Superior Ink in Denver, CO is an inspiring screen printing shop with a great story.
We've kept up with Superior Ink since 2012. During that time, they've had the same core team while pushing through hot market printing, a shift toward sustainable fashion, and even building an ethically sourced apparel brand.
They've built a multimillion dollar business and kept their team together during the process.
A print shop that’s kept the same employees for 5+ years is rare in a tough industry with such high turnover.During that same span of time, Printavo has grown from a small side hustle to a platform for thousands of print shops across the world. A few shops have stuck with us through it all.
Dominic Rossaci's shop Superior Ink is one of them.
He sat down with Bruce to talk about his business, his ambitions, and the rock-solid culture he's built with his team. Bruce said "I wanted to pick Dominic’s brain about how he pulled this off – and offer up his totally unique take on how to approach your business."
A big thanks to Dominic for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk so openly about his thinking. Keep reading to see Dominic's story, learn why sustainability led to a vibrant workplace culture, and how a trip to Haiti changed the purpose of Superior Ink.
The Beginning: "It began as a skate rat's pipe dream"Dominic started screen printing because of a desire to run his own brand in the image of familiar skateboarding and snowboarding brands. He loved to skate and snowboard, but kept getting injured badly – even needing surgeries. Looking for a way to keep himself healthy but also stay tuned in to skating and snowboarding, he founded a small merchandise and apparel brand.
Dominic's ambitions quickly turned teachers at his school against him: "I constantly got in trouble at school for selling stickers on the bus and in the school. Teachers were like, you can’t do that here. You can’t hustle product here!"
He partnered with a local promo company to print all of his stickers and merchandise, but "I kept hearing about this archaic thing called screen printing. What is a screen printer? I worked at my Grandpa’s meat market, saved up some money for my first press, then I was like...oh, well, what do I do? What’s a screen?"
Learn more here:
https://www.printavo.com/blog/superior-ink-superior-culture