Designing a Dream

John Anton started selling custom-made T-shirts in college. With DesignAShirt.com, he now sells an average of $12,000 worth of custom-designed apparel every day As told to Darren Dahl

Monday, March 5, 2007
DesignAShirt.com President, John Anton www.designashirt.com
help@designashirt.com

Business Type:E-Commerce
2007 Revenue:$6 million
No. of Employees:27

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You probably remember that guy or gal from college who roamed the dormitory halls, the parking lot, and the bleachers before every big game hawking snarky and ironic T-shirts. John Anton was one such guy, and, after a brief but failed stint in the corporate world, he decided there was a fulltime living to be made peddling 100 percent cotton tees in his hometown of Tempe, Ariz. After achieving success with Anton Sports, his brick-and-mortar screen-printing and embroidery business, Anton really got things cooking in 2003 when he launched DesignAShirt.com, which now sells, on average, about $12,000 worth of custom-designed apparel every day.

"In 1985, while I was a student at Arizona State University, I got fired from a waiter job. It happened that my fraternity was having a party that same weekend. So I designed a racy T-shirt based on our rival school's mascot -- the USC Trojan -- paid for the shirts with a cash advance on my credit card, and within 20 minutes of selling, I had made a $2,000 profit. I vowed to never work for anyone again. I continued selling T-shirts for every football game for the rest of my time there. I even hired a team to sell shirts in the parking lot. By my senior year, I was driving a Mercedes.

"After graduation, though, I tried a real job -- selling chemicals for a Fortune 500 company. Wearing a shirt and tie every day wasn't for me. So, I went back to my credit cards, bought some equipment, and set up a print shop in my garage.


"In 1989, just before the state's housing market collapsed, I bought a bigger building to work in. But, following the collapse, I couldn't afford my house anymore. So I rented out my house to a bunch of friends and lived in my warehouse for the next two years.


"My turning point was when the Professional Golfer's Association announced that the Phoenix Open was coming to town in 1991. They placed a huge order with me to promote the event. After that weekend, the business took off, and I could finally move back into my house.


"By 2002, I realized that I couldn't grow Anton Sports alone to anything more than just a $2 million-a-year business. So we launched DesignAShirt.com as an e-commerce site. We thought we could give our customers, wherever they were, the ability to customize their order by themselves online. I hired a team of freelancers and we took what we saw as the best of the Internet at that time -- web sites like Coke and Lands' End -- and improved upon them. We went live in 2003 and the orders started pouring in, usually between 20 and 30 every day at an average of $400 a pop. Our minimum order is for six shirts, but if a customer begs enough, we'll print them a single one.


"Today, we've come full circle. I've launched a third business, called Shirt Software, where we are licensing our custom software to the growing number of competitors out there. I want anyone to have the chance to live the dream."