Finding Your Shop’s Management Balance

THE STORY OF Axelrad Screen Printing doesn’t start off very different from the typical narrative of most screen-printing shops. Yes, there was a basement, of course there was a small manual press mounted to a table, and the “dark room” was just the light turned off. But in 2008 when partners Dave Maloney and Matt Treivel decided to take a risk by quitting their jobs to move from the basement into an actual store front, the conceptual ingredients of what Axelrad would become were formalized. But it would take quite a few years for it to become greater than the sum of its parts.

Both partners come from similar backgrounds rooted in arts and music with a strong foundation in “Do It Yourself” ethics. That alternative outlook and approach to life would become the common thread throughout the stages of growing their business. Drawing from an employee base of friends that all adhere to the same ideals and principles was their first idea.

By 2012, in the early phases of becoming an established business, it became clear that both Dave and Matt’s unique personalities and approaches to life were emerging in the spirit of the business itself. The keys to the early successes came from trusting in their own intuitive abilities to choose the right team, and then also having the courage to refrain from overly micro-managing. This allowed individuals to either succeed or fail on their own. Rather than having an overly clear or concise vision for the future of the company, they instead allowed the business to guide itself into its rightful place.

It’s crucial to have a cross-trained employee structure. The natural seasonal highs and lows and the dynamic workflow inherent to the industry requires that employees be fluid and proficient in whatever avenue of the business is surging that day.

Calming the Chaos

There was no doubt this was an audacious approach to growing a business. But of course, risk taking also is a core tenant of Axelrad successes. Finding a strong balance between calculated and impulsive risks proved to be paramount, as to me it seems the natural world tends to reward both equally. It seems as if Axelrad perfectly rides the line between chaos and order.

This seemingly loose approach — no doubt rooted in their backgrounds with DIY punk ethics — eventually would blossom into the key success of the business.

A few years later in 2018, current lead salesman Tony Bevevino joined the team and came from a more traditional sales background. The juxtaposition of adding a more traditional approach with the DIY ethics in most cases likely would be a recipe for disaster. But in Axelrad’s case, it became a very unlikely source of success. Having a team with diverse thought processes and life perspectives, when harnessed correctly, proved to be a powerful tool.

Makin’ Music

Now, in 2025, Axelrad currently is printing hundreds of thousands of shirts per year for some of the biggest names in music. With an internal sales team selling screen print, embroidery, DTG/DTF, and on-demand webstore fulfillment services, the shop has nearly 50 employees, 48 embroidery heads, seven automatic presses, and an expanding digital media department.

During the past 17 years, it has become apparent that decorated apparel is not the real product Axelrad is creating. Printing quality shirts is the means of creating the real product: the environment itself. More so than the products that are produced, the fact that the business exists in the manner that it does is the true marvel. If there was one key concept to attribute to the success of Axelrad, it would be balance. A true yin and yang of traditional business methods mixed with absolute chaos.

So what are some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way? In the modern socio-economic climate, developing a unique and flexible employee structure is paramount to a healthy and successful business. Of course, the way everyone does that will be unique to them, but it’s a must.

The strongest product we make is the lifestyle and flexibility we provide for employees. At the end of the day, that’s what we really make: an enjoyable and productive work environment. At Axelrad it is a priority to provide a living wage work environment. So, we must tailor the type of work and how we do it to suit that. Avoiding being trapped in a “race to the bottom” business model has a very positive effect on morale and employee satisfaction. This ethic and outlook starts at the top. Owner Dave Maloney chose to give people full freedom and autonomy to make their own decisions and thrive or fail on their own. It’s a daring business model, but it worked.

Dinner with the Master. Close friend and mentor to the Axelrad staff, Charlie Taublieb introduced the Pennsylvania gang to eating game. So of course we had rattlesnake bites and rabbit ravioli. Wouldn’t you?

Finding Balance

The difficulty of being a growing business is maintaining true to the undertone of why you started in the first place. Many people talk about this, or strive for this, or even just talk about it in theory. But the actual difficulty of identifying where you can be loose and lax and where you must be very concise and traditional is a balance. Then, you must identify the types of people that appreciate it and thrive in that environment. It’s a collection of people who work extra hard to not be beholden to a traditional work environment.

Here are some other very important key lessons that the Axelrad management team has learned over the years:

1. Cross training: In the decorated apparel industry, it absolutely is crucial to have a cross-trained employee structure. The natural seasonal highs and lows and the dynamic workflow inherent to the industry requires that employees be fluid and proficient in whatever avenue of the business is surging that day.
2. Strong internal shop communication and procedures: An order in your shop should have more deadlines than just the customers’ deadline. Establishing offset checkpoints at each phase of production is a key way to compartmentalize and control work flow. That especially is true in fast turnaround/high-order volume situations.
3. Train from the inside: We all know how difficult it is to recruit employees in the decorated apparel industry. It’s important to design your processes and procedures so employees always are being trained for the next position. Make sure there aren’t any dead-end positions in your shop, and they are all interconnected and designed cohesively.
4. Eliminate grey areas: Our industry is burdened with the very unique task of manufacturing art. Applying manufacturing processes and standards to something as subjective as colors on a T-shirt is no doubt the bane of our industry. Every single process in your business should have someone who owns it and is knowingly responsible for it. If it isn’t clearly someone’s job, then it’s no one’s job. The complex nature of our industry creates a lot of extra room for grey areas; be sure to eliminate them where you can.

Axelrad’s growth in the music merch industry means big machines. With an internal sales team selling all types of decorating processes, nearly 50 employees all are powering 48 embroidery heads, seven automatic presses, DTG/DTG machines, and on-demand webstore fulfillment services.

As Axelrad dives deeper into the unique world of music merchandise, it is clear that the early foundational ethics from the basement have embedded themselves into the spirit of the business. That in itself is a very rare and difficult endeavor. Perhaps because it never truly was the goal strictly to adhere to maintaining the youthful integrity of the DIY ethic, but rather allow it to evolve itself naturally. No matter which way you decide to go, you gotta’ enjoy the ride.