Their story begins in 2001, when they began printing t-shirts for local sports teams and businesses. Over time, they took their products to the retail market by opening brick and mortar shops in malls and by connecting with buyers at wholesale fashion markets. In 2013 Maccie Varnado decided it was time to launch a website to showcase some of their designs in hopes of meeting new customers. They could have never predicted what happened next. The team went to bed after completing the website, and woke the next day to find 10,000 new followers. They could not believe how quickly things were taking off. The week after, they had reached 80,000 followers. Today, they are still that family owned business located in Nederland, Texas. They have grown not only in followers, but in staff and space. Their warehouse is now 20,000 sq/ft. and includes a full design staff and photography studio.
What's your background, and what are you working on?
I have an art background, however my early years of art were centered around architecture. I will say, architecture was my first love! I currently work in the graphic and fashion side of the art world. I do love the aspect of blending graphic art with my love of architecture, I feel like so many elements overlap!
What motivated you to get started with Tees2UrDoor?
Before my husband and I met, he was in the T-shirt business. When we met his T-shirt business and my art background fit perfectly together! We had several retail stores for years and then about 6 years ago decided that retail was headed online. Starting Tees2urDoor was such a challenge! We loved the online aspect of the T-shirt world and continue making Tees2urDoor an unique online shop!
How have you attracted clients and grown your company?
We were one of those overnight Facebook success stories! We started our Facebook page and had a handful of local followers. We posted a few of my T-shirt designs one day and woke up the next day with a hundred thousand followers! We have consistently added more and more T-shirt designs, perfected our check out process and expanded our line!!! We now have almost 700k followers on social media! I believe the single biggest attraction for our customers is price! We are able to use our buying power and pass the savings on to our customers!
What are your goals for the future?
We want to continue to expand our line, perfect the shoppers experience & most importantly stay true to our brand image! Our customers expect amazing designs with affordable pricing! We also love spotting up and coming items & sourcing them as giveaways for our customers. We try to source 7-8 major items for giveaways each year. We typically order 5,000 to 7,000 pieces per item. Our customers always look forward to our unique free gifts!
What are the biggest challenges you've faced so far?
We have experienced some growing pains over the years. Probably the biggest challenge we have faced is space! If you can believe it, Tees2urDoor started in a tiny hallway in one of our buildings, not more than 500-600 sq ft. We now have roughly 25,000 sq ft of space and guess what we need? More space! It’s a great problem to have, but it does hold us back, however we are working to secure some temporary space that we can use to store excess inventory. We have also purchased several containers that we use outside our building to store things like shipping supplies and extra consumables.
What's your advice for female founders who are just starting out?
My advice for anyone starting out in business, is make quick accurate decisions and don’t ever second guess yourself. If you slow down too much, you may trip and fall! If you have the keen business sense to start a business, go for it, full steam ahead!