Key Takeaways
• Early Success: Meryl Katlin was able to leverage her graphic design skills and industry contacts to launch her own print and promo business MakeATeeOnline (asi/559002).
• Technological Adaptation: Katlin’s company has embraced various printing technologies, including DTG, DTF, dye sublimation and wide-format printing, and plans to expand into UV printing, screen printing and embroidery.
• Strategic Merger: MakeATeeOnline is merging with Dynasty Custom Apparel, which Katlin says will give her an opportunity to work more closely with customers and create more merch stores.
By some definitions, Meryl Katlin’s entry into the printing and promotional products industries is typical. She holds a degree in graphic design and worked at an ad agency for a brief time.
But in many ways, Katlin isn’t your proverbial print service provider or promotional products distributor. Because of her access to shops that sold printing and promo items when she began her career, and because she was able to run her own freelance accounts, she launched her own business early on as a print broker and graphic designer. Some clients were screen printers; others were distributors. All needed graphic design services. While many people either start in print or promo, Katlin got her start in both.
Now, she’s faced with yet another journey: going through a merger with her Coral Springs, FL-based company, MakeATeeOnline (asi/559002). As Katlin’s story continues to unfold, it’s one that tells the clear-cut convergence between the print and promo industries.
Benefitting From Both Worlds
Katlin describes her early days as a win-win for her personal and professional life. “I started my company when my second child was a few months old,” she explains. “This allowed me to work and be a mom. … As I progressed, many of my customers were the marketing directors at their respective companies and began asking about T-shirts and giveaways. I had the contacts to get it all done.”
And then she went through her first big professional shift. “One of the screen-print shops I was ordering from (I was also doing artwork for them) got mad at one of the promo guys I was buying from (and working for) and told me that I should just be buying the products myself, instead of sharing profits,” she recalls. “It flowed so easy for me, and it made my clients happy to be able to order everything from one place.”
Thus, TypeStyles was born in May 1991. And 15 years after that, MakeATeeOnline began. She worked through software – CorelDRAW – and started to get business through design services.
Katlin jumped in via the digital path after that with MakeATeeOnline, first employing direct-to-garment (DTG) machines. “I researched the equipment, bought a DTG machine and a GCC vinyl cutter at first,” she says. “After that, I sought out the software to go online, and after a lot of trial and a ton of error, I landed on DecoNetwork software, and MakeATeeOnline was born.”
Katlin isn’t afraid to explore new printing technologies. She lists DTG, direct-to-film (DTF), cut vinyl and foils, dye sublimation and wide-format printing among the technology her company currently offers. “In the very near future, we will also be doing UV printing, screen printing, embroidery and full sublimation in-house,” she adds.
But that’s not where the buck stops for Katlin. MakeATeeOnline is printing, but it also operates heavily in the promo world. “I definitely began my earning years in printing, but I have been selling promo items since the ’90s,” she explains. “I love selling promo items, I love dealing with people and learning about their business. Selling promo items has taught me so much about marketing to people, plus the promo business is fun. The people involved are never boring.”
Katlin notes that “the largest dollar part of the business is B2B.” MakeATeeOnline allows an individual customer to upload their own artwork and place the order themselves. “Many of those customers are our B2B customers that come to us for their personal needs as well, and [we have] merch stores that are B2C. But dollar-wise, our best customer is the one that we create the artwork for and handle all of their printing needs for their business, nonprofit, school or group/team.”
Given her experience in both worlds, Katlin explains the importance of understanding print technology when it comes to selling promo, a quality she feels makes her and her business a great match for clients. She understands that when decorating soft goods and hard goods, you must consider the different technologies available, the types of ink being used and even the graphics.
“Can the product be only a one-color imprint, multicolor imprint or process color imprint?” she poses to anyone that’s printing both. “Challenges occur in any area of an order. Bad printing will destroy a printing company.”
Promo & Printing Partnerships
Just as bad printing can destroy a company, or even sully a relationship between a contract printer and a distributor, good printing opens more doors and creates stronger partnerships. And as Katlin begins her next journey into the world of mergers and acquisitions, she’s ready for the challenge.
MakeATeeOnline is in the process of merging with Dynasty Custom Apparel, another Coral Springs, FL-based firm that focuses mainly on the sports uniform space. “We’ll be bringing them our line of goods and marching with their full apparel print production facility,” Katlin says.
The merger hasn’t officially closed yet – and financial terms of the deal haven’t been released – but Katlin notes that though the two companies will be working under the corporate name Dynasty, they will keep MakeATeeOnline.com as the mother ship online store for the current customers Katlin has in her book of business.
To say she’s excited by the opportunities the merger brings is an understatement. In fact, Katlin feels it will change the course of not only the business but her professional career as well. “I plan on letting go of the admin work that keeps me behind my desk and being able to get out to work with the customers, create more merch stores and help the store owners market themselves,” she says. “I’ll have more daylight hours to do all my R&D.” Katlin is taking over Dynasty’s specialty orders, such as water bottles and wristbands.
As her journey begins its next phase, Katlin still has the love for the industry she had when it all started. “The printing industry is fantastic. I love keeping up with new equipment and technology,” she says. “So many variables on almost every product keeps you sharp. Seeing new businesses that start from their bedroom [and go to] boardroom – it’s limitless.”
