In Hanover, Pennsylvania, Jess and Ryan Miller run Prestige Apparel — a family-owned and operated apparel decoration business that offers screen-printed and embroidered apparel and promotional products.

With Ryan’s background in graphic design and screen printing and a push from family, the pair set up shop in the basement of their 900-sq.-ft. home in 2004.

It housed a six-color, eight-station manual press, small dryer, and a washout booth. The space even included a dark room and exposure unit, allowing the small but mighty basement operation to expose screens. 

What started as a side hustle has since grown into a one-stop shop for custom apparel. The print shop specializes in outfitting sports teams, schools, businesses, and churches with the logo’d items they need. 

In the early days, the pair ran the business on their days off from their full-time jobs, including evenings and weekends. This continued for about three years, and then it became too much to manage. “We quickly grew, and it wasn’t just a side hustle,” Jess recalls, which led them to quit their jobs and go in on the print business full time.  

In December 2023, they purchased a brick-and-mortar building and moved into that space in April 2024. The shop features four automatic screen-printing presses, an automatic screen washing machine, a six-head embroidery machine, two dryers, and a couple of heat presses. 

While the print business offers direct-to-garment (DTG) and direct-to-film (DTF), it leverages its decorator network and outsources both digital printing methods. That said, the team wants to explore new processes and opportunities that can benefit the business. Last year’s Apparel Decoration Summit in Nashville helped them on that journey. 

Apparel Decoration Summit: Where Equipment-Buying Decisions Start 

Jess, alongside her right-hand woman and shop manager Kaley Arnold, took on the Summit eager to learn. The pair engaged in case study sessions, came ready to ask questions, and even won a hat press courtesy of STAHLS’.  

Being most excited to learn more about DTG and DTF, the pair was able to take the knowledge they gained back to their shop — putting them in a better place to make buying decisions.

Arnold says it was especially helpful meeting and connecting with shops that only offer DTG and DTF printing in-house. Being in a safe space like the Summit with like-minded shop owners and operators allowed them to bounce ideas off each other and pick each other’s brains.  

“I just loved meeting new people,” Arnold shares. “It was wonderful. The people that we met, I have some connections now through Instagram and follow along with their shop.” 

She particularly appreciated the case study sessions, saying it felt like her group was “tailor-made” for her as someone who manages the shop’s blank apparel ordering. She was able to ask suppliers questions and get intel into trends and anything big they have coming down the pike.  

“When you go to a trade show, you’re kind of cattleshooted along,” Jess adds. “Where this was more tailored. You had time to talk with people; you had time to ask questions. There was so much technology that I was not even aware of.” 

The general sessions and panels with time for Q&A were a highlight for Jess. She says the information shared went beyond the boilerplate content you hear time and time again. “They were able and willing to help and not just compete, which was really cool.” 

Apparel Decoration Summit was their first real dip into the digital printing research waters. 

” I still haven’t decided which avenue to go — the direct-to-garment or direct-to-film [avenue],” Jess shares. “I’m still weighing my options. That’s on my 2025 goals: trying to decide whether or not we want to go DTF [or] DTG and speak to more people on that.” 

Listening to Employee Ideas and Customer Needs

Beyond technology expansions, Jess continues to focus on excellent customer service and creating a space for her nine employees to feel welcome and heard. As a business owner, she makes it a point to hear the opinions and ideas of her employees. 

“Everybody’s opinion here really matters,” Jess says. She recalls having bosses who would talk over her, not listen, or pay attention to employee ideas. From that, she knew what she wanted to avoid as a boss. “As a leader, I think it’s very important to make sure that your employees know that they are important. We wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing without them, and you spend so much time with the people that you work with.” 

That same intentional approach is used when dealing with customers and speaks to the shop’s impressive 4.8 stars on Google Reviews.  

Explaining the nearly five-star service, Arnold says Prestige Apparel prides itself on customer interaction. When someone calls the shop, a person answers within a ring or two ready to answer questions. When orders are ready for shipping or pick up, the team picks up the phone to notify the customer. If a new customer has an inquiry, they invite them into the shop for a 1:1 meeting. 

“I just think as much as we treat each other like family, we are really trying to do that with our customers too,” Arnold adds. “We want to learn who they are so we can really understand them, their company, their foundation, so we can really bring that out when we create work for them.”  

It sounds simple, but it’s a nice reminder to not just focus on orders in/orders out but take the time to build relationships.  

“One of the small things that I like is we get to know our customers on a personal basis,” Jess says. “So when Joe comes back in, we can be like, ‘Hey, how was your daughter’s basketball camp?’ That personal touch is super important to, again, let those customers know how important they are to us, how much we value them and their business. So remembering the small details, making sure they feel welcome, making sure they know that we care about them.” 

This approach leads to customer referrals, Jess notes, and in the 20 years the shop has been in business, they haven’t done much in the advertising realm thanks to local word-of-mouth. Despite that, Jess says she wants to see what online advertising can bring to the business in 2025.