Impressions - March 2014 - 56

Shop spotlight
more income to support his young family. After taking a job as a flight-simulation
animation artist, he worked nights while
building M. Benjamin Designs during the
day. Known around Fort Worth, Texas, as
the "T-shirt man with that little girl," he
looked after his daughter during the day
while his wife worked, thus eliminating
daycare costs.
The next significant development for
Benjamin came in 2001, when he was laid
off from his animation job. Benjamin had
garnered enough screen printing business
to make it a full-time endeavor. However,
this meant phasing out the graphic design
portion of his business.
By 2005, business was so good that
Benjamin's contracted screen printer, who
did production on his custom pieces, began complaining that he couldn't keep up
with the volume.
"I wanted to continue to grow and explore more edgy work," Benjamin says. "I
found a 700-square-foot office space near
my home and purchased Vastex's start-up
shop package with a six-color/six-station
manual [screen printing press], an EconoRed II conveyor dryer, a screen cabinet and
a small, somewhat flimsy washout sink."
Benjamin was now in business and in
control. He hired a part-time screen printer and quickly increased his volume and
sales, and soon moved the company into a
1,500-square-foot warehouse and acquired
an M&R 10-color/12-station Gauntlet, a
Brown Mfg. Co. conveyor dryer, an old
manual press, ink and heat presses. Business was now booming - so much so, that
by 2010, it was time for the company to
expand again.
Benjamin acquired a next-door suite
and, again, doubled in size. A newer sixcolor/eight-station M&R Sportsman screen
printing press was added to turn around
projects faster and take the pressure off the
M&R Gauntlet automatic.
"Although we continue to focus on
spot-color screen printing," Benjamin says,
"we have added high-end sports apparel
and embroidery, which we outsource to an
embroiderer to whom we provide screen
printing services."
M. Benjamin Designs has seven fulltime employees. Benjamin's wife visits
after work to handle deposits and payroll, and part-time catchers (including
his children) and printers are used as
needed. Several employees handle dual
56

Impressions | March 2014

M. Benjamin Designs

In its 3,000-square-foot Arlington,
Texas, facility, M. Benjamin Designs features an
in-house art department with two designers and
a production artist who also dabbles in design.
Custom artwork also is accepted.
tasks of outside sales and in-house customer service, as well as printing and artwork separations.
Much of M. Benjamin Designs' client
base consists of schools and churches, but
the company has added restaurants, businesses and other corporations over the
years in an effort to diversify.

A DAY IN THE LIFE
M. Benjamin Designs' in-house art department consists of two designers and a
production artist who also dabbles in design. Custom artwork also is accepted. Orders typically come in via the company's
website. Jobs are assigned to presses based
on the number of ink colors required and
size. The larger projects - and those with
the most colors - generally go to the
larger press, while the smaller and more
intricate jobs go to the M&R Sportsman
manual press.
"The company operates from a 3,000square-foot facility and can run two shifts
each day on two autos to keep up with demand," Benjamin says. "Most of our projects are multi-ink color and often feature
numerous treatments, such as glitters, and
garments, such as ladies fitted and contoured apparel. We set ourselves apart
with hard-hitting artwork and garments
that flatter our clients."

Much of the company's current workload is the result of "rural" marketing,
Benjamin says. "In the early years, rather
than go head-to-head with larger local
competitors, I carved a niche among schools
in smaller, underserved cities and towns
- those overlooked or considered hard
to navigate," he says. "We sent lots of direct mail and [we] 'warm-called' schools
throughout rural Louisiana and Mississippi
to create strong relationships.
"We ship a great deal to Louisiana,
Mississippi and south Texas, in addition to
our work at home (Arlington)," he continues. "Many of our early clients now send
their friends and children to our website for reunions and other events. I also
created many lasting relationships while
attending college at Northeast Louisiana
University, and many of these people remain instrumental in bringing our business into their cities and towns."
Benjamin says the company's biggest
challenge involves meeting customer demands for faster turnarounds. "In the early
years, a job could be turned in a week," he
says. "Now, customers seem to want everything on Friday [after] contacting you on
Tuesday. I think customers have come to
know that if we don't complete their project, the shop down the street will. Or, the
online retailer will send the order to their
print facility in our area and print and ship
the order just as fast as we will."
But wait, there's more. "With more
large orders comes the need for higher
credit lines and increased cash flow," Benjamin says. "With more employees come
higher salaries and salary expenses. With
employee retention come raises and bonuses and benefits. Employees' needs are
a concern, and vendors and suppliers need
to be paid on time to continue shipping
apparel and supplies."
To help provide revenue during the
"low spots" of each year, the company is
stepping back into graphic design. And
with a person dedicated exclusively to
marketing and social media, Benjamin says
the company expects increased visibility.
Turnaround times on projects have been
shortened from days to, often, a day.
Jennifer A. Morrell is an award-winning
writer who has written for a number of national consumer and trade publications. For
more information or to comment on this article,
email Jennifer at jennmorrell@hotmail.com.
impressionsmag.com

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Impressions - March 2014

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