OUR STORY
A letter from our owner:
My name is Stephen Terrell and I am the Owner/CEO of Print Works Screen Printing & Embroidery. I’ve always enjoyed the manufacturing business and had a passion for leading others. I spent 11 years working in food manufacturing and have spent the majority of my career working with leaders and even being in a leadership position myself. I earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree that helped show me the business side of the world. I like to show people that with hard work you can accomplish anything and be successful. I want to teach everyone how to build confidence in themselves and how to operate on a high level at all times! I want them to say “I’ve grown, improved, pushed through, and DID it!” Everyone needs to feel pride of what they have done. There’s nothing quite like a victory! All of our employees know how to work hard and work together as a team. We’ve really built our culture around that. But it wasn’t always as successful in the beginning…
In 2011, Print Works began in my dining room. That’s right, my dining room. I had one manual screen print press and a whole lot of inexperience. (Let’s just say…I watched a lot of videos and did a lot of trial and error tests as I learned about screen printing!) I tried to figure out an easier way to make our process sustainable and more efficient. In 2012, I built a three car garage to operate out of and moved in a shirt press and also a four-needle embroidery machine. I started experimenting with embroidery and tried to learn more about it. As Print Works continued to expand we went in the public eye purchasing a 6,000 square foot facility in Paris, Texas.
Print Works has worked to include proprietary processes that has helped us “win” in the world of producing top quality, long-lasting, decorated garments for our customers. We look to our customers as partners and really value them helping us grow our business. I was an entrepreneur with a dream! I had goals and was determined to take our business to the next level. Soon our team became ten members and split into specific departments. Though it was hard for me to give up control, I did it anyway, and watched our team flourish and thrive! We even won business of the year for Lamar County! It was a huge honor for us in 2015!
As we continued to grow we opened up off-site sales locations. There is no better way than to give back to communities that support your business than to employ people in that area and to really be a part of these wonderful communities. Our second and third locations were opened in Mount Pleasant and Sherman, Texas. Our fourth and fifth locations were opened in Durant and Idabel, Oklahoma. We were ecstatic to not only provide customized apparel & promotional products for Paris and surrounding areas, but other locations around the United States.
In 2017 one of our most proud accomplishments was when we had the opportunity to build a new corporate headquarters location and manufacturing facility. We had the opportunity to take our processes to the next level and really set the foundation for the future of how we will solve our customer’s problems. In the future we will definitely expand and have more locations, more manufacturing equipment, and new methods of decorated apparel.
In 2019 we made the decision to open a women’s retail store business called Basic Apparel Co in Paris. The idea was to build a brand that was about fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. It includes “basic” apparel items - the essentials: blanks, graphic tees, leggings, accessories, and more. Yes - we print all graphic tees here at Print Works! Just one short year later in 2020 we opened another Basic store location in Sulphur Springs, Texas.
In 2022 we built a new Executive Headquarters office to house executive leaders and office space. What will the future hold? Big things!
As our company continues to grow and change, the core of our business will remain the same. Passion never fails. I always tell our team that “process discipline equals success” and understanding that quote is very important to the success of our business. We each have our own daily tasks to be accomplished and if we each individually do our part correctly, we will succeed and “win” together!
The most rewarding thing for me is looking at our overall progress because there hasn’t been a year that we did not grow! To take a company from a garage to a multi-location, mult-shift operation you have to understand that people make the difference. From 1 employee in 2012 to over 100 employees and 7 locations today, Print Works understands that without great customers there is no Print Works.
I am blessed. At Print Works we have high expectations for our business and you should, too. Let us help you grow your brand with customized apparel and promotional products. Let us do the work at Print Works.
-Stephen A. Terrell, Owner/CEO