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Custom Ink is an American online
retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...
company headquartered in
Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...
, that makes custom
clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...
and other items such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, and tech accessories.


History

Custom Ink (first launched as CustomInk) was founded in 2000 by Marc Katz, the company’s CEO and Chairman, and several of his college friends. It began as a t-shirt design company with funding from family and friends, and consisted of a 10-person team. BT Wolfenshohn was the company’s first lead investor. Custom Ink reported $1 million in sales its first year and $3 million in 2002. The company’s first profit was reported in 2003 with gross revenue of $7 million. In 2005, Inc. Magazine ranked Custom Ink the 55th fastest growing business in the U.S. The company reported $61 million in sales in 2009. In 2011, Custom Ink opened its first production facility in
Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...
. At the time, the company had expanded to include customized specialty items such as golf balls and umbrellas. It would continue to expand, offering more customized clothing and items including sweats and hats. In November 2013, Custom Ink received $40 million from
Revolution Growth Revolution LLC is an American investment firm based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2005 by AOL co-founder Steve Case, after leaving the AOL Time Warner board. The firm seeks to fund entrepreneurs who are transforming legacy industries with innov ...
, the investment fund run by
Steve Case Stephen McConnell Case (born August 21, 1958) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist best known as the former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online (AOL). Case joined AOL's predecessor company, Quantum Compu ...
,
Ted Leonsis Theodore John Leonsis (born January 8, 1957) is an American businessman. He is a former senior executive with America Online (AOL) and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Washington Capitals, ...
, and
Donn Davis Donn Davis is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He is founder, chairman and co-owner of the Professional Fighters League, co-owner of e-sports team Team Liquid and founding partner of the investment firm Revolution LLC. Career ...
. The investment reportedly helped the growth of two new projects: Booster and Pear. Booster (later Custom Ink Fundraising) is a crowd-funding website where organizers design and sell T-shirts to raise money for different social causes. In 2016, the company had nine locations and around 1,670 employees. The company’s name changed to the current form of Custom Ink in 2017. By 2020, Custom Ink provided customization services for more than 1,000 types of apparel and accessories. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the company saw sales drop 80% in only a few days as people stopped planning reunions or in-person gatherings of any kind. The company was forced to furlough around 75% of staff, but continued paying health insurance premiums for all, helped employees apply for unemployment benefits, and offered other support services. Due to the N95 mask shortages, the company switched gears to sell cloth masks, they also sold work-from-home kits to help remote employees remain connected and drive-by graduation gear for schools. Sales from these ideas and a return to normal business as the pandemic began to recede, Custom Ink was able to bring back its employees by August of 2020. On January 3, 2023, Custom Ink laid off 206 workers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and another 132 in Reno, Nevada. Some workers were able to move to open positions at Custom Ink's Dallas facility; those who didn’t received separation packages that included three months of health benefits, job placement assistance, and between 10-20 weeks of pay dependent on tenure. In December 2023, the company launched a new “end-to-end” swag management platform called Swag Space. Swag Space provides an ecommerce platform, automated design support, order production, order tracking, warehousing and distribution, and Shopify integration. It is designed for distributors and is an effort to “bridge the gap” between the traditional supplier-distributor model and direct-to-consumer platforms. Swag Space was built upon the infrastructure and technology of their acquisition of Swag.com. For several years Custom Ink held the Be Good to Each Other Campaign, this campaign raised money and awareness for the National Bullying Prevention Center. Custom Ink’s work was supported by athletes and celebrities such as
Gina Rodriguez Gina Alexis Rodriguez (born July 30, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in The CW satirical romantic dramedy series ''Jane the Virgin'' (2014–2019), for which she received a Golden Globe Award f ...
and
Paul Rabil Paul Rabil (born December 14, 1985) is an American Business executive, sports executive and retired professional lacrosse player. He is currently the president of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL), which he co-founded with his brother, league CEO ...
. In July 2024, the company announced that in August the former Realtor.com CEO David Doctorow would be the company's new CEO, while Katz would continue as Chairman of the Custom Ink Board of Directors.


Acquisitions

On February 4, 2016, Custom Ink acquired the
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
company Represent.com, which helps celebrities sell limited-run T-shirts and merchandise to fans and followers. Represent was later acquired by Cameo in 2021. In 2019, Custom Ink purchased Sidestep, a website and mobile app that strictly sells concert merchandise. The acquisition was done through Custom Ink's at-the-time subsidiary Represent. In November 2021, the company purchased New York City-based Swag.com for an undisclosed amount. Swag.com is an online design and ordering company for corporate swag and gifting. Two months later, in January 2022, the company acquired Printfection, a swag management platform. Printfection's clients include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk.


Locations

By April 2024, Custom Ink has 42 showroom locations across 15 states and Washington DC.


Awards

In 2014, ''Fortune'' and ''Great Place to Work'' ranked Custom Ink as one of their Top 100 places to work.


References


See also

* RushOrderTees *
Redbubble Redbubble is a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products based on user-submitted artwork. The company was founded in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia,
*
Shutterfly Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in San Jose, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided images, ...
* Spreadshirt * TeePublic * Teespring *
Vistaprint Vistaprint is a global e-commerce company that produces physical and digital marketing products for small businesses. Vistaprint was one of the first businesses to offer its customers the capabilities of desktop publishing through the internet ...
* Zazzle {{Self-publishing, state=expanded Clothing companies of the United States Clothing companies established in 1999 Retail companies established in 1999 Internet properties established in 1999 Online retailers of the United States 1999 establishments in Virginia