You can also contact us by clicking here.The owners of a newly-opened print studio said they hoped to leave a mark on the industry with a new approach to garment production and design.
Street WearhouseThe North Kansas City facility, which was co-founded by Alex Trinkle, Tyler Love and others, is a leader in the printing and embroidery of T-shirts and hats.
Matthew Gwin from Startland News took this photo of Alex Trinkle at Street Wearhouse.
Trinkle is the creator of the streetwear brand guerrilla. Clever Fools, said that Street Wearhouse takes a more artistic and “outside the box” approach to its screen printed designs in comparison to other print shops.
“The majority of print shop owners are not focused on the art aspect of printing,” Trinkle said. “There are more artsy print shops for sure. But, in terms of bringing in the quality and attention to details, and making a print more vibrant, I feel like our younger eyes can give a new perspective to our customers.”
Love said that as business owners younger than 30, Love and his partner place a high value on maintaining an excellent digital presence.
Matthew Gwin from Startland News took this photo of Alex Trinkle at Street Wearhouse.
“Even just having pictures on our website, that’s a separator from a lot of print shops,” Love said. “[Trinkle] handles all our social media, and a lot of print shops don’t do that. They don’t market themselves. … [Trinkle] has a personality that transfers through the screen, and that energy goes to the customers.”
Love added that Street Wearhouse also prioritizes quality and quantity over price, focusing on faster turnaround times rather than lower prices.
“We’re not going to be racing to the bottom competing on price,” Love said. “We’re going to be competing with quality and beating out other shops’ turnaround times. … We aim for five to seven business days without sacrificing quality.”
“A lot of shops try to win on pricing,” Love added. “We’re not trying to compete there, but we might win customers over because they can trust us; because they see the faces printing.”
Street Wearhouse, Alex Trinkle, and Tyler Love; Photo by Matthew Gwin of Startland News
Relationship ships
Trinkle and Love’s relationship predates Street Wearhouse; the two were high school classmates — though not close friends — growing up in Overland Park.
Love recalled that he and Trinkle reconnected because a Clever Fools order he placed never arrived.
The shipping snafu was a happy accident, as they each had skills in areas that the others lacked. Trinkle had the screen-printing chops, and Love had the embroidery, direct-to-garment, and DTG machinery.
“[Love] was doing DTG, and I needed somebody to make samples for me because when I would do pre-order drops, I wouldn’t have everything printed,” Trinkle recalled. “I saw an opportunity in him.”
Tyler Love of Street Wearhouse, photo by Matthew Gwin. Startland News
Tyler Love of Street Wearhouse, photo by Matthew Gwin. Startland News
Love originally picked up embroidery — and eventually, direct-to-garment — in 2019 after leaving an accounting job at Burns & McDonnellHe shared.
“It was draining mentally because it was the same stuff every single day, but I would have never found [embroidery] if I didn’t take that job,” Love said.
He launched his own business called Loves Branding, graduating from his first sewing machine to a semi-commercial machine as his contracts picked up — all while learning embroidery techniques online.
“During that time, I would spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos, and I subscribed to the University of YouTube 100 percent,” Love said. “You can learn almost anything on there.”
Eventually, Love “dipped into” direct-to-garment, a vertical which he said Street Wearhouse doesn’t use all that much. He acknowledged that his skill set led to his relationship with Trinkle.
“I learned a lot,” Love said. “I met a lot of people, [Trinkle] being one of them who I’ve been able to build that partnership with.”
Matthew Gwin from Startland News took this photo of Alex Trinkle at Street Wearhouse.
Scaling up to new challenges
Trinkle says that since Street Wearhouse opened in January, it has seen steady growth.
Street Wearhouse
“We are growing so rapidly,” he said. “The bigger we are, the bigger problems we’ll face, so we have to be mentally ready for that. We’re going to have to learn through that process, which I’m nervous about, but at the same time, super excited about.”
Love explained that adding a new automatic screen-printing setup, upgrading to a sixhead embroidery machine and streamlining back-end operations are the first things on the to-do-list for growth.
“If we can build these processes and workflows out where they work for us at this scale, then the processes themselves will scale with us,” Love said. “ We’re not overextending, but we’re allowing ourselves to take fairly decent strides in, hopefully, the correct direction.”
Love and Trinkle are planning to add more staff as they grow Street Wearhouse. They will still be able to rely on each other’s support and perspectives.
“I think a business relationship is kind of like [the poem “Footprints”],” Trinkle said. “If one person falls, you have a friend to lift you back up, but if you do it by yourself, there’s nobody else to lift you back up.”
Street Wearhouse, Tyler Love and Alex Trinkle. Photos by Matthew Gwin. Startland News
Street Wearhouse has an embroidery machine.
Street Wearhouse has a printing press
Love echoed those sentiments, highlighting how the two find common ground when their visions aren’t exactly aligned.
“Even when we bump heads and have disagreements, we always figure it out, and it ends up being the better answer,” he said. “If we never disagreed, that wouldn’t be a good business relationship at all.”
Love and Trinkle both agree, however, that Street Wearhouse’s future is still bright.
“It’s been a fun journey,” Love said, “and the road’s not going to end soon.”