Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 10

print craft

Broadening the Spectrum
this new York organization is paving the way for
not one, but two worlds: the print industry and the
autism community.
KelSey JohnSon

C

reating high-quality garments and positively
impacting the lives of teenagers and young adults with
autism go hand in hand at Spectrum Designs Foundation
(spectrumdesigns.org). The Port Washington, New Yorkbased nonprofit not only screen prints tens of thousands of
T-shirts for organizations like Autism Speaks, but also
employs 65 teens and adults with autism.
Like so many charitable endeavors, Spectrum Designs
traces its roots to one family's actions in the face of adversity. After the sudden death of her husband, Stella Spanakos
wanted to ensure that her son Nicholas, then a high school
student with autism, had a community and an employer if
anything ever happened to her. Employment can be a lifelong
challenge for individuals on the autism spectrum; the majority of adults with the condition are unemployed according
to a report from Autism Speaks, and some sources place the
unemployment rate in the community as high as 80 percent.
Spanakos teamed with Nicole Sugrue, a fellow "autism mom,"
and Patrick Bardsley, a camp counselor at an autism camp
Nicholas attended each summer, to address the problem. The
three were searching for an industry that was sustainable,
recession-proof, and structured enough to provide the stability that people with autism can thrive on. What checked off
everything on their list? Decorated apparel.
In 2011, Spectrum Designs was born in Spanakos' backyard barn. A skeleton crew of two teens produced a T-shirt
proclaiming "I'm a Great Autism Mom" or "Proud Autism
Dad" every 15 minutes with a Viper DTG machine, bringing
in around $30,000 in gross sales the first year. By 2012,
Spectrum Designs had created gainful employment opportunities for more than 20 teens with autism, and the Spectrum
brand was expanded to include baking, laundry service, and
urban gardening operations. In 2013, the apparel branch
relocated to a 1500-square-foot location and invested in new
embroidery, digital, and screen printing technologies to
expand its decorating options.
And business has been booming: In 2016, Spectrum
Designs had close to $1.5 million in sales and provided 7500
hours of paid employment for people with disabilities. The
shop now has a ColDesi M2 DTG printer, a four-station Vastex
V2000HD, a Vastex EconoRed II dryer, seven Geo Knight heat
presses, and an M&R Diamondback C automatic. An hour
after speaking with Screen Printing, the Spectrum team
10

screenprinting

Spectrum Designs seeks to create not only engaging jobs such as hangtagging completed t-shirts (bottom), but also a sense of community
for teenagers and young adults with autism (above). top, courtesy of
Spectrum Designs; bottom, courtesy of John Martin photography.

closed on a new 7500-square-foot building, which they'll
move into later this year. The move will allow for even more
equipment, with the goal of doubling production capacity in
screen printing and embroidery over the next year or two.

local love
How has a little mom-and-pop shop grown into a business to
be reckoned with in only a few years? "People started to fall
in love with the story and the idea. It really took off," says
Spectrum Designs COO Tim Howe. While the company began
by screen printing T-shirts for autism organizations, it didn't
take long for other Long Island businesses to catch wind of
the new local apparel decorator with a cause.
One early client was Men on the Move, a large moving
company. One of the company's founders has a son with
autism named Gregory, so Spectrum's mission was an easily
understood cause. Just like that, Spectrum went from producing one or two shirts at a time to fulfilling orders for dozens


http://www.spectrumdesigns.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - June/July 2017

Table Of Contents
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - Cover1
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - Cover2
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 1
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - Table Of Contents
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 3
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 4
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 5
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 6
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 7
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 8
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 9
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 10
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 11
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 12
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 13
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 14
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 15
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 16
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 17
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 18
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 19
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 20
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 21
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 22
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 23
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 24
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 25
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 26
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 27
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 28
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 29
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 30
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 31
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 32
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 33
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 34
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 35
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 36
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - Cover3
Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - Cover4
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