Hot Ink – Stith Printing Puts Horsepower on Your Back
Raise your hand if you’ve got a dresser drawer (or several) overflowing with car-related T-shirts. C’mon, we know you do! Collecting shirts from events, races, shops, and brands is an integral part of the hot-rodding lifestyle.
Chances are, one or more of the shirts in your collection originated at Stith Printing. Owned by Kevin Stith, the business is an outgrowth of Stith’s lifelong passion for drag racing, hot rods, and basically anything automotive.
Each color of ink has its own screen and template – it’s a cool process to watch the final design come to life one color at a time.
“I was street racing and running around and needed money, and a friend of mine who had a screen-printing company had some overrun work,” Kevin says of his start in the business, way back in 1978. That side gig soon grew more lucrative than Kevin’s day job. “It got to the point where I was making more money at night and on the weekend. It’s been full-time-plus ever since.”
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- Much like old photography processing, a darkroom is needed for creating the templates. Once each color template is made, they get flashed by a bright light to set the pattern and then placed on a screen. The screen mesh varies from 180-280 squares per square inch.
Hanging out at West Coast drag strips like Orange County, Irwindale, and Bakersfield helped Kevin establish strong ties with race teams and hot rodders – ties that remain strong. The company not only produces Goodguys event shirts and apparel, but also does design and printing for more than 100 car shows and rod runs around the country. Stith Printing does plenty of business beyond the car community, too, but it’s obvious to see the passion in the company’s automotive designs.
A few fresh screens were on deck – Stith prints for a wide variety of clients, from drag racing and car shows, to local restaurants, businesses, and schools.
“What sells is the artwork,” Kevin says. “I’m blessed to have four artists who are very, very good at what they do. And they all like cars!”
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- Adam has been with Stith Printing for 24 years and is one of the in-house designers.
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- Fresh Goodguys shirts were finished the day before we arrived and were getting ready to be shipped.
All event shirt art is custom designed, with plenty of collaboration from within the company and the event producer. “The artwork is always kind of a community project,” Kevin says. “We’re always trying to give the customer the best product they can get.”
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- Shop dog Kona
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- Shop dog Nitro
It’s a bit of a circular relationship, as the business also supports many events as a vendor and sponsor. “The racing community has been very good to us, so we try to give back as much as we can,” Kevin says. Examples include a new sponsorship program awarding two eligible Junior Dragster teams with team artwork and apparel packages, and sponsoring the Fuel Altered class at the fabled March Meet.
Kevin Stith’s office is packed with hot rod goodies – he’s a gearhead like the rest of us!
After more than 35 years in Southern California, Stith relocated to Carson City, Nevada, six years ago and was fortunate to retain many longtime team members. Of the company’s 16 current employees, Kevin says one has been with Stith 36 years, and several more have been on board 10- and 20-plus years. “Without them, it doesn’t happen,” he says. “I was very fortunate to surround myself with good people.”
Stith Printing uses two automated machines for most larger jobs. One can do 12 colors and the other 14. They also have a manual six-color machine and a manual one-color that is mostly used for the iconic Mooneyes logo T-shirts.
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- Each screen must be washed in a special solvent and thoroughly dried before being used on another job.
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- Sam places a blank canvas on the automated screen-printing machine and in under a minute that shirt will come back with a full 14-color design!
Kevin is also quick to credit his wife Vicky. “If it wasn’t for her the last 35 years, it would not have happened,” he says. “She probably works harder than I do at the shows. I do the social end of it; she sells, and sells, and sells.”
Much like a good race team, Stith Printing was busy with preseason work when we stopped by in late-February, gearing up for another year of delivering cool designs and quality apparel to its customers. “We’re not the cheapest around,” Kevin says, “I just try to make sure you get the best product possible.”
Owner Kevin Stith
Stith Printing
5130 Metric Way
Carson City, Nevada
1 (800) 490-8333
www.stithprinting.com
Photos by Steven Bunker
