Pennsylvania Screen Printing Business Expands

May 15, 2008

Bob Bashore, owner of Phy Graphix, Jonestown, Pa., cuts the ribbon at the opening of the shop's new, larger facility.

Bob Bashore, owner of Phy Graphix, Jonestown, Pa., is thrilled to be expanding his decorated apparel business. He's moving his shop from a leased, 500-square-foot facility to the 3,200-square-foot facility he recently purchased. Originally focusing only on screen printing, the company was formed in 1991 by Dick Pavone, Brian Huffman and Michael Young (their last names form the "Phy" of the name), and Bashore bought it from them in 1996.

Bashore was new to screen printing when he acquired the shop. "I learned to screen print in about a week, after seeing it in art class," he says. In 2002, he expanded the business into embroidery. Both types of decorating are done in the single facility — one of the many reasons Bashore enjoys the extra space so much. "In our original facility, everything was in one room. Now everything is separate, including a showroom and two offices," he says.

He currently runs Atlas screen printing equipment, a four-color, four-station and a six-color, six-station manual press, and a Tajima two-head, 15-needle embroidery machine. When he took over the embroidery business, only about 15% of his orders were for embroidery; however, Bashore says he's worked to build up that segment of his business, and it's now represents approximately 40%.

Phy Graphix's four employees include Bafore's parents-in-law, Orianna and Ed Spittle. "My mother-in-law works here full-time and does just about everything, including screen printing, embroidery and most of the office work. She's been in the business as long as I have," he says.

A significant portion of their business is team sales. In fact, Dave Pettican, a British soccer player, has been a significant client for the past 10 years. Pettican lives in nearby Lebanon, Pa., about six months out of the year and conducts soccer camps for local youth. He orders between 7,000 and 8,000 shirts each year. The company also does contract and government work. The United States Army orders embroidered uniforms for its all-Army sports teams at Fort Indiantown Gap, a National Guard training center in Lebanon County, Pa.

In 12 years, Bashore has learned to screen print and embroider, picked up some fairly large clients and expanded his shop to more than six times its original size. By any measure, those are impressive accomplishments. — Liz Aull

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