Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of Tri-Cities. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Tri-Cities, Tennessee.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 37: Mastering Screen Printing: Sean Westman's Journey from Electrician to Nooga Print Owner
What makes Sean Westman with Nooga Print a good neighbor?
Ever wondered how a skilled electrician transitions into the world of screen printing? Meet Sean Westman, the passionate owner and operator of Nooga Print, who shares his compelling story of turning his basement into a competitive screen printing business. By capitalizing on his extensive experience, Sean has not only mastered the craft but also kept his overhead low, allowing him to thrive in Chattanooga's saturated market.
Join us as we uncover the intricacies of screen printing with Sean, including the critical differences between traditional screen printing and the increasingly popular DTF transfers. Sean's insights will help you understand why quality matters and why supporting local businesses can make all the difference. This episode promises to equip you with the knowledge to make informed decisions about your custom prints, straight from a seasoned expert who lives and breathes screen printing.
To learn more about Nooga Print go to:
Nooga Print
423-750-4661
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I have a very special guest today who I think you will find very interesting, as I have you will find very interesting, as I have. I have the pleasure of introducing your neighbor, mr Sean Westman, owner and operator of Nuga Print. So, stephen, I'm sorry, sean, welcome to the show, thank you.
Speaker 2:The legal name Stephen is kind of the legal name, so I go by Sean. So there you go, gotcha. Sorry about that, I'll go with Sean. So I know I'm excited to learn about exactly what you do and what your company does. So if you don't mind, just tell us a little bit about your business.
Speaker 3:We screen print shirts, hats, tote bags pretty much anything you can screen print on. I also offer embroidery. We can do banners. I'm working closely on doing car wraps with another company that is local here in Chattanooga and also a big sign company. I'm planning on expanding to covering as much stuff that can be printed as possible.
Speaker 2:Wow, so it sounds like you print pretty much, or screen print just about anything.
Speaker 3:I try to stay away from office supplies because I mean that's just too saturated of a market.
Speaker 2:I understand. I understand, like pens and pencils and that sort of thing. Yeah Well, sean, how did you get into the screen printing business?
Speaker 3:I was screen printing for 15 years before I became an electrician. I was an electrician for over 20 years and my knees went bad and this was just recent. So I had my doctor told me I had to find another trade and screen printing was just. It made sense because I have all the experience I need in that field. So I took all of my savings, every single dime I had, and I invested in a screen print shop, and which I do operate out of my home. I do not have a storefront. I have a huge basement that is now my screen print shop huge basement that is now my screen print shop Gotcha.
Speaker 3:Well, since COVID a lot of businesses have learned that they don't have to have a brick and mortar building, so a lot of folks working out of their house now including me actually it allows me to be competitive because I don't have that overhead and in the printing market that's extremely important because we do have a pretty saturated market here in Chattanooga. So I try to keep my costs down to stay competitive. Gotcha.
Speaker 2:Gotcha Now are there. Can you think of any myths or mis conceptions about the screen printing industry, the biggest thing?
Speaker 3:that's, yeah, the biggest thing that's going on right now, and keep in mind I'm just getting back into this, so I'm seeing what's happening locally and on the internet.
Speaker 3:A lot of people are advertising that they can do shirts and these people and these are local companies that don't have screen printing equipment they're using transfers, DTF transfers. Now, there's nothing wrong with DTF transfers, but there is a difference in quality and there is a difference in longevity, and I think it's important for people to know this, because if you go to somebody that says they can do shirts for cheap or whatever, they need to focus more on quality, because the last thing you want to do is throw a shirt in the wash and have it shrink and have the transfers be damaged because you did something wrong. It's important to know what you're getting, and this is a big deal, because there's a lot of people that, with a transfer machine and ordering transfers on the internet which, by the way, is not buying local, and I am a hardcore advocate for buying local it's a huge deal. So people need to know the difference.
Speaker 2:What exactly I mean? I know you said the quality, but without getting too technical, what is the difference between a transfer and a screen print?
Speaker 3:You're going to get. I mean a transfer. You may get three to five years out of it, maybe even less, depending on how it was put on. Dtf is a relatively new technology. It's not super new. It's been out for six or so years. It's the ink that you would print. That is printed from a special printer that goes right onto film and then it's pressed onto the top of the fabric. That's what DTF is, so the ink basically lays on top and in. That's it's a transferred process, whereas screen printing you're pushing the ink into the fabric. So there is a big difference there.
Speaker 2:Okay, I see now. So DTF stands for direct to fabric, I'm guessing.
Speaker 3:Direct to film and then you transfer it onto the fabric.
Speaker 2:Gotcha Gotcha, but with screen printing it actually infiltrates the fabric and it's in there. It's not going anywhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's in and it has to be cured properly. There's more of a technique in screen printing. It's definitely a trade, whereas DTF, pretty much anybody can grab a transfer and pop it on a shirt and press it down and make it work. But you know you don't want to use that quality in certain scenarios, like if you're working outdoors all the time and there might be some fading involved, whereas it won't do that to screen printed ink. Gotcha.
Speaker 2:Okay, outside of work, sean, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:Um, I like to shoot guns Nice, I have some pretty neat guns and I like to shoot crossbows, and I'm also an artist. My wife and I are both artists. Um, we do a lot of uh and that kind of just goes hand in hand with my business. Um, you know, cause I do all the art layout and everything with my business as well. So, other than that, we like to basically just go on walks and we love to see the city. We love downtown Chattanooga, I love meeting all the new people and it's just a great city.
Speaker 2:And it's growing like crazy. Yeah, very good, very good. So let's switch gears for a minute. Can you think of a hardship or life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you better or stronger after the fact? Does anything come to mind?
Speaker 3:Yeah, my kids basically, when they were born I used to be an old school rock and roll singer. I actually have some albums, yeah. So once they came around I had to get serious. That was pretty life changing. And then also, after becoming an electrician and my knees messing up, I mean that's pretty life changing too, because I've completely had to switch gears and start the screen print shop and you definitely have to know what you're doing in business to succeed. So it's a it's a learning experience every day for me.
Speaker 2:But it sounds like you've come out on top doing something that you enjoy doing, and so you are better for it. Oh yeah, yep, okay. Well, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you, your business, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I think the most important thing in Chattanooga, in our city, in our town and this goes with every town in the United States people need to keep their money local and start supporting local quality. And I know there's some companies that are bad apples, that don't provide good quality, but my company does. I don't want to be the cheapest guy company does. I don't want to be the cheapest guy out there. I don't want to be the most expensive guy out there. I want to be competitive and I want to build relationships and that's the biggest thing. I'm good for building relationships, I like people and but people have to understand I focus more on quality than anything else in getting the job right and making sure people are happy.
Speaker 2:Typically, local businesses do a better job, in my experience anyway, as far as quality is concerned, but also might not, like you said. Might not be the cheapest, but it's probably the better quality, and if it's local, you can develop a relationship with somebody too, as opposed to a website, correct? So, okay, well, very cool. Well, how, sean, can our listeners learn more about Nougat Print?
Speaker 3:Well, if they go to my hub that's nougatprintinfocom I have a little hub there It'll direct you to my Facebook. You could actually friend me on Facebook and like my page. I'm not up to 5,000 friends yet, so I've just peaked over a thousand since I've started the new Facebook for my business. So there's still a lot of room to grow there. So if people want to friend me, get in on it now. Other than that, I do have a store. There's an online store I have a link to. Other than screen printing, I'm kind of exploring the field of selling online as well, so I got to try and hit every avenue I can, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely All right. Well, Sean, I know you're running a business, you're a busy guy and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you giving us this time to have you on our show, and we wish you and Nuga Print all the best moving forward and I hope we can have you back on the show.
Speaker 3:That'd be great. I appreciate it. All right. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.