When my son at the age of 10 wanted to do something to make his own money. We thought that was a good start at being an independant person. So we bought him a $49.00 button machine and he started making pokemon buttons and sold them to his friends at $1.00ea. He did well for a kid. 

Until.... he was at a Community Festival and his Grandmother who was a teacher at a local school, ran into a friend who was a teacher from another school, and my son showed her his pokemon button proudly, and was asked if he could make 1000 for her school. His eyes got very big and said "I'll have to talk to my mom about that. As it happened, we upgraded the button machine and it's all history from there. We were making lots of buttons, and when asked if we could do this, or if we could do that, the answer was always yes. We didn't know the meaning of "no". 

I took over the button business working from the basement of our home as my son lost interest when it became work. Kids, go figure. We moved into decorating T-shirts for parents whose children were playing the All-Star baseball and softball leagues. The parents were proudly supporting their kids on the bleachers and wanted shirts to wear. That was a big hit as well. After spending a week in Duck, N.C a couple of years later, and seeing the T-shirt designs in the shops along the beach gave me an idea. We can do that. I searched to find vendors who would sell me those designs. I found what I was looking for. That went well for awhile, but everything we did we were always asked, "can you put my name on it" Of course we can. It became solely a custom business. 

So we started screenprinting. That was the next big thing to add to the business. We took on more customers as our business grew from buttons, to custom t-shirts. As we continued to grow, our shop took on an embroidery machine to add yet another phase to upgrade our services. That same year we added promotional advertising products to our menu as well. It's all been good from there. I hear all the time about how people have a dream of having their own business. You know, someone who had a great sandwich in New York, and dreamed of bringing that same taste and idea to their hometown. We were just the opposite, I never in a million years dreamed that the little button machine we bought, would ever lead to this. We are still going strong, loving what we do, and are very proud of our business no matter how it got started. 

Our family hobbies are: sailing, horseback riding, volleyball, webkinz, music, and just being with friends. My son, now 33, and has moved on to become a great piano player and musician of many intruments, while majoring in microchip study and development. He's a great graphic artist. He still does some drawing for me on occassion and does little jobs now and then. (when I can buckle him down.) I use him when he has time, otherwise our other artist and digitizers do a fantastic job of creating your logos for reproduction. I have to say, my husband of 23 years has been the backbone of it all. His love, support and friendship has carried us through the good and the bad. Goochand Tees has flourished over the years. Many changes have taken place. But one thing is, and always will be, that we take pride in the work that we do for our clients. Offering quality products, with a finished result they can be proud of, and a down-home country smile with every order. Whether it be on the phone or in person. So the next time you're out our way, stop in, we would love to see you!