Sunline Products, a T-shirt company based in Houston, was the target of a daytime break-in on Sunday, but the thieves made off with an unusual haul: $30,000 in blank T-shirts.
According to KPRC 2, an NBC affiliate in Houston, Sunline’s security cameras captured the thieves pulling up to the company’s warehouse around 3:30 p.m. Sunday before blacking out the cameras with spray paint. A remaining camera recorded them leaving with a truck-full of shirts, both boxed and unboxed.
Scott Carr, vice president of Sunline, told KPRC 2 that each box contained 100 blank shirts valued at $720. Carr said the total amounted to $30,000, which comes out to over 40 boxes stolen.
Thieves who were possibly looking for World Series merch stole $30,000 worth of blank t-shirts from printing company https://t.co/kaIdaBI86h
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) November 2, 2021
“They emptied out a lot of boxes and just loaded the truck, and at the end, they just started grabbing boxes,” Carr said.
Why blanks? Carr believes the thieves were looking for Houston Astros World Series gear. The team lost to the Atlanta Braves last night, ending its season, but as of Sunday it was still alive in the series. Sunline was set to print the T-shirts if the Astros won, but had not yet begun production with the series ongoing.
“We print as needed, so when we get the go-ahead we begin production,” Carr said. “So, what they got was blank product labeled and tagged ready to go, but without an official Astros logo.”
Sunline is a full-service screen print shop offering custom apparel printing, contract decorating, graphic design, embroidery, banners, promotional products and more. According to its Google listing, the business runs six automatics and has four full-time graphic artists on staff.