Meet the Guys Who Make Your Shirts!

Introducing a new segment from the guys at Choke that introduces you to the guys at Choke! As our little shirt company continues to grow, we realize it can be difficult to tell us all apart. "Who did I talk to on the phone?" "Which guy printed my shirt?" "Didn't he operate on my broken leg a few years ago?" (Possibly!) We don't want you to lose sleep over these questions. So we're going to introduce ourselves, one fine gentleman at a time.

Today, the spotlight shines on Matt, co-owner and and VP of sales. We sat down with Matt and asked him the hard questions. After a few dirty martinis and a japadog, we finally got the real answers.

Choke: When did you first decide to start Choke?

Matt: One night I woke up in a cold sweat. I just had a vivid dream where a beautiful and magical sparkling unicorn walked out of the woods and whispered “Choke Shirt Company” and I knew that it was something that we needed to do. Jeff would tell you that we came up with the idea together while shopping at the local markets and deciding that we would love to have our own shirt line… I think we all know which actually happened.

Choke: Where did you work before Choke? How long were you there?

Matt: I have an interior design degree and currently still work in the industry. By day I am an Architectural Product Sales Rep which means I sell cool stuff to the architectural and design industry.

Choke: How does working at Choke compare to working at your other job?

Matt: Being the VP of Sales at Choke is great… its always amazing working for yourself and with your friends. Seeing the little company you started grow makes working on the weekends pretty easy.

Choke: What is your favorite type of shirt? (Blend, cut, style etc)

Matt: I love our Tri Blend tees. SO soft and SOOO comfy. They hug in all the right places.

Choke: What is the best part of working at Choke?

Matt: I think the best part about working at Choke is the atmosphere. 99% of time we get along and its just a fun place where you never know what story you might hear from one of the guys and we can daydream all day about what we want Choke to be some day.

Choke: When not at Choke what else do you like to do?

Matt: I love to travel. Jeff and I try to get away as much as possible and I am not embarrassed to say that one of our favorite vacation locations is Disneyland. Getting a beer is always a good time too.

Choke: Who is the one person/group that you wish would walk into the shop and want to print shirts? Why?

Matt: I hope one day Britney or Madonna are coming through town on a tour and run out of shirts and need us to print them. Of course in my dream Britney or Madonna would actually be the one calling. OHHHH could you imagine it was Britney AND Madonna!

Choke: What’s your favorite Choke Shirt Co. design? Why?

Matt: I think my current favorite Choke Shirt Co. design is one from the upcoming Spring Collection (being released Feb 29^th). Hot Rhino is a really cool design. It has a great back story and the ink colors are a great contrast on the shirt colors that were selected.

Choke: If you got to the shop first and got to pick the Pandora station for the day, which one would you choose? Which station can't you stand?

Matt: Mumford & Sons Radio for a bit and then maybe a little Broadway Showstoppers Radio. I can’t stand Reggae Days with Justin.

Merry Choke-mas Getaway Details!

Well, it's that time of year again... whether you like it or not the air is getting chillier and the sun goes down WAY too early. We can all agree that the only bright spot of this time of year is the holidays... so we here at Choke have decided to make it a little brighter this year!

We're heading up to Vancouver, BC in December for a holiday retail show called the One of a Kind Show. It's going to be pretty exciting! Tons of vendors from the US and Canada selling all kinds of unique, handmade items. And we want to share that with one lucky Choke fan. So we're giving away a trip! And not just any trip... it's a "Canadian Holiday Shopping Adventure"!

One lucky winner and a friend will win the following:

• (2) Entries to the Vancouver One of a Kind Show
  
• (2) Round trip tickets on Amtrak from Seattle, WA to Vancouver, BC (up on Saturday, December 10th, back on Sunday, December 11th)
• (1) One night hotel stay at the Luxury Downtown Vancouver Pan Pacific (one room, 2 double beds) located next to the Vancouver Convention Center
• (1) $200 Choke shopping credit at our One of a Kind Show booth
• (2) Drink tickets and (2) recycled shopping totes (courtesy of Vancouver One of a Kind Show)

All you have to do to sign up for the contest is click the "Merry Choke-mas Getaway" link on Facebook or orange link on the bottom of our website. Make sure to share us with your friends, so they have a chance to win!

The last day to enter is November 18th and the lucky winner will be randomly selected on November 21st.

Annoucing Our New Location!

We announced last week that Choke is moving from our current Print Shop space to a new, larger space in Seattle.

Right now: We work out of a 425 sqft studio workspace on 1st Ave S, just west of Qwest Field. The space has been amazing to get us started in the world of screen printing and managing a graphic tshirt company. The only problem (well... there's a few) is that we've outgrown it.

The 8ft rotary screen printer fits snugly in the 10ft x 15ft room that includes a conveyor belt dryer, flash dryer and 3 work cabinets. A second room houses our computer, printers, samples and exposure box. Did we mention windows? Oh, no we didn't... that's because we're in the middle of the building with only one door and no way for air to circulate. Let me tell you... it gets toasty in here.

The bathroom (which we don't use for our personal businesses) doubles as a "light safe" darkroom where we have screen racks, a pressure washer and a spray out booth that drains into the bathtub. We know... classy.

We're also on the second floor (no elevators) and have to buzz our customers in for meetings and pick ups. And not that we want to spend a lot of time bitching about our current space... but you know the worst part about going to Mariners/Sounders/Seahawks is the traffic and parking situation. Well... welcome to our lives everyday.

NOW THE GOOD NEWS: The NEW Choke Shirt Co. + Print Shop will open in September in a 1500 sq ft. space at the corner of Holgate and Airport Way in SODO. The space is a flexible use industrial style commercial unit in the newly built Holgate Square retail complex. The space has a large garage door in the front and a 500 sqft loft mezzanine. The space will include everything mentioned in our old space, as well as the full line of Choke tees, hoodies and baby apparel.

We'd love to post pictures of the space... but it's not even built out yet!
Why SODO you ask? Many people ask us why we don't open a retail location in a busy Seattle "walking" neighborhood like Ballard or Fremont. And here's the answer: We don't want to run a retail store: with retail hours, retail weekends and retail customers. 75% of our business is destination based (customers who need screen printed tees and are willing to travel outside of their neighborhood to get them). We love SODO. We love the industrial feel of this neighborhood. It's relatively easy to get in and out of being that it is so close to I5 exits and the city. Plus we enjoy the community feel and the flexibility of the neighborhood markets and festivals that we participate in and will continue to be a part of those.

On that note... we'll leave you with a few pictures of the outside of the new shop. Stay tuned for more info about the space and our Grand Opening shindig to be held sometime in September!

Guy Photoshoot

Check out some of the pics from our photoshoot with Arden on Saturday. We're hoping to have a Girl photoshoot soon, so we can update those pics on the site. It hasn't really been that long since we had a pics taken... but we've definitely grown our line a lot this summer.

Seattle Square and our return to blogging...

It's been way to long. And we've done so much in the beginning months of Summer. But one thing we haven't done is keep up with the blog. So that's our mid-new year's resolution. And it starts right now...

Today we're up early with tons of new stock to head down to Seattle's newest outdoor market "Seattle Square".
It's located in Pioneer Square's Occidental Park. There's going to be a ton of vendors in a Euro-style market format. Hopefully we'll meet some other sweet graphic tee designers.

So if you're in Seattle, have nothing to do on this beautiful Saturday and are actually reading our blog today... check us out. I think we'll be there until 5pm.

Finally, a Baby/Toddler Photoshoot!

We finally took the time to have a baby and toddler photoshoot! The pictures turned out great!

Special thanks to Misty and Kristen for hosting the shoot and to Eowyn, Mackenzie and Addison for the expertise in modeling. Here are some of the pics:

Print Shop April Special...

We have a Print Shop special of 100 white tees with 1 color ink print for $340. That's only $3.40 per tee. You really can't beat that!