing the areas of this business that that are profitable, that that are good for our team, they're not just good for for us, yeah, they're good for our community. If this company 10 10xs, it's great for the Central Valley, it's great for Kingsburg. Um, and so I think my frame of mind is changing a little bit about like, you know, rather than trying to expand and and the offering, it's more about honing in. What do we need to expand in its depth and size and volume that is already here that is really, really, really good?

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Yeah, I get it. Like last year, like we're we're at the show, and there's it's you know it's the biggest show in you know our industry. And we go and there's companies from every part, essentially, of the world, and then also from every part of our industry from equipment to apparel blanks to new technology to inks to like everything. And we and like last last year in my mind I was I think I was thinking of like what are some new brands with that that's every year, like what are some new brands that we can find. But also I was like, what are some new services we can like what are some new things we can branch into to expand our portfolio? But I think this year I'm like I'm not. We've gotta we after after talking more about this book and as we're as we're starting to refine like who we are, I think in my mind we have a clearer focus of who we are and the services that we offer. And so I'm not going to be like, How can I expand our portfolio? I'm just being like, how can we get like an understanding how can we double down on who we are and what we do best? How can I become the best at this? And we're talking about, you know, we're you know, we're we're the experts in print and we're trying to position ourselves at this stuff. It's like, okay, how can we become how how can we maintain and build on our claim to we position ourselves as to be I guess the experts in our industry for merchant apparel?

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

And so I'm going with like I'm I'm gonna ask questions a little bit differently to certain brands, and I'm gonna uh try and find how can we how we can be more competitive or how we can grow better relationships and networks with some of these apparel brands that'll help us on our wholesale side to to sell. And so I'm I'm I'm going I'm excited. I'm I'm really excited for this year.

SPEAKER_03 28:25

Yeah. Maybe we can make some connections too with uh for merch on a mission. Yeah. Like just throw it out to some of our key people and be like, hey, how can we partner or how can maybe that's something we talk with our distributors or something like what can we do? I love that area. So that might be cool. Yeah. That's a great idea. We're doing that. At least even just to start the conversation and you know, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

I that's kind of on my list of goals was to to to secure some partnerships for for merch on a mission because that is rolling. We are selling hats on this hat sale. And uh first letters. We are we are paying for packs, and so this is uh this is a big, yeah, huge driver for us here. So just kind of brings some purpose to what we do. Well, we I feel like we always had purpose, but you know, it just formalizes it and it makes it tangible and quantifiable, and that is exciting.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

So I like it. I like it. Is there anything uh that you're like hoping to discover this specific year, either whether it's products or SKUs, or uh is there a trend that you've started to see on like social media that you're like, I think the show at the show I'm gonna look for this, or I think we're gonna see a lot more of this at the show this year. Is there anything that you're like seeing or anything in trends?

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Not that I've seen. I don't I I really don't know why I'm going. I don't I'm just giving away what I actually don't want to go. Nate, clip that out. No. Um yeah, I I think I'm just open to see like what's there, what's new. I I don't I don't know what to expect, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Yeah. It's it's really a different year.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

I mean we I think every year we've gone to to like upgrade the shop or to do something like with a purpose to look at something. And I don't I don't feel like this year we have like uh like something that we want to buy for the shop, but it's almost like okay, let's go see what there is and what's happening. I I think I want to look at like patches, like a few more companies and see like what what other options there are. Um just different stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

It's almost like for years we we were trying to get to a place where we had kind of secured all the all the bells and whistles for the business. Yeah. And now we kind of have this foundation and this base of saying, hey, we have the what I consider to be the best equipment the market has to offer in screen printing and in embroidery and in wide format print. And and so we kind of have this base now. So now it's really for me about working on the relationships, networking, so that we can take that base and grow it. You know, before it was really hard for us to expand and really push as a company when we were missing some of the capabilities, but but we're not lacking the capabilities now. Now, now it's about relationships and marketing and expanding what we have and growing it. And so it is a very different mentality for me going in. I think though, like for a lot of our team, especially first-time attenders, yeah, they're gonna have their minds blown, you know, and which is gonna be so fun for us to watch because we all live that. Yeah, and that's that's gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

For sure. I think that I mean, like for me, that's an exciting part. Yeah, yeah. I think that and that fits into like our I don't know, bigger picture of like we talk about big picture of our company and and like uh we started talking about at the end of or beginning it was either end of and end like December of 2024 when our last family breakfast we had or meeting, whatever it was that we had when we were talking about like we've been in business a decade now. What's the next decade look like? Yeah, like yeah, that's crazy. It's where you think like, what does this next decade bring? Like we have merch on a mission that we're starting in our second decade of a company. Yeah, yeah, which to see how far we've grown in one decade, yeah, to be like, dang, what does the next ten years look like with merch on a mission, customer experience, shop growth? So like in it if if there's a concise way of saying it, eh being the founders and the owners and you're in it day-to-day, but you also were the ones who st started this push and ink in in a room in your house. Like what is how does this trip fit into that bigger picture? Into the say looking into the next decade of print theory.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Um I think I think like you said, like the new people that are going to experience it, I feel like that will um get them excited about the industry. And you know, the hope is that they stick with us and they like grow to be a part of this. Like they're already a part of it, but like an even bigger part of print theory and what we do. Um it's it's I think it's our fifth or fourth year going. Yeah. We didn't even know that it existed until somebody told us about it.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Well, they didn't have it during t during COVID, so then yeah, maybe it's the fifth one.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Well, we went we went um we went that year, COVID 2020. And I think we went the year before.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Oh, we did go 2020 and then the world shut down. It was the next year, I don't think, that we went. Um man, how does this trip fit into the bigger picture? This is the first trip to this expo that is fundamentally different in intention for me.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

So I I have totally different before, like I said, we were trying to secure all the capabilities inside of this business um to to kind of get that foundation laid. And now the foundation's been laid. And so it's just fundamentally for me mentally different going in in terms of my objectives, which I think are very indicative to us kind of crossing over a little bit. And it just happened to land on 10 years in business. So one decade to the next, I think the second decade's gonna look very different. And I'll look back at the end of the second decade and say, yeah, uh, year one of this decade of business was literally like just a start of something totally different. And I I think the most exciting thing about this all for me is that I can remember the days of pushing ink in the garage in a 115-degree garage. Uh, I can remember, I don't know if any of you guys have ever experienced the bathroom. Oh my gosh. We destroyed that job.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

Like it it was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

It was crazy. And I, but you know, like most people cannot survive the first five years of abuse a business is gonna throw at you. Like you take on a business your first five years, it's just gonna be if you knew how hard it was, you would you you likely would never sign up for it. Um so I I think for me, I kind of view decade two as like compounded interest, right? Like if you if you look at an amortization schedule uh like on a Roth, you know, the first like 10, 15 years that you're investing, it just seems almost like you're getting nowhere. And then all of a sudden something shifts in the amortization and you can just see like bam, bam, bam, it just starts compounding. And I think that's what we will do. I think our growth will compound and it will be totally different. I think we will accomplish in two years what we spent 10 years trying to attain. We'll do maybe one. If we hit our goals this year, we'll do in one year what we spent 10 years trying to accomplish. So if that's any kind of like representation of of what I expect the trajectory of the company to do, and I I believe we're gonna do it. I I think we're gonna do it. I'm very excited. Dan's slightly terrified and I'm like, let's do.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

No, I'm actually really I'm I'm excited. As you're talking, this may be a I believe. I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. I think uh as you're talking, this may be a horrible example, but I'm gonna give it. I'm gonna give it. Oh yeah, it's bad. We're trying to form it. In my mind, I'm like, this out, I don't know if this is good or not. But it makes sense in my mind, at least, it clicks in my mind. Uh like think of this comp I think of or as you're talking, see see this company as like, or the first ten see it as as a uh as a child. I mean you talk about like like your company is like your as a baby that you birthed and nurtured and stuff, and you think of the first ten years of a child's life, any human's life, are really just learning what it means to be alive and learning to talk and learning to walk and learning fire hurts, let's not do that again. And then years 10 to 20 are the formative years of like that is where personality is built, and 10 to 10 to 20 is you are becoming who you are, you're finding your identity. Yeah, you're also saying when I work with maybe it's I maybe use this example because I work with teenagers a lot, but like these are the important years of finding who you are. Yeah, and as I'm as you're talking and we're talking, we're having this conversation, I'm like, oh snap. Like years 10 to 20 for us are really like this is gonna this is gonna show who print theory is. Yeah. Uh and we're finding we're we're in year now 11, and we're like, we got merch on a mission. We know we now are figuring out the science of scaling, and we are like, who are we? Yeah, like we we knew kind of, and like we're I know my name, and I know kind of for the most part about what we do, yeah, and we're just learning it. Now we're like, I know my name. I know that it is. I'm figuring out our identity now, though, and I'm gonna start crafting out what this looks like. And so I'm like, I'm excited. I'm excited for the next 10 years. Hey, like I told you guys when you know when you guys hired me, like we're here for the long run. I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited to uh to see where this is where this is gonna go for print theory.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

It's uh it's uh it's fun building a business. Have you guys ever seen the Instagram reel of the little girl and she's on a roller coaster and like it takes off and she's like, yeah, and then she's like, she's like horrified, and then she's like, Yeah. That's how business is you know, sometimes you go from being super excited to super scared. Um but in the end, you know, when the ride slows down, you're like, wow, that was incredible.

SPEAKER_01 40:14

Let's do it again, and you want to go back on, and you want to go back is a thrill. Yeah, I need a bigger roller coaster.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Total thrill. You kind of have to be a thrill junkie a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

You do. Um it's not for the faint of heart. No, I don't doubt that.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

No, I think the thing that makes me most nervous about defining really narrowing in and saying, hey, as a company, if we're gonna accomplish the goals that we have for merch on a mission and for our community, we're gonna have to narrow our focus in on the things that serve those goals best. I think the thing that scares me the most about that is that perhaps some of our customer base isn't gonna understand or they're not gonna like, why aren't we doing this anymore? It's like, guys, I'm sorry, but I can't possibly accomplish these goals in this structure as a company if we're doing like we've kind of slowly started to inch our minimums up and do some of this because it's it's the the way that we've built. Yeah, we we we really have to. And it's it's I think my greatest hope in all of it is that our community understands and our customer base understands, like, hey, we are totally here to serve you and we care for you and we want you to journey with us. This is something that like these changes that we make, we have to make in order to accomplish these goals. And I think at the end of the year, when we can stand, God willing, on a piece of dirt that we're about to break ground on and say, we've made this incredible impact with merch on a mission. I hope people will look back and say, man, that that only happened because we narrowed our focus, focus, we raised our floor, and and we we spent our time networking and building quality relationships that help us achieve those goals.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Man, I'm excited, pumped, even though my voice doesn't feel like it. But I'm I'm I'm super excited. I'm super excited for the trip because we know it's we talked about it for the past, I don't know, however long we've been doing this way. It's not just the trip, right? It's part of who we are, it's how we continue to serve better, we learn, we grow, and it's gonna allow us to through the camaraderie and through the morale and through the team bonding and through the learning and through whatever else comes out of this trip, it's how we give back more and and better serve our community. So I'm super excited. Thank you so much for listening. Is there any last things you guys want to add?

SPEAKER_03 42:51

No, I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

No, awesome. We're gonna be doing our Long Beach recap trip when we come back. Yeah. So let's be prepared for that. I am excited.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Huh? Maybe we'll have a few guests.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Maybe we'll have a few guests on so that way they can share. I'm gonna throw it out too real quick. Forecasting, forecasting, foreshadowing. I don't know, whatever it is. Uh I'm I'm I'm um I think at the trip we're gonna see a lot more starting to trend wise to go back to like light, uh lighter weight stuff.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

Really? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

I've been starting to see some garments. It went so heavy the past two years.

SPEAKER_03 43:33

14 ounces, 10 ounces.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

And I think I think they'll still see, I think we'll still see thicker collars and uh a a focus on like uh higher, more durable quality of garments. But I think we're gonna start seeing the shift b that's number that's I'm just forecasting. We'll see if I'm right up to slightly lighter.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

Disney hired the new guy for their uh the one hundreds?

SPEAKER_01 43:59

Uh-huh. Um for from the hundreds, Bobby 100? Bobby Bobby Hundred?

SPEAKER_03 44:02

Yeah, for their designs and for all the stuff. Creative director globally.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Yeah. I mean street streetwear style, but like his garments for the hundreds, they're even though they're like boxier and thickers, I only know because I've bought a couple hundreds. They're like six ounces, six and a half, six point five, which are still like heavier weight than normal. Right. Um, but that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Between six and ten, I would say is to give you guys to give our listeners who don't know what we're talking about when we say ounces some frame of reference. If you took a yard of fabric and you rolled it up in a ball and weighed it, it would weigh six ounces, or it would weigh ten ounces, or it would weigh four ounces. A lightweight t-shirt, four and a half ounces. Standard, five and a half to six. Um, heavyweight is like seven and up. It's like a car uh absurdly heavyweight is like 10, 12, 14.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Yeah, and then you got like the 14 ounce hoodies. Yeah, I think there's been a little bit higher.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

I'm gonna bring my my tea style 14 ounce hoodie to the trip. Yeah, wearing a blanket.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

Yeah, because it is kind of you're gonna be able to do that. I like the style. It's just it's just heavy.

SPEAKER_04 45:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Okay, that's my lesson unfortunately. Okay, cool. Thank you all for listening. Excited. We're excited to do our recap the next time we speak to you. Follow us on social media and check out our new website that is just launched. We spent many, many, many hours and months rebuilding this, and we have already gotten so much traction from it. But go out and check us out at WW or is it WW anymore? Yeah, either with www.printtheory.com or just printtheory.com. Yeah. Wherever you're searching. But check it out. Uh go uh like us and give us five stars on Google. Yeah. That would be awesome. It really helps us out. Thank you so much. Cool. Looking forward to talking to you guys later.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

See you soon. Later.