MARYSVILLE — Screen-printed T-shirts and jackets have been around for years, but Carmen and Mark Brown have taken that market to new levels, using high-end artwork to carve out a prime market niche for their Ablemark business in Marysville.
“What makes us different than the others is the lev
el of silk-screen artwork we can do with our four-color process and the skills of our artists and production staff,” Carmen Brown said in an interview with her husband, Mark.
Carmen Brown is president of the company and the one who’s regularly seen at Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce events and anywhere else she can build relationships, promote the business and leverage her extroverted personality.
Recently, she used their shop at 1239 State Ave. to host a chamber-sponsored business fair that promoted their own business and nearly a dozen others.
Mark Brown is one of two staff artists at the business. He’s also a skilled photographer whose sharp eye and creative mind finds ways to meet a wide range of customer needs. In a highly competitive market niche, he’s made Ablemark stand out for quality products and service.
Their small retail store is primarily for local customers who stop in to see product catalogs or decide on products such as sports team T-shirts, jackets and gym bags, or promotional business products, such as signs, banners, coffee cups and other items.
April Name is the customer service and account manager, while Patty Berry, Carmen Brown’s sister, handles account development.
The heart of the business is in the buildings behind the store. That’s where thousands of screen-printed or embroidered products are produced, with T-shirts decorated with four-color, artist-created images being the most popular item.
Mark Brown and graphic artist Jennifer Hayes create the artwork to meet customer’s needs, ranging from relatively simple designs and lettering to complicated, detailed art that makes the T-shirts unique.
A computer produces each color on its own transparent plastic sheet before the production process begins on an octopus-like machine with long arms and inking pads that hold the T-shirts for screen printing. The arms revolve constantly, with squeegee blades applying one color at a time on each shirt, a highly technical process managed by screen printer Luis Ramirez and production assistant Josh Postema.
“The real differences for us in the screen-printing market is having artists who can provide a high level of creativity, skilled people to produce the products, a press with four-color capabilities and 10 screen pads, plus a high level of individual customer service,” Carmen Brown said. “We try to make it as easy as possible for customers to work with us and to eliminate barriers for them, such as restricting them to the types of orders they can submit.”
Mark Brown said they’ve discovered the best way to build the business has been to focus on doing what the customer wants.
“Many places limit customers to colors or require minimum orders. We wanted to address what customers really want and then do our best to meet those needs,” he said, noting that Ablemark can do one design on 12 colors of T-shirts in multiple sizes and turn out one shirt or 2,000 shirts or more.
While many of their customers are businesses, churches, car clubs and individuals, most of their customers are labor unions. Ablemark does special designs on T-shirts for the International Association of Machinists, the National Association of Letter Carriers for their annual food drives, the Washington State Labor Council, International Association of Fire Fighters, International Longshore and Warehouse Union and many others.
Carmen Brown said the business was growing until the economy sagged in 2008 and they had to lay off some employees. Since then they’ve streamlined business operations and it’s been growing once again.
“We’re trying to hit $1 million in sales in the next two years,” she said.
Mark Brown said their goal is to keep their present customers happy and bring in more work for the seasonal slump time, from January through March.
On the Web
See what Ablemark does by checking their websites: www.Ablemark.com, www. unionstuff.com, www. School-Spirit-Tees.com and www.BlueDonkeySigns.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
