Our Story: A Company with Heart

The Custom Ink story began in 1999 when three former college classmates got the bug to start a business about a year after graduating. Co-founder and CEO Marc Katz was hard at work in a Wall Street job that he says “didn’t have a lot of heart” and was itching to do something entrepreneurial and meaningful.

Meanwhile, Marc’s former college roommate Mike Driscoll was tinkering with the earliest iteration of the customink.com website, which would let people upload graphics onto t-shirts and buy them as special keepsakes. Though Mike was returning to grad school, he had a handful of eager customers, and talked with Marc about launching the “design online” website into a legitimate business.

Our Company Info

Custom Ink is more that just a t-shirt company. We're a team of creative individuals who empower you to create the perfect custom apparel for your group through our innovative and easy-to-use website. With innovative tools like our Design Lab and a team of artists dedicated to helping you create the perfect designs for your custom order, we have everything you need to take your shared passion to the next level. From printed t-shirts to embroidered caps, a single shirt to quantities in the thousands, students to small businesses, family reunions, and beyond… we’re here to help bring you together in style.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Northern Virginia, we’re a fast growing, forward-thinking company - focused on helping people bring their ideas to life. Now with more than fifteen stores across five states in addition to our ever evolving website, we’re always looking for the next opportunity to help you create something amazing. Our customers, vendors, and co-workers are all an important part of the Custom Ink story and we strive to treat each of them with respect and celebration.

We don’t like to brag, but we’re pretty proud of the awards our customers and co-workers have helped us obtain over the years. We’ve been named to Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 500” list of America’s fastest-growing private companies and have also been recognized as a “Great Place to Work” by Washingtonian Magazine. Custom Ink ranked #4 in the United States in the 8th Annual Great Place to Work™ Rankings: 2011 Best Small & Medium Workplaces Presented by Entrepreneur Magazine!

Our Mission

Our Mission at EmbroidMe is to continuously be a force for positive direction in the embroidery industry, and to inspire and guide others to succeed as independently owned franchises.

We will conscientiously seek to maintain a closeness with our franchise owners and employees, and continue to grow through evaluating and adapting new technologies in our industry.

We pledge ourselves to being a caring and honest franchisor to those around us and to our community, and we commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of life.

We aspire to be the finest franchise company in the world.