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A trade network · Est. 2026
STCH
Peer Groups · Training · Connections · Hub
Vol. I · No. 01Building stronger businesses together
§ 01 · The Lede

Independence
doesn’t have to
mean alone.

STCH is the network for independent shops in decorated apparel, signage, and specialty graphics. Peer groups that tell you the truth, training built for the trade, supplier partners committed to the STCH community, and a Hub where the industry actually talks.

§ 02Why nowThe state of the trade

Every shop is fighting
the same six battles. Separately.

The independent shop has never been more capable, or more on its own. Costs climbing, technology turning over, talent scarce, and every owner solving the same problems solo.

None of these problems are new. What's new is that shops in decorated apparel, signage, and specialty graphics still face them without the structures nearly every other industry built decades ago: peer groups, shared training, trusted supplier relationships, and a place to gather.

Every one of these is a solved problem somewhere else. Just not here. Not yet.

i.

The margin squeeze

Ink, blanks, film, freight. Every input costs more than it did last quarter, and the reprice letters land faster than you can pass them through. Sorting it out alone, you mostly just absorb it.

→ Answered in § 06, Connections
ii.

The technology treadmill

DTF rewrote the rulebook in three years. Whatever comes next will do it faster. Guessing wrong on equipment is a five-figure mistake. Guessing late is worse.

→ Answered in § 05, Training
iii.

The talent problem

Finding a good operator is hard. Keeping one is harder. Nobody is training the next generation, and every shop in town is fishing the same shallow pool.

→ Answered in § 05, Training
iv.

Training you can't get

There is no school for this trade. You learn it on the floor, the expensive way. The education that does exist is scattered, generic, or a sales pitch wearing a lanyard.

→ Answered in § 05, Training
v.

Sorting the suppliers

Every rep says the same things. Nobody tells you which ones deliver on a Friday, and you find out by getting it wrong.

→ Answered in § 06, Connections
vi.

Nobody to call

Your employees can't carry the owner's worries, your family has heard enough, and your competitors certainly aren't volunteering. Most owners have no room where the hard questions get honest answers.

→ Answered in § 04, Peer Groups

“The end of going it alone.”

§ 02 · The state of the trade
§ 03The four pillars of the STCH networkWhat we do

More than a better price.

Buying better is the easy part. What makes STCH worth joining is everything around the transaction: the people you learn from, the partnerships we cultivate, and the community we build. Four pillars, each one built to serve the members who run the shops and the supplier partners who keep them running.

§ 04Peer Groups

Rooms you can’t build alone.

Owning a shop is the best job in this trade and the loneliest. Peer groups fix the lonely part: confidential small-group sessions with non-competing shops, where the real problems get discussed with people who have the same skin in the same game.

For members

Real talk about real challenges, from the only people qualified to give it. The advisory board you could never afford to hire, answering to nobody but the room.

i.Confidential small-group sessionsNon-competing shops. What's said in the room stays in the room.
ii.The challenges and the opportunitiesBoth sides of the business, discussed with people who have lived them.
iii.Operating problems, worked throughBring the thing you've been stuck on. Leave with a plan.
iv.Accountability that sticksYou say what you'll do. The group makes sure you do it.
For supplier partners

Peer groups are member to member, and they stay that way. What supplier partners get from them is indirect, and better for it.

A sharper customer baseOwners actively working on their businesses.
Aligned incentivesWhen shops grow, the partners supplying them grow too. Stronger businesses make stronger partnerships.
An invitation where it fitsPresent or sponsor a session when the topic genuinely calls for it.
§ 05Training

Get better at the work and the business.

Nobody teaches this trade. You learn it on the floor, the expensive way. Training exists so the next lesson costs you a Tuesday afternoon instead of a client.

For members

Education built for the work you actually do: screen printing, embroidery, DTF/DTG, wide format, signage, specialty graphics.

Quarterly lunch and learns01
Led by industry experts, not a vendor with a slide deck.
Speakers on equipment and technique02
The people who know the machines, talking about the machines.
Shop management sessions03
Pricing, cash flow, hiring, succession. The owner's side of the job.
A monthly newsletter04
Practical insight in every issue, whether or not you made the last session.
For supplier partners

Members would rather learn from the people who build the products. Training hands supplier partners the classroom, and the credibility that comes with teaching well.

A stage to demo productDemonstrate your products in real-world applications.
Educate your customersTeach members to get the most out of what you already sell them.
Become the trusted expertAuthority earned by being useful, not bought with impressions.
A warm audiencePeople who came to learn, instead of a cold outreach list.
Connections§ 06

The right partners, already vetted.

Every shop sorts through the same supplier pitches alone, with no way to tell the real ones from the rest. Connections replaces the guesswork with a curated bench we stand behind, and access to whatever those partners choose to put on the table.

For members

Same suppliers, better footing. The vetting is done before a single name reaches you.

01A curated bench of partnersEvery name on it is one we stand behind.
02Access to partner incentivesThe special deals and pricing our partners choose to offer members.
03The guesswork taken outFewer cold calls to field. Fewer names to vet on your own time.
04Never a mandateUse the programs that fit your shop. Ignore the ones that don't.
For supplier partners

One relationship instead of a thousand cold calls. You set your own incentives; the network handles the introduction.

Direct promotion to active buyersShops already purchasing in your category.
Featured in the newsletter and eventsA regular presence, not a one-time placement.
Shorter sales cyclesQualified introductions that can accelerate new business.
Your terms, your callAny incentives or special pricing beyond the base fee are yours to set.
§ 07 · Hub

The industry’s home base.

The Hub is the members-only community site: the directory, the resources, the conversation, and the calendar. It's where the network lives between sessions, and where the events get built.

For members

The room stays open after the meeting ends.

The member directoryFind shops by segment, market, or specialty.
Ask the networkPut a question to people who have already solved it.
Resources and referenceWhat the network has figured out, written down and kept in one place.
The event calendarLunch and learns, workshops, and the annual meeting as it comes together.
Belonging to something bigger than one shopBecause independence shouldn't mean isolation.
For supplier partners

The Hub is where members go by habit. Supplier partners have a standing presence there rather than an interruption.

Presence where your customers gatherThe place members open without being prompted.
Useful content, not banner adsTechnical guides and product reference that members actually open.
Sponsorship opportunitiesSupport workshops, meetings, and future events.
Face time with decision-makersThe people who sign the PO, not the people who forward it.
Editor’s note

Engaged members create volume. Volume attracts partners. Partners fund the value. The value is what keeps members engaged. Nobody in that circle has to get squeezed for the math to work, which is why the member price stays simple and why we will never tell you where to buy.

The founders · STCH Network
§ 08The model

Simple economics. Shared success.

One annual membership investment covers all four pillars. No per-pillar upcharges, no tiers, no fine print.

$1,455
One-time initiation
Covers all four pillars. No hidden costs. Annual renewal from year two.
1%
Supplier network support fee
Paid by supplier partners on member volume, so the network is funded by the value it delivers rather than by squeezing its members.
What's included

All four pillars, from the day your membership clears.

  • i.A seat in a confidential peer groupSmall groups. Non-competing shops.
  • ii.The full training calendarLunch and learns, speakers, and the monthly newsletter.
  • iii.Access to every supplier partner programVetted before you see them. Yours to use or skip.
  • iv.Full access to the HubThe community site, the directory, the resources, the calendar.
  • v.Cancel any timeOne email. No clawback, no exit fee.
§ 09Why trust STCHA note from the founders

We've done this before.

Our founding team has spent decades building the kinds of member communities, supplier partnerships, and business infrastructure that help independent companies grow stronger together. Along the way, we’ve managed more than $10 billion in purchasing volume.

We won't claim to have run a screen printing shop. We haven't. What we know is the other side of the table: how these agreements actually get made, and what it takes to get a room of owners to trust each other.

We started STCH because these trades have been left out of what other industries have had for thirty years: the peer rooms, the shared training, the trusted partners, the place to gather. The shops doing this work deserve all four, and building them is the part we know how to do.

Peer groups

Rooms built on trust

Confidential seating, non-competing markets, and facilitation by people who have run owner groups before.

Training

Experts, not salespeople

Sessions led by people who know the work, booked because they know it and not because they sponsored it.

Connections

$10B+ managed

Volume the founding team has handled across prior networks. Suppliers take our calls.

Hub

Somewhere to put it all

A community site the network can actually use, built and hosted by us.

§ 10For supplier partners

One agreement. The whole network.

Sign once and you have a standing position across all four pillars, funded by a 1% network fee on member volume. Whatever you offer members beyond that is your call, not ours.

Peer groupsA customer base that is actively working on its businesses, and an invitation to the room where the topic fits.
TrainingA stage to teach the market, and the authority that comes with teaching it well.
ConnectionsDirect promotion to shops already buying, on terms you set yourself.
The HubA standing presence on the site members open by habit, and a place at the events as the calendar fills out.
Partner with STCH

Tell us about your line.

We'll walk you through the network, the member base, and what a supplier partnership looks like across all four pillars.

§ 11Common questions

Plainly answered.

End of issue · Vol. I · No. 01
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Independent companies.
Stronger together.

Screen Printing · Embroidery · DTF/DTG · Wide Format · Signage · Specialty Graphics
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