Ink Is More Than You Think

By David Doctorow, CEO of Custom Ink

If you’ve ordered from Custom Ink before, there’s a good chance it started with some t-shirts. Maybe it was for a family reunion, a 5K, a team offsite, or a class field trip. And if you’re like most of our customers, that first order led to a second, and then a third. Because somewhere along the way, you realized that the right custom gear does something bigger than just look good. It brings people together.

I know this personally – (feels like) long ago, when I was at Leigh High School in San Jose, California, I was the drum major of the school marching band. My bandmates and I had different backgrounds, were part of different social groups, and had different interests. But when we put our uniforms on for performances, we were one and the same. And the feeling of belonging to that community was so powerful that we would proudly wear our custom gear in between performances. 

For 25 years, Custom Ink has been the company people trust when they need to rally a team, celebrate a moment, or make a group feel like they belong to something. What started as a way to design custom t-shirts online has grown into something we’re incredibly proud of—and today, I’m excited to share the next chapter.

We’re refreshing our brand. And the story behind that is “Ink Is More Than You Think.”

Here’s why.

Over the past few years, something shifted. Businesses that used to order t-shirts for a summer picnic started coming to us for onboarding kits, sales kickoff swag, client gifts, and employee recognition programs. Schools and nonprofits expanded well beyond spirit wear into branded merchandise of all kinds. Companies large and small have been working with us for years. We just hadn’t told that story loudly enough.

So we asked ourselves: what would it look like if our brand caught up to the company we’ve already become, and got ahead of where we’re going?

Meet Janine

Our brand refresh is anchored by a character we call Janine, a 40-something organizer savant who treats Custom Ink as her cheat code for solving any team challenge with absurd confidence. She’s the HR coordinator, the PTA president, the team captain, the office manager who somehow always knows what the group needs. Through humor and heart, Janine celebrates the people who do the behind-the-scenes work of making teams feel like teams.

A lot has changed behind the scenes

This isn’t just a new tagline and a fresh coat of paint. Over the past 18 months, we’ve made real, measurable investments in the Custom Ink platform. We’ve expanded our catalog to more than 10,000 different products, including doubling our hard goods offerings in 2025, which now account for more than two thirds of our total product catalog. And we’ve grown our no and low minimum quantity ordering capability from 60 products to more than 1,000. That means you can now order a single sample of thousands of different products, so you can see and feel exactly what you’re getting before committing your budget.

We’ve added premium brands you already know and trust, such as YETI, Patagonia, The North Face, Nike, and built smarter pricing tools that deliver the right promotions at the right time. We’ve restructured our entire sales and service organization to better support teams of every size, from inbound and local sales to dedicated account management and vertical specialists. Nearly 40% of our sales are from new customers. That momentum tells us we’re on the right track.

What’s not changing

The things that made you fall in love with Custom Ink in the first place. The Inkers who pick up the phone and genuinely care about your order. The Design Lab that makes it fun to create something your team will actually want to wear. The guarantee that you’ll never have an unhappy surprise. That’s all still here. It’s the foundation everything else is built on.

We still help with family reunions and school fundraisers. We still believe that when a group of people puts on matching gear, something real happens—a sense of pride, of belonging, of being part of something worth showing up for.

Why it matters

I’ve learned something in my time at Custom Ink: swag is nobody’s full-time job, but everybody notices when it’s done right. The person who steps up to handle it – the Janines of the world – deserves a partner that makes the process seamless, reliable, and rewarding.

That’s the promise behind “Ink Is More Than You Think.” It’s our commitment to showing up for you, whether you’re ordering for 10 people or 10,000.

Thank you for being part of our story. We can’t wait to show you what’s next.