THE EARLY YEARS

We started screen printing T-shirts in 2004.

It wasn't easy at first. Winter in Colorado isn't exactly T-shirt weather. I remember after a particularly bad month during the deep Colorado Winter our first year in business, I mentioned to my Dad that we might need to look for an "exit strategy."

With no advertising budget, our strategy was to do great work and always provide a little something *extra*, such as customer service. If a basketball team called and said they had just won regionals and wanted commemorative T-shirts before they left for the state tournament on Thursday, we'd make it happen. If an event organizer needed to change quantities because of last-minute registrations, we'd do it.

We ran a lean shop. We took orders during the day and turned out the bulk of our printing after dinner. We worked nights. We worked weekends. We delivered T-shirts throughout northwest Colorado for free. We were obsessive about good presswork and providing customers with value. We built great T-shirt designs for very reasonable prices.

It was fun. It was exhausting. It was exciting and scary. And it worked.

FAST FORWARD

Nineteen years later, our crew of 16 runs three presses, 2 embroidery machines, and 4 computers and we print more than 80,000 garments a year, including T-shirts, Hoodies, Uniforms, Sport-shirts, Hats and more.

We start printing first thing in the morning now. A lot has changed. But all of our employees know the story of Chaos Ink. They know that great work is its own advertising and our strategy is still not just to get the work done on time, but to deliver value.