GLOVERSVILLE — EmpowHERing Designs, which sublimates custom graphics on clothing, accessories and other items, opened in a storefront at 45 S. Main St. on the first of December. It is the second commercial endeavor undertaken by the partnership of Curry & Loucks, whose principals have known each other since late in the last century.
"We've been best friends for about 30 years now," said Brandi Loucks, 41, as she showed a visitor some recent outputs from the back of the long and narrow store, where she and Karen Curry spent many hours working to fulfill orders ahead of Christmas. Four printers and three heat presses are the primary physical assets of EmpowHERing Designs.
"You print your image," said Curry, 47, as she explained sublimation, "and once the ink gets heated up from a heat press, it turns into a gas and it absorbs into the material."
The final product, Loucks added, is something that looks better and holds up longer than iron-on transfers which can fade, crack and otherwise fall off a garment.
One of the shop's 400-degree presses can be used to sublimate complex shapes, like hats and coffee cups. Metal tumblers — designed to hold beverages — are also sublimated at EmpowHERing Designs. They retail for $25 and, since the images are not merely stuck on the containers with decals, the sturdy pieces looked like they had been rolled at the factory with the words and pictures already applied to the metal finish.
"Isn't that great?" Curry asked, as a visitor examined one of the tumblers. She gained experience with large printers when she worked for Sticker Mule in Amsterdam.
A few years ago, Curry and Loucks started Lean on Us — which provides homecare services to the elderly and other people that have special needs. Curry, a mother of five, and Loucks, a mother of three, are also grandparents and have been involved with many buying decisions regarding apparel for youngsters. They began adding designs to blank T-shirts and sweatshirts using sublimation — a process they'd learned about on social media.
"It's just so much easier to make something than to have to go search for it and wait for it or buy it," Loucks said.
For about a year, Loucks and Curry sublimated items in their Gloversville homes. They worked remotely as a team until last summer, when they took a table at the Fonda Fair.
"It was a big hit," Loucks recalled. "We were pretty much sold out and that's when we decided, instead of doing it in two different locations, we'd just find a location."
The business partners signed a 12-month lease with the landlord of 45 S. Main St. This commitment, they said, shows their enterprise is not a hobby but something they hope to grow into a successful concern that can operate without subsidy.
EmpowHERing Designs became the new name for the partnership when the storefront was opened at the beginning of last month.
"The 'HER' stands out in the name because we're both females," Curry said.
"And we just want to prove to our children that you can do whatever you put your mind to," added Loucks.
The store recently had empty spaces on the floor and walls, but the owners said the gaps will disappear as they make new inventory and buy unfinished stock. Shoppers will be able to purchase sublimated apparel and other such goods off the shelf, or select blank shirts and heavy pullovers and then have a custom design added to them. Images that are texted or emailed to the shop can then be printed onto objects.
"This has been really popular lately — our puzzles," Loucks said, showing off one of the finished $12 items. EmpowHERing Designs buys the pre-cut raw stock and then adds the imagery via sublimation. The puzzle can then be separated into pieces and given as a gift.
Orders for one-offs are accepted, along with educational and corporate orders that can number in the dozens or hundreds. Curry and Loucks said there is no upward limit to the quantity of items they could handle as a part of fulfillment. The owners hope their new storefront will bring in orders on foot but, for now, most of their work comes via the website, empowheringdesigns.com.
"We've had quite a few orders from out of state," Loucks said. She credited a weekly Facebook Live event for the store’s ability to reach potential customers outside New York.
The owners said they foresaw jewelry as a growing line for the business, as they can use their printers and presses to personalize bracelets, necklaces and other accessories.
There have been some unusual sublimation requests, such as when a local woman asked Curry and Loucks to add a child's name and an image of Dumbo to a clothes hamper. It was a gift for the woman's grandchild and was the first hamper project undertaken by EmpowHERing Designs.
"We went through five of them before we got the one perfect," Loucks said.