Brandan Sterner of Fresh Press Threads applies a design to a t-shirt at his business’ new storefront on Bowman Road. Sterner and his wife, Jennifer, own the custom design business, running it out of their garage before moving to their new storefront.
Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — From its humble beginnings as a hobby growing to being housed in a garage to now having its own storefront just a short drive down Bowman Road from that same garage, Fresh Press Threads has been making its mark in the Lima business community, and co-owners Brandan and Jennifer Sterner are inviting the community to share in their success at a Saturday afternoon open house.
However many people show up, there will, sadly, be one face noticeably absent.
Jennifer’s father, Steve Wells, died Tuesday after 10 days in hospice care. While he lived long enough to see the design and print company move into its 1377 Bowman Road location in March, he was not able to live long enough to see the Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday or take in the open house scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m., an event Wells, prior to his death, insisted go forward no matter what.
“This has been probably the hardest thing preparing for this,” she said. “He said, ‘I don’t care what happens. You can’t cancel. You have to do this because it’s your dream, and you’ve both worked so hard for this, and I don’t want to disrupt that.’ So we had to finish and do the grand opening for him.”
Wells’ support of the Sterners’ business goes back to the beginning as he built the first workbench for the couple as they learned the art of screen printing and design, leading to the start of their business in 2019.
“We started in a spare bedroom of our rental house on the homemade workbench that my dad built, just making heat-transfer designs,” Jennifer said. “My husband was very interested in the art of screen printing, so when we bought our first home, we converted our entire garage into a screen printing studio and taught ourselves the process from beginning to end.”
A native of Pennsylvania, Brandan Sterner had moved to Lima with his wife in order to be closer to her father. In the early days of Fresh Press Threads, he continued working full-time at Rudolph Foods even as their business began to take shape and grow.
“I’d work during the day and she’d hold down the business,” he said. “Then I’d come home and print for six hours, sleep and repeat. [A co-worker] knew I did both, and he told me one day, ‘What are you doing? Go full-time with your business.’ As far as working full-time with this business, this is only my second year.”
As the business has grown, the Sterners, along with their daughter, Charlotte, “our CEO,” according to Jennifer, have worked with a variety of clients both inside and outside the Lima area, including Brandan’s former employer, Rudolph Foods.
“We do a lot of business with other small businesses that are trying to clothe employees or market by giving out shirts with their logos on it,” Jennifer said. “We’ve also done big corporations, too. We’ve done work for Rudolph and schools. We’re trying to branch out to bigger customers.”
Now having a storefront, they hope to increase the visibility of their business in the area, even including a small retail space to allow for in-store purchases of hats and t-shirts featuring their designs.
“This was our dream to have a storefront where people could come and see us,” Jennifer said. “The legitimacy of moving from a home-based business to a storefront has really changed our business, and we’re excited to open our doors to our community.”
Saturday’s open house will include live screen printing where customers can buy a shirt and watch it be printed. There will also be live music, games and food, including printed cookies and macarons from Miss Mel’s Bakery.
To learn more about Fresh Press Threads, go to https://bit.ly/3S3deNn, search for Fresh Press Threads on Facebook or call 567-371-3100.
