As a special addition to our member promotion services, the Chamber is now offering a free Featured Member Profile, which will be printed in the Chamber View and posted on the website for a month, then moved into a prominently-placed online archive for the remainder of the year.  To win this free publicity, just drop your business card into the Featured Member Fishbowl at each monthly Networking Mixer and be present for the drawing.  For more information, call the Chamber, 410-719-9609.

Featured Member

May 2009

Dan and Maude Swearingen of EmbroidMe Catonsville:
Customizing Your Wearables, Living Their Dream 

It only takes a few minutes with Dan and Maude Swearingen in their EmbroidMe franchise to make it clear – this family has waited a long time to create their dream, and now they are living it.

It’s evident in the pride with which they lead a tour of their Route 40 shop, pointing out the range of clothing styles that carry their custom embroidery and printing…the machinery that can produce up to 125 pieces per day…and especially the well-filled job board.

“Maude and I wanted to be in business for ourselves,” says Dan, “and it’s been a five-year endeavor. We knew we wanted to work with a franchise, and we chose the franchisor as much as we chose the industry.”

With Maude’s background in graphic arts, and Dan’s experience in sales and technology through real estate and telecommunications, the EmbroidMe franchise was a perfect fit. And their choice yielded more than a new future for their family; it yielded a community.

As residents of Burtonsville, they were looking for a quiet community and thriving business audience. And when EmbroidMe pointed them to Catonsville and US Route 40 as a likely location, they fell in love.

“We knew it would be good to have a store on Route 40, but we didn’t know about all the additional benefits of being in Catonsville,” Maude explains. “We had no idea how beautiful the community is, or how friendly and approachable and welcoming everyone would be here.  Just as soon as we’d opened our doors, Teal came and visited to tell us about the benefits of being Chamber members. To have the Chamber seek you out – it was wonderful.”

Today, just nine months since their shop opened, she and Dan are establishing strong connections in the community, with local civic groups, churches, schools and athletic teams as well as businesses. As horse-lovers, they’ve found a special niche market in the stables and riding teams of the equestrian market.

Their customers have access to a stunning array of clothing and accessory options: from industrial and athletic uniforms to business casual, dress items, ceremonial garb and outerwear. “We have clothing appropriate for anyone in the workforce,” says Dan.

He points out the polos, work apparel , customized spa robes and towels, baby bibs and tote bags, coming at last to the T-shirt rack. “Another major area of the business is T-shirts,” he says. “We can do screen prints and ink jet digital printing in full color. We can also do“ – he holds out a cheerleader’s pink T studded with rhinestones in a bullhorn pattern – “bling.”

Not just the products, but also the processes, are a source of pride for the Swearingens, who can design logos for their customers and use both printed and digital artwork in creating their embroidery designs.

Using a logo, Maude demonstrates a sample process: first tweaking the color balance on the computer, then placing a T-shirt in the the digital garment printer. “We have limitless color choices,” she says. “There are no messy screens or dangerous chemicals, and the ink is completely absorbed in the fabric – it won’t chip off, and it remains soft against your skin.” She removes the T from the printer and transfers it to the nearby heat press to fix the design into the fabric, then holds up the shirt. Tone for tone, the design is precisely reproduced.

We admire the finished product, and Dan turns to exhibit the four-head embroidery machine in the next room, where their 19-year-old daughter Melissa is managing the production of caps. “It’s a 4-head, 12-color machine that weighs a ton and a half, but it’s driven by a crank shaft so perfectly balanced that I can turn it by hand if needed,” he says. “It takes about half an hour for me to thread each of the 12-needle embroidery heads.”

Between their printing and embroidery services, the Swearingens are turning around projects in roughly a week: fast-track projects are done in a day, with two weeks as the longest turnaround time. Eager to build their business to its full capacity, they are reaching out to potential customers in the community and beyond with a multi-focal marketing strategy.

“We’re lucky to be here,” says Maude, and Dan adds, “What’s your next custom apparel project, Catonsville?”

 Past Featured Members