Greater>Than Clothing

When I first became obsessed with the idea of Greater>Than screen-printing its own shirts, I knew that there was some significant equipment involved. I had an idea of what was needed but perhaps not the specifics of each piece of equipment.

Research was required…off to the Internet! I first came across some start-up packages of screen-printing equipment and I was getting pretty excited about some of the prices. It looked like there were some pretty good deals out there. I thought for sure we would find a great package solution.
 
Then I seemed to hit a wall. My searches started to yield the same results and I felt like I wasn’t getting what I needed (I think screen printing equipment manufacturers need a lesson in SEO ). I knew there was so much more out there that I hadn’t tapped into yet.

I had been sharing bits and pieces of info as I gathered them with Joey and he mentioned a great online forum I should check out called T-Shirt Forums (how obvious ). Upon checking out the site, I quickly searched the “Screen Printing” section to see if others had opinions on printing equipment. Sure enough, there was a plethora of great insight on multiple aspects of many types of printing equipment.

Most of the questions I had (and many that I didn’t) were already discussed and I eagerly read post after post absorbing all kinds of nuggets. Perhaps the best bit of info was some reviews of the exact equipment from the previously mentioned online start-up packages. Low and behold the deals were too good to be true.
Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to welcoming Ryan to the Greater>Than team, I wanted to follow up on the change in strategy he described in his intro post. My original plan was for Greater>Than to play a design consulting/curation role, working with designers to help them achieve their visions and selecting the most promising designs for production. We would then contract with another company to get our shirts made.

This had proven a bit frustrating, especially since the company I had chosen to work with was in another state, and we were conducting all of our business through e-mail. Plus, we don’t want to compromise at all on quality, and I felt like there was an element of risk involved there, since the quality of the print itself (a crucial component in overall quality) would be out of our hands.

While I was trying to force my way through the frustration, Ryan saw this problem as an opportunity, deftly demonstrating one of the key operating principles that I had set out for the company (but had failed to live up to myself): use problems to identify opportunities. This principle of ‘probletunity*’ is a reminder to bring creativity to bear on issues that hold us back, so that they can be not only overcome but transcended. Read the rest of this entry »

As you may have seen, Greater>Than is growing. I wanted to check in and say how tremendously excited I am to have Ryan on board. He’s a born problem solver, the kind of guy that every growing business wants to find. As he explained, he is going to concentrate mostly on production and operations, but he also has a designer’s eye and experience with vector software (like Illustrator), which I plan to take full advantage of.

I’m also very pleased at how organic this development has been. I’ve had the privilege of working with Ryan at the day job. Our friendship led to discussions about my nascent business, and I was glad to find that Ryan thought the idea had potential. I’ve received a lot of advice and encouragement from people whom I respect (Sarah and Halli in particular), but it’s hard to describe how great it feels to be able to offload specific tasks to someone in whom I have such confidence. (I’m always looking for more collaborators. If you want to get involved, drop me a line.)

His interests and expertise are nicely complementary to mine as well. As readers of this blog may have noticed, I have a tendency to get a little carried away with theory. I like to think about principles, strategy and philosophy; the “whats” and “whys” if you will. That’s just how my mind works. Ryan is much more tactical. He likes to think about “how”. He has a natural talent for logistics, and his involvement in the project is already helping me reign myself in a bit and concentrate on getting things done. I’m looking forward to seeing how our partnership develops.

I’m on the verge of gushing here, so I’ll end it there. Welcome aboard, Ryan!

Hey Greater>Than enthusiasts, I’m Ryan. I first heard of Joey’s plans for Greater>Than in early 2007 and loved the ideas and the enthusiasm that were presented. Since then I have not been able to stop thinking about it. After hearing what Joey had to say, I instantly knew that I could be a good resource for him.

I had spent the first five years of my professional career in manufacturing, specifically as a manager of a design team focused on creating designs for athletic balls. In that position I learned a ton about manufacturing and in particular the processes of transforming digital images into something tangible (a ball). In the ball business most of the graphics are, in essence, screen-printed. I traveled to China to witness this process first hand and I was shocked at how much of the screen-printing is done by hand…it was very impressive. That experience gave me a new appreciation for the work that went into our products.

Fast forward…When I came to understand that Greater>Than would be outsourcing the printing of its shirts, I saw this as an opportunity lost. I did a brief bit of research and encouraged Joey to consider controlling the means of production. (Disclaimer: I am a very hands-on do-it-yourselfer and there are not many projects out there that scare me) When you control production, you are able to ensure that the highest quality is achieved and that the best materials and processes are used.

With increased control, I believe Greater>Than will be able to set itself apart from being just another t-shirt vendor into something Greater>Than. Besides, it’ll just be completely awesome to hand-print a t-shirt . So I have agreed to join Greater>Than and bring my expertise to the production & operations side of things. I will put forth my best efforts to ensure that Greater>Than delivers only the best products possible.