Cleveland, Ohio-based University Tees (UTees), a source for custom collegiate and Greek apparel, acquires Greek House, strengthening its position as an apparel printer in the market.

Asking what Greek House brings to the UTees equation, Katie Wolanczyk, head of marketing and e-commerce for UTees, tells Apparelist: “This allows us to enhance our customer experience, expand our decoration services, and pursue new growth opportunities. As we continue to integrate the organizations, our focuses will remain on more exclusive and trendy releases, an enhanced ordering experience, and continued growth of our decoration capabilities/capacity.”

The company says the move will also bring faster turnaround times on custom artwork and expand the UTees Campus Manager program, which is its student-run sales team. For colleges and universities, it means student, department, and Greek organization support all in one place.

Greek House Co-Founder Luke McGurrin adds, “We are so excited and grateful for this opportunity to bring together two amazing teams in the industry, the alignment and synergies that are created with the two companies joining forces is going to mean new opportunities for customers, students, and team members that haven’t existed before.”

A Path of Growth

In 2022, UTees moved into a more robust 90,000-sq.-ft. facility, printing 3 million designs each year. This expansion coupled with the acquisition includes the addition of two new large automatic screen-printing presses, doubling its capacity. This allows it to handle increased volumes with efficiency in mind and an opportunity to grow its contract decoration business. In addition to screen printing, UTees offers embroidery, DTG, heat printing, and branding.

“We believe this acquisition brings additional value, capabilities, and a larger number of Campus Managers to better serve our customers,” shares Joe Haddad, UTees co-founder. “Together, we aim to elevate our products and services to continue delivering an amazing custom apparel experience!”

The joint venture comes at a time when consumers plan to spend $82 million on back-to-school collegiate branded gear, and the NIL space continues to take off, an area Greek House leads in with its brand Athlete’s Thread.