Business Names

[mk162]

Pierre, did you keep the embroidery side?

[blue moon]

Pierre, did you keep the embroidery side?

no, did not. That was Mike's business from the get go and I did not want to mess with something that was working. He asked to have me join and partner, but I was afraid of messing it up and having him lose his livelihood as a consequence. I am glad now that I did not. Everybody is happy now, he has his business and runs it the way it suits his personality and I am doing what makes sense for me. I should say, Blue Moon Screenprinting would not have happened without him though as he has helped out a lot.

pierre

[Inkworks]

We do a lot of work with ink.

[TCT]

Minneapolis and Saint Paul(where we are located) are referred to as the "Twin Cities". Twin City Sweatshirts doesn't have as nice of a ring to it, so Twin City Tees it became. Kinda sucks sometimes because people can spell city like cities but oh well. We used to get asked all the time if we print on anything else than T's, like sweatshirts. Also we have been commonly misinterpreted as a golf course, a golf tee manufacturer, and one time our Governor said "these guys are great, good company, homegrown, a great place to use for tree care needs; Twin City Trees!"    

[Spreading Ink]

Well ours came about this way....  We had been trying to come up with a good name for several weeks didn't really know what to call the business.  One Saturday afternoon I was drinking a few brews and discussing all of this with my wife.  My dad had passed away shortly before we started this business and had been an entrepreneur himself throughout his life and we were also talking about him and some of the stories he had told...my dad was a great story teller.

One of those stories was of him talking about my granddad who died of lung cancer in the mid 80's.  Granddad was pretty sick for about a year before he passed.  A few months before he finally did go he got concerned that my grandmother didn't have a car he thought would last her and not give her issues after he was gone.  So he asked my dad and his brother to help my Grandma find a car.  They took her around a couple of weekends and she found something she liked.  My Granddad wanted to see the car before they bought it though and even though he was pretty much bed ridden at this point he wouldn't be dissuaded from seeing it.  So he had my Dad help him get in the back seat of the car they had and my Dad and Grandmother got in the front and drove out to see the car.  I don't really remember what kind of car it was, but it was newer and my Granddad seemed satisfied that the car would last her for long enough (in his mind) that she wouldn't need another. Little did he know my Grandmother has gone on to outlive all of her kids and is still alive at the ripe old age of 92 today!   Anyway after looking over the car he got back into the back seat of the older car and asked my Grandmother if she liked the car and she replied 'yes, Harold I really like this car and think it will be a good one' to which he replied 'well hell get the check book out and let's get to spreading ink - I'm sick and I got to get home'.   True story and  my Dad used to tell it pretty often...

Well this Saturday afternoon I was thinking about my Dad and this story came to mind and I thought (!) Spreading Ink!!!  This would be a great name for our business - it was personal in a way most wouldn't know or understand and at the same time was an accurate description of our services.  I mentioned it to my wife, Michele and she liked it and so we checked with the county and state the following week and found that it had not been registered or used - and hence Spreading Ink was born!

Really I couldn't make this up - it seems so obvious a name, but it was my Dad's story of my Granddad buying the last car for his wife Mary that originated the name and my thinking about my Dad and his stories and the fact that we spent what we thought was a small fortune that we had been saving for a long time to get the business started that brought about our name.

[Mr Tees!!]

...A good printing  buddy of mine said one day, "yknow what woukd be a great name for a printing business? Mr T's!" This was around the time that all things 80s was just beginning to seem retro-chic (if you will), and long before going on my own was even a glimmer.

...I kinda like the over-the top smarmy-ness of it, its the kinda name that seems just overly clever enought to make you gag a litlle. I like that. Nowadays, I have become Mr Tees himself...that's how folks refer to me when we do an event or something like that.

...Also, I hafta say that I think the name Shawn came up with for the revamp of his business, "ENDLESS INK", was rrreeeeaaaalllllyy cool. If I ever start over , I may hafta use that one. I wonder what happened to that guy, haven't seen him here.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

I live 7 miles outside of New Orleans...hurricanes are common..and I lost everything I own including my screen printing equipment, due to hurricane Katrina. All I was able to salvage was my brand new (used) M&R chameleon amazingly since it was under water for 3 weeks (only about 200 shirts were printed on it before katrina hit).....and I was just a rookie with maybe 5 jobs under my belt when Katrina hit...so I had to rebuild from scratch again...next year will be 10 yrs since i got involved with printing and Im still in the red (printing is not my full time job..and rebuilding after katrina took about 6 yrs..i did not get my biz back up and running until June 2011..I had to relearn EVERYTHING because I was just a rookie when i got wiped out).

So...Hurricane Printing seemed fitting plus the locals can relate...the logo is the hurricane warning flag.

[inkman996]

Our name TEE IT UP, obviously has to do with golf.

The owner was a hooters tour member now the NGA Pro Golf Tour, basically one step away from Web.com tour and the PGA. He was semi pro and easily could have grinded out a career and possibly went PGA pro but decided to keep his roots planted. Through his experience and connections in the pro golf world he decided to get in the apparel side and here we are today. His connections are incredible with some great perks, like me attending two US Opens under sponsor passes and getting to mingle with big shots! Pin flags we have made for Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer tournaments autographed.

[dlac]

I have a small t-shirt wholesale operation to support my starving artist campaign.. Lake Country Graphics.. We are in Southern Illinois on top of the Shawnee National Forest, Surrounded by lakes, mostly Corp of engineer man made but incredibly beautiful, great fishing, boating, camping, etc.. Oh and then the www.lakecountrygraphics.com was available..  oh and then www.art4tees.com also avaiable web address.. starting to dominate what we name ourselves isn't it..
dlac

[Frog]

Hey David, thought that you may dig this one, relating to business names.

Back in the '60's, we had a stony independent bike shop called the Psychledelicatessen in our area.

[Frog]

I've also been saving a great one for a gardening service...

Lawn Order


just imagining the cool artwork for a logo with a cop pushing a mower, and Lady Justice with pruning shears or similar tools of the trade, lol!

[dirkdiggler]

I was inspired by an ACDC album.