Decorator Profile
Between Ryan and Lewis, the pair began to bring more and more work in house. Still in his dad’s unit, Ryan moved the business upstairs to take more space. Growth of the business accelerated with the purchase of a manual screen print carousel, meaning that a lot of the smaller screen print jobs could be done by Lewis and Ryan.
Big business decisions
In August 2018, Ryan made perhaps his biggest business decision to date and signed the lease on his own 3,500sq ft unit in Rugby. “Much to Sarah’s dismay at the time,” laughs Ryan. Just a month later Ryan took delivery of an M&R Diamondback automatic screen printing press, purchased through Screen Print World. Ryan has been running all screen printing jobs on this machine since and has not looked back.
Over the years, Ryan has also purchased two extra vinyl cutters and two heat presses to speed up production to run multiple jobs alongside each other. And most recently he has branched out with the purchase of a Mutoh ValueJet 1624X large format printer, so he can now print competition banners for cheer teams and event providers, in addition to uniforms and merchandise. Power Nation now offers the complete package for cheerleading clubs and teams. The business has now grown to the point where, Ryan employs five full-time and two part-time members of staff, and exports to countries such as France, Sweden and Malta. “Cheerleading teams in these countries really like the stuff that we do and I don’t think they have access to anything like what we do in their own countries. The US is definitely the biggest market and I think it’s difficult for companies over there to provide uniforms in Europe. I would like to say we are the next best thing and that is going to help us grow,” explains Ryan. Ryan’s aim – to become the biggest cheer apparel provider in Europe.
The leading authority in the US for cheerleading apparel and competitions is Varsity. In 2019, the company’s revenue reached $1.6 billion, rising from $1.35 billion the previous year. The company employs 8,600 people. These huge figures give an indication of the rapid growth of the sport in recent years and the size of the market that Ryan is tapping into. “Some cheerleaders have over a million followers on Instagram and have verified accounts. There is a saying that ‘cheer-lebrities’ is a thing,” he adds. All of the cheer uniforms are designed by
Alex and manufactured in China, on a factory line that Ryan has invested in. These include sublimated items such as sports bras and teamwear. Other products such as T shirts, hoodies, drop shoulder jumpers, bags, water bottles are either screen printed or vinyl printed in house. Unusually for a screen printer, Power Nation operates a low minimum order quantity of 10 for the first order and five for
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
repeat orders. Although this can mean a lot of stop starting when changing screens, this ensures customers return time and time again. However, Ryan states that most teams order anywhere between 10 and 200 T shirts, while one of the biggest orders ever printed was 3,000 for an event provider. Ryan’s forte is that he is a cheerleader turned printer. Printing in an industry that he knows plenty about. He knows what cheerleaders want and what they are looking for from their uniforms and merchandise. He states that he has at least two competitors in the UK, which also happen to be run by former
cheerleaders, but he is not fazed by this as he says: “Competition is great. It keeps you on your toes.”
Sarah and Ryan have now parted ways to concentrate on the running of their own businesses, as both have grown so large in recent times. In the coming years Ryan hopes to continue expanding his customer base, while watching his revenue steadily grow. He has plans to expand the space in which he currently operates by adding in a mezzanine floor, and when the time is right add more machinery and employees to the business. “We are just going to carry on what we do and see what happens from there,” he muses. As someone who started his business from scratch with one DTG printer, Ryan is well-placed to impart some sound advice to others who are looking to set-up their own garment printing business. “My best piece of advice is to deal with issues as and when they arise. There will be issues along the way and things that go wrong. But planning ahead for these and setting a goal is key. I would also advise doing your research on the market, the costs involved. This is really important.”
Let nothing stand in the way It is clear from speaking with Ryan that he is someone who does not let what happened to him as a five-year- old boy stand in his way. “I don’t know any different to being deaf in one ear. It is a pain still to this day, because I can’t gauge where sound is coming from. I’m definitely one of the luckier survivors of meningitis. It sounds silly really but I’m almost happy that it happened because it’s led me down the path to where I am today with the business that I run and what I achieved sports wise. I mean I’ve competed for Team England, been on one of the best cheerleading teams in the UK and at my peak was one of the top athletes in
the sport – what more can I say?”
Time for Ryan is now a precious commodity. Although he has given up competing on the world stage, once a week he still cheers with a lower level team and he still coaches when he can to help the kids out. Ryan takes a lot of pride in seeing cheerleaders he has coached in the past, now compete on the world stage.
But it seems that leaving behind a sport that you have such an affiliation with, is easier said than done.
April 2020 |69 |
A selection of the cheerleading kits that Power Nation has designed and created
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
