Monster Press
A long way away from its origins of operating from a “rickety press”
in a shed, Monster Press has evolved greatly over the past
15 years. Carys Evans talks to director Will about the journey
Monday, 14 Feb 2022 17:02 GMT
(L to R) Will, former FESPA President Christian Duyckaerts, and Ziggy celebrating their win at FESPA 2017
Roaring success
The idea for the now successful textile printing company, Monster Press, was first conceived back in 2006 by 19-year-old Will and 17-year-old Ziggy. The pair started screen printing in a shed in Ziggy’s parent’s back garden using what Will describes as a “rickety” press they bought from eBay.
The company was first started in Ziggy’s parent’s shed back in 2006 and the pair used a manual press they bought from eBay
“We cured prints using a flash that was essentially an oven element on a stand,” Will explains, adding: “It was very hot, dark, and there wasn’t very good ventilation.” When Ziggy’s parents moved to Saudi Arabia for work, the duo had to find a place to live and print.
After searching within 100 miles of where they were living at the time in Hampshire, they ended up in a three-bed house with a double garage in Westbury, Wiltshire. Having moved a few times since then, the pair are now living in Bath with the company being operated 15 minutes away.
Fast forward 15 years and Monster Press is now made up of a team of 11 and operates out of 450sq m premises.
A one-stop shop
Having started out using a manual press from eBay, the company now operates two MHM S-Type automatic presses, an M&R Prerunner, and a large Adelco dryer. It also uses a Zentner auto reclaimer and a Spyder DTS. Using this kit, Monster Press is able to offer a one-stop shop service for all things garment printing. The company produces mainly textile screen printing and direct-to-garment printing as well as additional services such as labelling and bagging.
The vast majority of business is working directly with small businesses and start-ups where the average order is around 75pcs. Will says: “We have a ton of different clients and due to this and our average print run being relatively small (for screen printing), it’s important that we can be organised and work efficiently to handle lots of smaller orders without messing things up.
The Monster Press now operates from a 450sq m premises near Bath
“Our typical client would be for example an indie fashion brand, game studio, restaurant etc. Usually customers that are quality conscious who don’t mind paying a little more for a quality product.”
Describing the day-to-day running of the business, Will says: “The majority of my time is spent scheduling and doing colour separations. The rest is helping staff, problem solving, and dull administrative tasks that small business owners do.
“When time allows, I chip away at my never ending to do list. I don’t actually screen print anymore personally. My business partner Ziggy runs production and is an amazing printer/practically minded genius.” It’s the staff at Monster Press that is one of Will’s favourite parts of the company and he describes the team as “a really great bunch of people”.
I still get excited by seeing a cool shirt design that’s printed well so that’s definitely a motivator. Oh, and the dogs”
Due to the nature of the work produced, Will also enjoys having the opportunity to work with creatives and “print for some really cool brands which have great designs”. He adds: “I still get excited by seeing a cool shirt design that’s printed well so that’s definitely a motivator. Oh, and the dogs.”
Year-on-year growth
As the company has grown over the last decade-and-a-half, Will reflects on the development of its core values which he lists as quality, organisation, and culture. “Quality because putting out a quality product is number one.
Taking that extra care required, rather than focusing so much on high volume.
“Organisation and communication in the sense of making sure processes are in place to track orders from start to finish with minimal stress and speed up repetitive processes so we can focus on putting out a good product. Examples of this would be in-depth job scheduling and shop management software that can be accessed and easily understood by any employee.
“And having a good work culture in the sense of like-minded individuals working together with no drama. Retaining good staff is very important.”
Over the last 15 years, the company has grown year-on-year, but not without avoiding a few obstacles on the way. The pandemic was one obstacle that hit many businesses hard, in particular small-to-medium businesses. Will describes the year 2020 as “doom” for most businesses and says Covid-19 “threw up all kinds of stress”.
Over the last 15 years, the company has grown year-on-year, but not without avoiding a few obstacles on the way”
However, he says the early days of starting out were the hardest, describing the learning curve and stress of things not going how you wanted as the biggest challenge. “Spending all your time working and grinding was a big challenge. It was fun though overall.”
That being said, when reflecting back over the journey the company has taken thus far and what he is most proud of, Will adds: “I’m pretty proud that two college dropouts who were clueless managed to pull themselves together and run a successful business for 15 years.”
The success of the business was demonstrated in 2017 when Monster Press won a Silver Award in the T-shirts & Other Garments category for its screen printed shirt with UK artist Christopher Lovell.
Looking forward and the directors are hoping to expand the company’s direct-to-garment offering and invest in an embroidery machine.
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