Impressions - June/July 2016 - 42

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Printing
With Purpose
a Brit's trip across the pond
inspired a t-shirt business with a social mission.
By Lauren MitcheL VoLker, associate editor

Patrick Bardsley was born in the United Kingdom (his accent
and use of words like "mum" are dead giveaways), but a summer
program brought him to the United States 10 years ago and took
him down a career path he never expected.
In 2006, Bardsley was selected by Camp America, an agency
that places people from more than 20 countries into U.S. summer camp programs, to work as a counselor at a special-needs
camp in upstate NewYork. Spending every summer throughout
undergraduate school at the camp, Bardsley worked one-on-one
with a boy named Nicholas, who had autism.
"I fell in love with the work," he recalls."I would wake up at
the camp and I would be tired and complaining. But I'd look
over and see a guy who faces so many challenges in terms of
communication and navigating the social world, and he'd have
a big smile on his face. It was just very humbling; I learned not
to sweat the small stuff."

By 2010, Bardsley had grown close to
Nicholas' family, and his mother, Stella
Spanakos, encouraged him to complete
his degree in the United Kingdom and
return to the United States to get a master's
degree in special education.
Believing it was his calling, Bardsley
moved to America in 2010 and began
working with Nicholas' family in Long
Island, N.Y., while attending grad school.
Just six months into his stay, Nicholas' father had a heart attack and passed away,
sparking a conversation between Bardsley
and Spanakos about the uncertainty of
Nicholas' future.
Hoping to create an environment where
Nicholas, as well as other adults with autism,
could thrive and work to support themselves, Bardsley and Spanakos researched
different recession-proof businesses,looking
for something that would offer employees
a creative outlet with repetitive steps.They
honed in on the apparel industry - a nod
to Nicholas' father, who had operated a
family business selling church suits.
Learning By Doing

Members of the Spectrum
Designs team holding their
Autism Speaks shirts.

P.42

i m p r e s s i o n s m a g . c o m June/July 2016

Bardsley, Spanakos and their business
partner Nicole Sugrue - now president,
chairperson of the board and development
director, respectively - started Spectrum
Designs in 2011.They launched the business out of a barn in Spanakos' backyard,
starting with a ColDesi direct-to-garment
(DTG) printer and working primarily with
autism organizations.
With practically no experience in apparel decorating, they faced a steep learning

Working the equipment
at Spectrum Designs is
a team of 25 full- and
part-time staff, 75%
of whom have Autism
Spectrum Disorder.
Photo courtesy of John
Martin Photography.

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Impressions - June/July 2016

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