Interviews | Barrel Maker

Client Spotlights – Bloodshot Records

justin moore — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 20:58:14 +0000

Since we’re fresh off the 4th of July in a – let’s say – rather tenuous era of American history, we wanted to take the time and highlight one of our favorite designs that we’ve had the pleasure of printing quite a few times since last March. So we reached out to Rob Miller, founder and co-owner of Bloodshot Records. Alt Country, Not Alt Facts is not only a fantastic design for tees and stickers, but it also has a great message, and all proceeds go to charity. We were lucky enough to have Rob answer a few questions about this product for us, and if you like what you see – what are you waiting for? You should get one for yourself!

Barrel Maker: What was your inspiration for the design – it’s obviously a pretty political shirt, right? Was it made by someone on your team?

Rob Miller: Regardless of political affiliation, beyond policy differences, the time surrounding the inauguration of a new president is (or should be) one of marvel. There is the sheer improbability, from the long view historical perspective, of the peaceful transfer of power, of the respect for the democratic process; there is, in all of us, a hope for the country coming together, if even only for a few days, for the sake of the truly unique experiment that is America. Speeches are made that highlight what we have in common, rather than what separates us. There are calls to summon the best in ourselves, in our communities, to reach out to others who might disagree with us, all in the name of this enterprise.

However, this time around, on New Year’s Eve, the president-elect chose to call those who didn’t vote for him “haters” and “losers.” As weeks passed, the media became “the enemy.” Norms of civility and respect were being tossed out the window. Never has an incoming president lashed out in such a way right from the start. Divide, not unite; accuse, not reach out. It was profoundly disturbing and saddening to me.

And, all too quickly, the madness escalated. On Day One, regarding the size of crowd in DC for Inauguration Day, the Orwellian neologism “Alternative Facts” was coined by a White House spokesperson. My sadness turned to a deep dread. On Twitter, Kim Docter (from Moonshine Willy), an old friend and one of the first artists on Bloodshot, tweeted “I used to play alternative country, and I now I live in one” and I thought….”Hmmm, let’s riff on this.” Our resident designer Justin Hertner got to work on a number of artistic interpretations, and we landed on the design you now see (which, for the folks who exist in the likely narrow cross-section of the Venn diagram, was inspired by the iconography of the Jordan 20 sneaker).

Rather than give in to despair, we wondered what we could do to tap into people’s desire to counterbalance this disorienting and unheard of wave of divisive speech and action. We didn’t want to be overt, aggressive or insulting. It was just a tongue-in-cheek expression of concern for a world where objective reality appears to be dying—or unnecessary—or inconvenient. It touched a nerve, and here we are.

BM: You’ve had over 10 reorders of this shirt – that’s impressive! What were your original expectations in sales compared to how many you’ve continued to sell? How does it compare to other tees you’ve made?

RM: We had no expectations; well, that’s not true, we expected hate mail. The only other shirt we’ve sold that comes near this one is our classic Bloodshot logo tees, but those have had a 23-year head start. They keep selling because the message behind it is remaining depressingly relevant.

BM: Hate mail would make sense – has the shirt gotten any criticisms?

RM: I am genuinely shocked, given the current polarized environment and the ease of tossing around anonymous internet insults, that we have not received one complaint or pointlessly hateful comment—and we’re no strangers to hate mail.

BM: That is pretty impressive. Especially online. Is that your main sales channel for the shirt? Or do you sell a lot in person?

RM: Most of the sales have been from our website, but when we have festival events, such as our SXSW party, or a pop-up event at our HQ, people gobble them up

BM: Just to settle a few arguments at our shop, what typical bands would you actually classify as alt-country? None of us can agree.

RM: Neither can anyone in the office. Or anyone in the media. Or the marketplace. Or the artists. It is, depending on who you ask and how many beers into the night they are, a term viewed on a spectrum from too hyper-specific to so broad as to be utterly meaningless.

BM: Well, good to know it’s not just us at least! Ok last question – it’s super sweet that 100% of the proceeds for this shirt go to conservation charities – that’s awesome. What made you decide to do that?

RM: It was an easy decision, a non-decision, really. There is a great desire these days to just help. Pure and simple. The shirts are a clever and somewhat light-hearted expression of a helplessness that people are feeling these days. They provide, in some small way, a very immediate way to support causes that I would like to think we can all get behind, no matter your political stripe.

*all images courtesy of Bloodshot Records

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Client Spotlights – Sprout Social

justin moore — Wed, 02 May 2018 15:41:35 +0000

We’re back with another one of our great clients! Barrel Maker has been working with Sprout Social since 2015, and they are an absolute pleasure to work with! Sprout also does an amazing job at making sweet tees that their employees and clients are excited to wear, and here at our shop we always love to talk about what makes a really cool shirt. So we reached out to one of Sprout’s visual designers, Melissa, to get a better look at how tees tie into their company culture, and to get her opinion on how other businesses can also move past the boring company t-shirt to make something really great for their whole team.

Barrel Maker: Hi Melissa, you’ve put in a lot of orders with us! (Hey thanks for that!) Primarily, what do you use these shirts for? Are they client gifts, employee gifts, or for events of some kind?

Sprout Social: We love working with Barrel Maker! Our largest order consists of Sprout and Bambu shirts, which are used both internally and externally. When new hires start at Sprout, they have both shirts waiting for them on their desks to help them represent our team and our products from day one. We also give the shirts to our customers when they attend events so they’re able to show their #SproutLove too! From time to time, we’ll order one-off shirts that are either connected to an employee event, marketing campaign, or a feature launch as well.

The design above is one of our favorites. The t-shirt was created for our team participation in the 2017 Chase Corporate Challenge. Since this was a race, we wanted to find a unique way to represent running and being the fastest on the field, which is where the Pegasus idea came from.

https://www.instagram.com/p/8ofMPOoGIX/?taken-by=sproutsocial

The “Made It So” shirt was created for a team that worked on our Message Approval launch in 2015. The design played off of their many Captain Picard references, making the shirt a great surprise and celebration for all their hard work. Also last year, our sales team had a strong focus on teamwork and bringing home wins (illustrated by the “W” from the Chicago Cubs victory flag), which made for a great shirt.

BM: What do you think makes a good company shirt? Is it garment type? A bright design? Do you have any advice for other companies after making so many shirts?

SS: At Sprout, there are a few factors that we believe contribute to a good company shirt. First, it needs to appeal to the masses. We also learned early on that comfortable material and a forgiving fit were the most important factors to consider. Once we had a brand and style that our team liked, we were able to exercise more creativity with colors and designs. Depending on the use and audience, designs that remind people of a specific event or launch tend to be fan favorites. Celebrating these special moments not only strengthens a sense of belonging, but encourages people to wear their company swag with pride in and out of the office.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL1aveDg7cH/?taken-by=sproutsocial

BM: Can you give us a little more info about why you do the Great Sproutdoors retreats, what they’re about, and why you choose to make tees for the event? How does this all tie in to Sprout’s company culture?

SS: The Great Sproutdoors is a Sprout Social tradition where we take one Friday off in the summer to canoe down the Fox River in Ottawa, IL—and this year we’re adding a Sproutdoors event on the West Coast for our Seattle and SF teams, as well! Inclusion and open communication are two of our core beliefs, and the Great Sproutdoors is a unique event that encourages team members to get out of the office, connect, and build relationships. As we continue to grow, it’s a great opportunity to enjoy a day of sun, canoeing and getting to know our co-workers outside of work a little better. Having a shirt and theme to go along with the event each year is really special to us. The shirt design ties in with other event materials we create and is a great piece of memorabilia from the day that keeps the memories alive year-round.

BM: I feel like everyone struggles with this one from time to time – how do you decide on size breakdowns?

SS: Tough question, haha. Our events team generally takes the lead on this. We typically do 40% M, 40% L and then 20% S, XL, XXL. That seems to work best for us.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFRdPpMIGNf/?taken-by=sproutsocial

BM: Do your employees ever vote on designs? Or is everything created in one team?

SS: That’s a really cool idea! We’ve never voted on designs at Sprout, although that is definitely something we could do in the future. While we often have ideas that originate from other departments, our design team takes the lead on submitting orders and giving a final sign off.

BM: Do you have any advice on how companies can find a good printing partner and what they should expect? Have you worked with a few other companies before you found the right fit?

SS: Finding a good printer can be tough. One of the many reasons why we love Barrel Maker is because it’s local. Having a printer nearby is a huge benefit since we can check out a new design in-person before approving a full run of shirts. Another thing that we love about you guys is how responsive and personal you are. Each order is carefully handled and you make sure that every detail is taken into consideration. Having a reliable and knowledgeable printer eases the process and we love the relationship we’ve built with Barrel Maker as a result. The biggest piece of advice we have for other companies is to take the time to be sure the printer is a good fit and will be a good partner with their best interests at heart.

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Team Spotlights – Rachel, the ride or die

justin moore — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 15:28:20 +0000

BARREL MAKER: How long have you worked with Barrel Maker? How have your roles shifted since the beginning, and how have you seen Barrel Maker change?

RACHEL: I’ve worked for Barrel Maker for about 4.5 years. At the beginning I did lots of different stuff, and now I still do lots of different stuff – it’s just shifted significantly over time. When I first started, I was handling almost everything – most of the customer service, separating artwork, creating mockups, ordering garments, catching, boxing, shipping, and checking in garments. Slowly, all of these tasks were taken over by other people as we grew. Now that I work remotely in St. Louis, I still handle some customer service, all promo and embroidery orders, and I manage live printing events, online stores, and fulfillment. I’m constantly learning new things and trying to figure out new ways to better our current processes, so Barrel Maker definitely keeps me on my toes!

This is also one of Rachel’s (more dangerous) highlights:

BM: You’ve worked a lot of events. What do you think makes a successful event? What do you think makes an event a total mess?

RACHEL: Keep things simple! The less options you have available keeps the process running smoothly, and this makes it MUCH more fun for participants. They get to see the process and they get their merch quickly! And I would say that exactly the opposite can make things a mess – having too many options makes us run much more slowly, and the more variables you have, the more things can go wrong.

BM: What’s the best thing to do in St. Louis? Can we come visit?

RACHEL: The City Museum is pretty cool, if you’ve never been there check it out! Just wear knee pads. There are also lots of really great breweries to visit! Also, everything is free here too – the zoo, the art museum, the science center, the history museum. And of course, you can come visit but you’ll have to fight my cats for the guest bed.

BM: Wait why do you have to wear knee pads to a museum?

RACHEL: Because these things hurt –

BM: Oh woah. That’s rad. If you’re living in the same city as that tight museum, how do you get yourself to focus while working at home? Do you get to hang out in your pajamas all day?

RACHEL: I just pretend that I’m in the office every day. I get up, shower, and make tons of coffee. Having a space that is set aside just for working helps, so when I enter this space, it’s a work environment. I don’t wear the actual PJs that I wore to bed during the day, but I do get ready for the day and put different PJ/comfy clothes back on. So kinda like fake PJs. And a dragon onesie once or twice.

BM: What’s your advice for being a good client? What are the tips to make your print rep love you? What’s the worst thing a client can do while trying to order shirts?

RACHEL: I love it when clients know exactly what they want, but I understand that not everyone has that luxury! If customers knew what they wanted all the time I wouldn’t have a job, so I’m here to help ?. I also LOVE it when people have nice clean vector artwork, that makes me happy. I think the worst thing a client can do when placing an order is to not communicate what you want. If you expect your print to feel like dragon scales and your print comes out nice and soft, you might be upset. Now if you had just communicated that you wanted it to feel like dragon scales, I can either educate you that it’s not really something we can do or we can figure out a way to make that happen.

BM: Dragon scale shirts are very popular, you’re right. So – after a long day of work, what’s your favorite beer to drink?

RACHEL: I like citrusy IPAs, cause it’s the cool thing to do. And being cool is what’s important in life.

BM: Name your top ten places to hide pistachios.

RACHEL: PJ drawer, under the cat, between the mattresses, in my mouth, vents. That’s all I got.

BM: We’ll remember this for next time. Thanks Rachel!

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Client Spotlights – From Phoenix With Love

justin moore — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 21:09:28 +0000

Hey friends of Barrel Maker! We want to start introducing you to some of the rockstar clients we’ve gotten to work with since we opened our shop door. We hope they’ll give you insight on how to start your own line, how to form lasting relationships with printers, or even just show you who to get in contact with to get your hands on some really cool shirts. Our first client spotlight is Kate Rostan, founder of From Phoenix With Love. We’ve been working with Kate since 2013, and in that time she’s put in nearly 150 orders with us. We do fulfillment and shipping for most of her online orders as well, and she has a nice little wall of merch in our warehouse.

Another reason why we love Kate because she was one of our first regular clients to adopt the Allmade brand apparel that we helped create, that supports locals in Haiti. Our team has a habit of wearing her designs at the shop sometimes too for pics – we clearly like them a lot. They’re fun, witty, and a total breeze to print at usually one or two colors. They also sell like hotcakes. Kate has done an amazing job establishing her brand on social platforms – especially Instagram – so we found some time to chat with her about her company, and to see if she had any advice for designers who are just stating out their own lines. Check it out:

Barrel Maker: First, can you tell me a little bit about when and how your brand started? What inspired you to start a clothing line and what drew you to the mostly text based designs you use now?

Kate Rostan: I was working customer service at Groupon and I absolutely hated my job. I liked the people that I work with but I just knew that sitting behind a desk at a 9-5 just was not for me. So I decided to start making phone cases on Etsy and selling them and from there I eventually realized that I liked designing shirts way better than I did phone cases.

BM: How many people do you have working with you now? Is it your full-time work or a side hustle? Can you give us a bit of a timeline from where you originally started to present day in these terms?

KR: Right now it’s just me doing all the designs and customer service and wholesale orders with the help of my two sisters from time to time for busy influxes and trade shows. Then I have you guys shipping, printing, and warehousing for me and I have an embroidery lady out in California who I have been working with for about three years. It started as a side hustle but it is now a full time gig!

BM: A lot of our clients who are trying to start their own lines are often confused about how many shirts to make when first starting out. When you started, how did you decide to do this? Did you start with a few different designs at a smaller quantity or one design at a larger quantity, etc?

KR: I always start smaller with more designs and see what sells well first. Obviously, you don’t want to be stuck with a ton of inventory for a design that people don’t really like so I usually start with 25-50 and if they sell well I will print 100 or so.

BM: What percentage of your sales would you say you get from social media? You have a pretty big Instagram following – has that helped you grow your business, and if so how?

KR: Honestly, about 95% is from social media. Instagram has been the key to growing my business by using it to post ads on other pages. It also allows me to interact quickly with customers who have questions about sizing or shipping time or anything else.

BM: Any tips or process of how you grew your brand via Instagram that you can share with us?

KR: Find pages that are similar to your brand and ask them if you can advertise on them. I found pages that were humorous to advertise on for my brand since most of my clothing is quirky and funny. You just have got to find things that match your niche and stick with them. It takes time to find the right pages and a lot of trial and error, but just be patient, you will eventually find one that works. I always tell myself that you have got to spend money to make money.

BM: What qualities are best when looking for a printing partner to start your line? Have you printed with a few different companies before you found the right fit?

KR: Honestly, it’s nice to have someone who is local and who is responsive to emails for people like me who have a million questions a day. I started with you guys early on and then switched for a year or so to a company in Texas that another brand I admired was using. They were okay but were slower to reply to emails and charged a lot to print. I eventually switched back to Barrel Maker who have been really great at responding quickly to emails, turning around orders quickly, providing high quality prints, and it is honestly nice to know that I can drive there if need be to pick up something or to drop in.

BM: Do you also sell through other stores or vendors? Attend any events to sell merch? Any tips on how best to approach a vendor to sell your products?’

KR: Yes, we sell shirts and hats at boutiques across the country. We even have a store in Spain and one in Japan that recently started to carry our line so that has been pretty cool. We attend Pool Tradeshow once or twice a year. It’s a great way to meet buyers and get Wholesale orders— and it doesn’t hurt that it’s in Vegas.

My biggest tip here is, don’t oversell – if you have a good product, it will sell itself. Be patient and don’t be pushy, buyers don’t like that.

BM: What’s your favorite garment? Your best selling garment? Also, any other advice you have on starting a clothing line and anything else you’d like to share with us would work here too!

KR: I really like any triblends because they’re so soft. I print a lot on the Bella 3413 because it’s a great quality shirt at a reasonable price and it’s so soft.

My advice to people who are looking to start their own line is to just go for it. Like all jobs and businesses, there will be really good times and really bad times, but being your own boss and letting your vision come to life is incredibly rewarding!

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Team Spotlights – Dan, the jack of all trades

justin moore — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 17:34:49 +0000

BARREL MAKER: You’ve worked in several different capacities from Printer to Darkroom to Art. What are some highlights from various departments?

DAN: Working in every department of a print shop has definitely been a challenge but I think that comes with the territory. Screen-printing in itself has the tendency to draw a crowd of people who are constantly trying to test the boundaries of what is possible within the medium. Each part of the process plays such a huge role in the outcome of the final product. Having a solid foundation in all of them just made sense.

When it comes to printing, my favorite part is probably the initial setup phase. Making sure that the print looks the best it possibly can before the production run starts is like solving a puzzle and sometimes gives you the same satisfaction as finally solving that rubik’s cube without taking the stickers off. Dialing in squeegee durometer, ink choice, pressure, speed, and angle all in a limited time frame and trying to improve on every job you have is what really makes this position great. That challenge is always present and every day is unique because you don’t know what type of job you will be printing next. At the same time, printing has some of my least favorite aspects of the entire process. It’s hot, dirty, and sometimes back breaking (especially for someone as tall as I am). Loading thousands upon thousands of the same thing can definitely become a bit dull at times.

Having enjoyed the initial setup phase of printing is what led to wanting to know more about the darkroom. This position is where I really locked in and started to analyze how the process works and where improvements can be made for future prints. I think one of the highlights of the darkroom can also be one of the lows depending on the type of person you are. Most of the time spent working in this position is spent in solitude. Unless you are making mistakes you aren’t in constant communication with the rest of the shop. This is nice because it allows you to really focus on what your task at hand is, which is improving screen quality and making sure that your part of the process isn’t causing problems in production.

Which brings us to the art department! I’m fairly new to this role in the shop and have still been working out a few kinks in my process and workflow here. One of the highlights here is pretty obvious. You get to work in a temperature controlled room and have clean clothes! Besides that, the art department shares the same puzzle analogy as actually printing. I enjoy taking a piece of customer provided art and figuring out how we are going to print it. Deciding what type of process to use, what types of ink to use for a particular garment, and what dimensions will fit in a particular area that will give the closest result on press to what the client is imagining, because seeing it on a screen can be really difficult sometimes. However, when the finished product looks like what you and the client were trying to achieve, it’s a great feeling.

This is also one of Dan’s highlights:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeqSe6MF05o/

BM: How many tattoos do you have Dan?

DAN: I don’t know how many tattoos I have. My legs are finally almost completely filled up though!

BM: That answer is not good enough for us though. Can you guess?

DAN: Ok probably at least twenty.

BM: How have you personally balanced taking the time to technically learn the various roles while also staying on top of your day to day workload?

DAN: The question is kind of a strange one. I don’t think I ever really thought about it that way. For me, it has always been one of those sink or swim moments, and luckily I’ve managed to keep my head afloat. The first shop I worked at out of school was very cutthroat, and I wasn’t given any alternative other than to learn quickly and proficiently or else I wouldn’t have a job. I think that mentality has helped and carried over across the board. You don’t really have a choice other than to figure it out. Especially in an industry with as much competition and constant evolution as decorated merchandise, you have to be focused on constantly improving your work or get left behind. On that note, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Ron Swanson: “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing”.

BM: Inspiring. And after a long day of work at Barrel Maker what’s your favorite beer to drink?

DAN: All beer.

BM: Ok but..

DAN: Favorite beer depends on the season. I usually stick to the hoppier variety but won’t turn down a Tecate and lime to go with some Al Pastor tacos. Hop Nosh by Uinta Brewing is the best IPA ever made though.

BM: Thanks for your time Dan, and for making us hungry and also thirsty now too.

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