FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #119 How A Local Mom Built A Thriving Custom Apparel Brand That Gives Back
A single Cricut on the kitchen table turned into a community-powered apparel brand with a mission. We sit down with Fredericksburg’s own Amanda Randall of Impact Apparel by Amanda to unpack how a simple love for crafting grew into a thriving, debt-free business that outfits local teams, gyms, churches, and small brands—while giving back in meaningful ways.
Amanda shares the real playbook: start small, keep prices fair, and let demand guide your next move. She walks us through the tech leap from early vinyl to modern direct to film printing, why partnering with a commercial shop transformed quality and turnaround, and how she navigates trends like sublimation, stickers, and color-rich apparel without overextending. You’ll hear how she balances maker life with motherhood, protects creativity by avoiding unnecessary debt, and builds loyalty with old-school customer service that fixes problems fast and makes ordering easy.
One highlight you won’t want to miss: the story behind Patches the Cat, the viral rescue whose weight-loss journey captured hearts nationwide. Amanda built and fulfilled the Patches merch store and directed a portion of every sale to Richmond animal rescue—proof that mission-driven merchandise can look great, tell a story, and fund real impact. Whether you’re a creator curious about scaling, a small business exploring custom merch, or a neighbor who loves supporting local, this conversation delivers practical steps and plenty of heart.
Subscribe for more local business stories, share this episode with a friend who’s building something, and leave a quick review to help more neighbors find the show.
Amanda Randall
Impact Apparel by Amanda
impactapparelbyamanda.com
vinyleverythingbyamanda@gmail.com
+15408428872
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I'm excited for you to meet my guest today. We've got Amanda Randall joining us. She is with Impact Apparel by Amanda. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, Dori. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm excited to learn all about you and your business. So let's start there. Share with us all about Impact Apparel by Amanda.
Speaker 2:So I have been an apparel company in Fredericksburg since 2020. My business originally started by making a lot of custom vinyl decals and Christmas ornaments. And during COVID, my customers soon wanted apparel. So I have not only done retail apparel since 2020, but I have also dived pretty deep into the wholesale market starting in 2024, where I do service a lot of businesses in Fredericksburg with their merchandise. So this would be t-shirts, hoodies, some tumblers, stickers. I have different products available and I kind of customize my package to what the business needs.
Speaker 1:How fun. I love it. I want to know about you and how you got into us into this. So share with us your journey.
Speaker 2:So in on Black Friday of 2017, I went to Joey and Fabrics in Spotsylvania with an intent to buy a Cricut maker to make vinyl decals. And the intent to do that was to buy it to make things to decorate my son's room with. He was a little over one at the time. And so I started making decorations for him, started personalizing things for him and his friends. And then it got to be word of mouth that, oh, Amanda makes things. So my first order was a beer mug for a guy's birthday. And I put a cute little design on there for his wife. And then by the time you knew it, years into that, I'm making vital items at my desk at my real job. I'm an insurance agent for a living. And so everybody kind of knew to come to me if they needed a decal or they need a birthday gift. And it kind of evolved from there. So my son Grayson is really the reason behind why this business started. I never plan to be an entrepreneur. I'm kind of a person that's behind the scenes. I like to be creative and do fun stuff, but not be in the forefront. But here in 2026, here we go. So we're now on social media, we're on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all the things that I never thought would be needed for a business, but I am loving it and really thriving and still making things for Grayson and all of his friends and all of his teachers and his baseball players and now for you guys too. So I just absolutely love it. Um, I'm from Fredericksburg. We live in Spotsylvania, and we are also a huge baseball family. So when I am not creating for you guys, we are on the Keynes Travel team, and we do that year-round for Grayson. It's a baseball player.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that it's something that you started out, you know, with your son and for your family, and it's just kind of grown into this big thing. And I gotta tell you, over COVID, I also bought a cricket, and I just it just did not work out for me. So it was like took a lot of patience, and it was way more difficult than I expected. So kudos to you. You must have a artistic or creative, you know, part of you.
Speaker 2:I I I'm self-taught, so a lot of YouTube videos, a lot of reading, which I love to read, um, a lot of super patience from my husband who would keep little Grayson downstairs for 30 minutes every night while I learned the machine for the first six months or so, and then later evolving to now doing all my shirts are done with DTF, which is direct to film, which I didn't have that option in 2017 when I started. So now I am blessed to use Minuteman Press in Fredericksburg, Virginia for all of my printing. So I do everything behind the scenes to get those designs ready and pretty, but now being able to do it with a commercial printer versus the cricket is an amazing blessing to my business.
Speaker 1:Very cool, very cool. Has a lot changed in terms of the technology over the years?
Speaker 2:Oh, immensely. So Etsy has always been a great resource for me to find designs, but just as there's been other craft groups on Facebook, you know, as I mentioned, the DTF printing becoming available, um, learning sublimation for tumblers. I was making thousands of tumblers every year when that was the craze. But there's always something new that people want to dig into. And being self-taught, I'm always ready to do that. So as more creative opportunities come, there I am too. So the next thing that I've even possibly considered is a 3D printer, because as you know, that's all the raise right now. So so much you can make with a 3D printer that could still incorporate into what I do for my main business.
Speaker 1:Very cool, very cool. And I understand that community is really important to you. And so talk to me about giving back and uh what you're doing and uh what that means to you.
Speaker 2:So I've always tried to keep my prices affordable because I never wanted to be a boutique that offer boutique or Etsy prices. I wanted to offer something where my worth was being charged, but it was still something fun and affordable. So, with that being said, my pricing structure has always reflected of that. But in addition, in 2023, I had an amazing opportunity to create a merchandise store on my website for Patches the Cat. Have you heard of Patches the Cat?
Speaker 1:Tell me about Patches the Cat. I need to know.
Speaker 2:Patches the Cat is an amazing animal. He was rescued by Kay Ford in Richmond, Virginia in the spring of 2023. Patches was 42 pounds at that time. He unfortunately was overfed by his owners and they surrendered him to Robbino or excuse me, Richmond Animal Care and Control to hopefully find an owner that could take care of him. So Miss Kay and Patches have had an amazing weight loss journey. He's lost over 20 pounds now. He's half his size. Um, he has been on international news, he's been on Good Morning America, he's been on news in Japan, he was just on Kelly Clarkson in November. And long story short, people love Patches, so they wanted shirts with patches and tumblers and stickers and car decals, and that's where I came in. So, in addition to shipping out items all over the US for Patches, we have donated a percentage of every single order to Animal Rescue in Richmond, Virginia. So Patches has given back to his community, and I've given back to the Virginia community through the merchandise profits from his merch shop. And it has been an absolute honor. I have met so many people through it. I love cats, and it was a perfect fit for me and Kay to do that journey together. So the Patches merch shop is still open if anybody is interested to see what I have there. That is the coolest story. I love it so much. Yes, and he is the most lovable cat ever. Grayson has met him twice, and so we have side-by-side pictures of Grayson getting bigger and Patches getting smaller in those comparison pictures.
Speaker 1:I love this story.
unknown:Thank you.
Speaker 1:It has um all the all the perfect elements. You're a cat lover, it's a famous cat. You created the store and it give you gave you the opportunity to give back. I love it so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you. It's been super fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if someone listening is inspired by you and is thinking, you know, I'm really good at at making things at home. I'd love to maybe turn it into a business. What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:My advice is start small. So I initially thought about getting a few machines or getting a few things around here. And I learned that starting small is always best. So build your client base, have your customers get the trust in you so they will come back to you and also refer people and then grow as you get bigger. So I'm fortunate that I started this from the ground up. I have no business debt whatsoever. It's something I could walk away from at any time because I was strategic and smart in my planning. So I grew as the need grew. So don't go too big too fast unless you think that you have an audience for that. Starting small and simple will build a really, really strong bond with you and your customers and the customers that you get from those customers too.
Speaker 1:Excellent advice. I love that. I love that you um have thought about it strategically and uh have grown in a way that isn't stressing you out. Like so many business owners are stressed out in the first few years. So yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I can give it my all, I can give it 110% because I'm not stressed. You know, I enjoy making what I do for every single person, and I just love it. And I love the flexibility it gives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Especially with your busy lifestyle. You can take on as many projects as you need and say no when you have to without being stressed.
Speaker 2:It's all about balance as a mom, a wife, a business owner, a person, you have to have balance. And I found a really good way to have the balance.
Speaker 1:So walk us through the process. If someone listening wants to work with you, how does that process work? Is is everything, you know, do you work with people on custom orders and designs? Walk us through that process.
Speaker 2:So I have partnered with lots of people. So whether it's just an individual needing a custom shirt done, or it's a gym or a church, or maybe a cub scrout group that needs shirts for their event. Um, if you have your design, bring it to me. If not, we'll work together and we'll get a design made. Um, I will offer wholesale pricing anytime you need 10 or more items, and that's mix and match. So if you need a couple shirts, a couple hoodies, you know, I'm very flexible to accommodate. So I would help with the design, or you can bring me your own design and tons of color options. I have over a hundred color options in shirts because I just love colors. So I love to offer variety, and I think that's important to have a lot of options when you're trying to find and narrow down what you would like your best merch to look like.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Sounds like you're very easy to work with.
Speaker 2:I try. Yes, I treat others how I would want to be treated as the customer. So I would say customer service is a big role, and probably why I have been so successful because I treat everybody the same and I will always correct anything I do wrong on my end. You know, I'm always super accommodating to my customers, and I think that that's a big difference, and what sets me apart in this area is just the higher level of customer service that I provide.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:So if the listeners want to work with you, if they want to connect, how can they find you?
Speaker 2:They can find me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or email Impact Apparel by Amanda, formerly known as vinyl everything by Amanda. We had to change some things, you know. Vinyl was vinyl was not what I was using anymore. So my husband and I felt it best that 2026 needed to really structure that name change to really reflect what I'm doing. So formally vinyl everything by Amanda, you will see, but I am now impact apparel by Amanda.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. Well, congratulations on your success. I'm so impressed with everything that you're doing, and I appreciate you being my guest today.
Speaker 2:No, I love that you had me. It was a pleasure talking to you, and I'm so glad we could connect.
Speaker:Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBG NeighborsPodcast.com.