Gives Us The Inside Scoop on
ASPARAGUS PRINTSHOP
By: Ginger Coyote
I got a chance to interview Cody Liggett about his business Asparagus Printshop. Doing Silk Screen has always interested me but I am not that familiar with the process.. Interviewing Cody was a real treat because he was informative and fun. So anyone looking to silk screen shirts or needs posters made please contact them .
Punk Globe: Thanks so much for the interview Cody. Tell us are you originally from Laramie Wyoming?
APS: No, but I have lived here and other Wyoming towns most of my life. It's a great place to live with it's small town lifestyle and Denver's not too far away when we need some excitement in our lives.
Punk Globe: How did you come up with Asparagus for the name of your company?
APS: Most people say its because all of the good names were taken. Asparagus grows best in the ditch and the more you cut it down the better it comes back. Like the plant, we started out printing in a run down old office building that nobody else would rent and very few people thought our business model would make it and we keep proving them wrong. Not only that, we run an environmentally friendly Printshop and wanted a name that fit our beginnings and still hit on the green business side of it.
Punk Globe: Tell us how you got involved with silk screening?
APS: My younger brother was in a band back in '06 and we were printing their shirts on our kitchen table. I thought the process was interesting, after starting my own clothing line in '08 I studied up on screen printing. Shortly after, my wife and I bought our own equipment to start up Asparagus Printshop.
Punk Globe: Tell us about Asparagus Printshop?
APS: We're a small screen printing shop in Wyoming and we're happy to say that most of our customers are bands, bars and tattoo shops but they're all great people to work with! We print anything from the individual custom shirt to runs of several hundred shirts, hats and posters for customers all over the US.
Punk Globe: Do you have another screening company as well?
APS: No, but I do have another business. Rough Livin Clothing got started in '08 as my hobby and is now a full line brand of hardcore blue collar clothing. It was one of the main reasons we started Asparagus Printshop.
Punk Globe: When and why did you decide to start your own business doing silk screen?
APS: We decided to start our own Printshop in '08 after suffering through some bad experiences with other screen printers trying to get Rough Livin Clothing started. It took us a few months to find all of our equipment and a cheap place to get started but we did.
Punk Globe: A great reason to start your own business for sure... Did you ever work for anyone else?
APS: No, not in the screen printing or clothing business.
Punk Globe: How hard was it getting everything that you needed to start up the business?
APS: It wasn't hard at all for us. We happened to be in the right place at the right time for all of it. Our press and one of the dryers came from rock poster legend Lindsey Kuhn's printing company Swamp when he downsized. The rest of it we bought new.
Punk Globe: You were very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time... Are you a musician yourself?
APS: No, but I'd be one hell of an asset to the band running the merch table. Everyone has their artistic outlet, some have music and I have my clothing line and screen printing shop to get mine out there.
Punk Globe: Many of our readers are not aware of the old school process of burning your own screen with a light bulb. It has always fascinated me... The silk screening business has certainly advanced.. What kind of equipment do you use?
APS: We use specially designed exposure units that maximize the uv rays and still keep the design just as crisp and clean as the original artwork. However, you can definitely use a regular light bulb to burn your screen it just won't have the same quality definition.
Punk Globe: The process amazes me.. Thanks for explaining it better.. How long have you been in operation for?
APS: We've been open since April 2009 and we're getting busier all the time.
Punk Globe: Are bands and musicians the majority of your clients?
APS: Bands are definitely the majority of our business. Its awesome to work with them on our shop show projects. We like to trade custom merch for live shows at the shop. We support the bands that keep us in business.
Punk Globe: Was it hard finding a good source for your T-shirts?
APS: No, the wholesaler for our standard t-shirts was easy. The rest of our offering was a little harder to find good quality products but with a whole lot of research we found what we were looking for. American Made products were the hardest to find but we have a full line of product to offer our customers from right here in the US.
Punk Globe: Have you found being in Wyoming to your advantage or to your disadvantage?
APS: It's an advantage for us. We have a very unique business style that really stands out here and it could get lost really easy somewhere bigger. With the ease of ordering and finding what you want on the Internet now we don't have any problem connecting with the right people anywhere in the world.
Punk Globe: Tell us about what is in store for you 2011 for Asparagus Printshop?
APS: We've really stepped up with our Shop Show project to include a new band every month this year. January marked our first Tats for Tees participating Tattoo Shop and we now have shops in 5 states that are trading "ink" with us. The updated website makes getting a quote and finding out about Asparagus Printshop super easy plus our quality work and service speak for themselves all helping us grow even bigger with the coming months.
Punk Globe: Can you give us any web addresses for readers to find out more about the company?
Punk Globe: Any advice for bands looking for the best deals for T-Shirts?
APS: The best advice I can give them is to contact us. We have a great referral program that can get a band a ton of free merch just by sending others our way, we believe in "Cheap Custom TEES" and there is no sales tax on the goods we ship outside the state of Wyoming. Who else can get you merch at a cheap price without taxing you and throw in free shirts for referrals?
Punk Globe would like to thank Cody for the informative and fun interview.. Be sure to look for the Asparagus Printshop banner on our home page and check them out. They are the real deal......