Fresh Pressed Ushers in the Return of the Custom T-Shirt, Screenprint-Style

More than 30 years ago, iron-on T-shirt shops seemed to be as prevalent on the retail landscape as McDonald’s or Starbucks are now. Entrepreneur Jonathan B. Sample plans to join the revival of the doit- yourself-style of the iron-on store, but he may be doing it with a new angle.

Sample’s Los Angeles–based retail company, Fresh Pressed Screen Shops, is swapping the iron-on for screenprinting.

The custom T-shirt stores of the 1970s typically relied on heat-transfer machines. Yet screenprint machines have been one of the primary ways to print graphics on T-shirts for more than 50 years. According to Sample, screenprinters produce a wider variety of graphics and colors than other T-shirt graphics machines. Yet independent retailers have shied away from them because there has been little profitability in making small runs of screenprinted Tshirts, the retailer said.

Sample said that he uses a proprietary technology to make small runs, perhaps even the production of a single T-shirt, profitable.

Fresh Pressed may be one of the first to bring custom screenprinting into a boutique environment, according to Tom Wallace, president of Los Angeles trend forecasters Label Networks. Other custom screenprinting businesses are guerrilla operations, such as Hit & Run, based in Long Beach, Calif., which produces T-shirt screenprinting parties at nightclubs.

Fresh Pressed opened on Dec. 1. Sample designed the 1,100-square-foot store to look like a 1950s Laundromat. The screenprinting machines are covered porcelain and steel reminiscent of Eisenhower-era appliances.

The store is located at 4646 Hollywood Blvd. in a neighborhood that offers retro-style novelty and apparel boutiques such as Soap Plant/Wacko and Jake Vintage.

Fresh Pressed uses a variety of T-shirt styles, including organic, distressed and standard from blanks brands such as American Apparel and Alternative Apparel. For $35, a Fresh Pressed customer can get a screenprinted design on a T-shirt in one hour. They will be able to make T-shirts using their own designs or by using stock designs from the store.

The success of the boutique might rely on the popularity of the designs that are offered by the store, Wallace said. “If they have the right designs, people will get them,” said the trend forecaster. “If they don’t, [custom T-shirts] are just another commodity,” he said.

Sample hopes to open five more Fresh Pressed stores in the next five years. His business has hosted children’s birthday parties as well as artists using the store as a place to print their designs on shirts and bags. —Andrew Asch