LINCOLN SQUARE — Let's say, for the case of argument and the purpose of this article, the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Stanley Cup.
The second the final buzzer sounds on the series, and even before the final note of "Chelsea Dagger" has mercifully faded into the rafters, Shirts Our Business will get to work.
The screen printing shop, at 4949 N. Western Ave., has once again been contracted to crank out Hawks victory t-shirts for outlets like Sports Authority.
Shirts Our Business has been operating at 4949 N. Western Ave. since 1986. [All photos DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
"We start the minute the game is over. We're ready to run," said S.O.B. founder/owner Ron Weiss.
Crews pulled a couple of all-nighters following the Hawks conference and Stanley Cup titles two years ago, though Weiss remained cagey about the number of Hawks shirts that flew out of his shop.
"We printed for several days," he said.
Fingers crossed, S.O.B. will soon be printing 2015 Blackhawks championship shirts.
If 2013's experience holds true, trucks will begin pulling up to S.O.B. at 2 a.m. to take delivery of the first shipment of shirts.
S.O.B.'s handiwork shouldn't be confused with the shirts players don the instant a victory is secured.
"There is an official locker room shirt," Weiss explained.
An allotment is given to each team and the loser's immediately irrelevant and inaccurate stash is either donated or destroyed, he said.
"The huge quantities come the next day," said Weiss.
While Chicago's sports teams have been a boon to S.O.B.'s bottom line over the years — the company also nabbed licenses to print Bulls' championship tees — Weiss knows where his bread is really buttered.
"I wouldn't take more [licensed orders] than I could handle and still service our regular customers," he said. "After 40 years, those are the ones who brought us here."
Squeegees and Stencils in a Digital Age
In this digital age, screen printing remains an anachronistically mechanical, at times even manual, process.
"You still physically have to handle the shirt," Weiss said.
Ron Weiss, owner of Shirts Our Business.
Direct-to-garment (DTG) technology exists, in which images are printed via ink jet, but Weiss said the method isn't yet "reliable for large output."
Silk screening, popularized by Andy Warhol in the 1960s, is still the best way to put customized graphics — be it a statement, logo, advertisement or art — on fabric, according to Weiss.
Shirts have gotten thinner and more comfortable over the decades, and the introduction of women's cuts has provided a growth market. Inks have become more eco-friendly, either no or low-volatile organic compounds, according to Weiss.
But the basic screen printing process remains little changed.
[Video: DNAinfo/Kyla Gardner]
S.O.B.'s 15,000-square-foot building, which the business has occupied since 1986, contains two main production lines. Each consists of a hub-and-spoke setup on which shirts are rotated under various screens, as well as a conveyor that transports shirts under a dryer.
Anywhere from 300 to 800 shirts can be printed in an hour, Weiss said.
As shirts circle around the hub, ink is sprayed onto a screen and squeegeed through stencil-covered mesh onto the fabric. Each color — S.O.B. can accommodate up to 11 — requires a different screen.
S.O.B. holds onto screens for a year, and then they're recycled.
Thousands of these rectangular wood frames are stacked floor to ceiling on rows of shelving units that take up nearly half of S.O.B.'s production floor.
And those are just the ones created in the last 12 months. Weiss stores a client's screens for a year, in the event the customer wants or needs an additional round of printing, and then they're recycled.
'Still a Very Intimate Business'
One design Weiss has held onto: the first t-shirt he ever produced back in 1975 when he was a student at Loyola.
Initially screen printing was a means to an end, part of Weiss' ill-conceived scheme to trademark the word "streaker."
How it all started — one of the original Ron Weiss creations.
"I thought I was going to be taking checks out of the mailbox," making a living collecting royalties, he said.
That idea didn't pan out, but the screen printing business stuck.
"It turned out to be 40 years of work," said Weiss. "Things that happen in people's lives take them in strange directions for a reason."
What's kept things fresh for him, he said, are the interactions he has with clients.
"It's still a very intimate business," said Weiss, who estimated that 80 percent of the time customers either stop by S.O.B.'s storefront or call him on the phone.
"I meet with people from all walks of life," he said. "It's fun, it's interesting."
Ron Weiss (right) checks the colors on a shirt before an order is printed.
The "sheer randomness" of the people who walk through the door continues to amaze Weiss' son Brandon, who works in business development for the website Snagajob but keeps an office at S.O.B.
"In any given week you can see a band, police and fire, schools, camps, local bars and major brands," said the younger Weiss.
"He remembers every client, every detail — it's eerie," Brandon said. "I have learned a lot about how to do business from him."
His Own Worst Advertisement
Weiss' encyclopedic memory extends to his first paying customer.
"It was a bar on Rush Street [Faces disco] that's no longer in existence," he said. "They were having a dance marathon and I did the shirts."
Though it's highly unlikely any of those tees are still walking around, Weiss frequently spies his work for fun runs and neighborhood restaurants.
"I'm always happy and kind of surprised," he said. "Wow, I did that shirt. It's a good feeling of accomplishment."
One place you won't find an S.O.B. shirt — on Weiss.
"I started to have a huge collection, but it got old," Weiss said. "Now, most of the things I wear are plain. That way I show no favoritism."
