Life is Good Retail Brand Launches Apparel Decorating Business

The Life is Good Company, makers of the popular positive vibes retail clothing brand of the same name, has entered the promotional products industry with a spin-off venture focused on custom-decorated apparel.

Keep it Simple soft-launched in spring and more formally announced itself on July 11. Operating out of a new 500,000-square-foot production and fulfillment facility that also houses Life is Good operations in Hudson, NH, Keep it Simple offers direct-to-any-buyer custom printing fulfillment on T-shirts and hoodies.

“We’re excited to launch this new company – it’s a natural progression for Life is Good," said Tom Hassell, president of Life is Good. "After spending five years perfecting print-on-demand technologies, Life is Good will now offer this service to other brands and companies for their private label merchandise needs.”

Keep it Simple isn’t sourcing apparel from promo suppliers. Rather, the company is printing on its own blank apparel, which the firm said is made in Peru from U.S. cotton.

Executives said this contributes to competitive advantages, including no minimum order sizes on reorders, 48-hour turn times for all orders under 288 units, and customizable neck tags.

“Whether it’s a small company in need of informal uniforms, or a family that wants a commemorative tee for a special event, we can do it all,” Jessica Greenhalgh, a public relations representative for Keep it Simple/Life is Good, told ASI Media.

The Hudson, NH, facility features 12 direct-to-garment printing machines, which power printing operations for Keep it Simple and Life Is Good. Up to 14,000 units can be printed per day.

“With these new machines, and a lot of blank inventory, it gives us the capabilities to offer this new service to our customers,” Greenhalgh said. “Life is Good is known for the high quality of textile we provide, so shoppers looking for something nicer with a quick turnaround can now look to us for printing needs.”

Keep it Simple said it’s already building up a customer base, including printing for other apparel businesses, like surf-and-skate retail apparel company Levitate Brand. “Working with Keep it Simple has been efficient, collaborative and simple,” said Levitate CEO Dan Hassett. “It has cleaned up the management challenge of a varied supply chain and allowed our team to do what we do best, which is promote and sell our brand.”

Company leaders at Life is Good said Keep it Simple will not only be a new revenue stream for the company but will also help keep production humming and even out staffing levels throughout the year for a company that tends to experience peaks in November and December but be slower in summer.

“[This] promises to be a very big business for us,” Hassell told NH Business Review.

The roots of Life is Good go back to 1989 when brothers Bert and John Jacobs of Needham, MA, began selling T-shirts they’d designed on the streets of Boston and out of their van at colleges and street fairs along the East Coast. In 1994, the Life is Good brand formally launched. The apparel collection is known especially for featuring a graphic of a smiling stick figure character and fun/optimistic messaging, including the patented phrase “Life is Good.”

The company donates 10% of annual net profits to the Playmaker Project, which provides training and support for a growing network of more than 16,000 professionals who create positive relationships and environments for children in need.