Marketing you can wear

FAMILY BUSINESS: Nelson Silva and Hilda Allienello of Graphic Ink, an East Providence firm specializing in screen printing, embroidery and design. / PBN PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN
FAMILY BUSINESS: Nelson Silva and Hilda Allienello of Graphic Ink, an East Providence firm specializing in screen printing, embroidery and design. / PBN PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN

Graphic Ink Inc. opened its doors in 1997 with two employee-owners, including one who kept the books after-hours, after finishing her other job.

Eighteen years later, the business on Warren Avenue in East Providence is still located in the same shop. But the founders now own the building and the business, employing 17 people.

Their clients include some of the largest employers and institutions in Rhode Island, including Brown University and Johnson & Wales University. But they haven’t forgotten the needs of fellow small businesses either. A minimum order requires just 12 products.

Led by the aunt-and-nephew team of Hilda Allienello and Nelson Silva, the company specializes in screen printing and embroidery, particularly of logos and branding concepts.

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The shop has expanded in size, taking over a business space that originally was located behind their storefront. The combined space is tight. But Allienello and Silva do not want to relocate. The wholesale business is located near large employers in Providence, yet with easy access to Massachusetts.

A walk through the production area shows the diversity of the clients.

On a recent afternoon, employees at the business were completing orders for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Rhode Island Lottery, a 5K road race organizer and a client who wanted to sell skeleton-emblazoned T-shirts in retail stores. The automated dryer and the six-screen printing machine whirred continuously.

Most of the Graphic Ink business comes through referrals, said Silva, who summarized the management division of labor: “I make sure the prints look good and we’re on time. Hilda does everything else.”

Their business growth has mirrored ballooning interest in branded materials, for athletic leagues run by organizations and companies who recognize that every T-shirt or tote bag with their logo is a form of advertising.

Gradually, Graphic Ink added more equipment as its sales increased. The growth of organized sports teams, as well as university marketing, has fueled sales, as have the needs of small business for exposure and identification.

Relatively small landscaping businesses, for example, are now regular clients. Gone are the days when an unidentifiable laborer would hop off a truck and enter an estate property. Landscape companies almost universally require their workers to wear uniform shirts with company logos, Silva said. “It’s almost become a standard,” he said.

Usually a client comes in with a specific idea or a logo. Graphic Ink has two full-time artists on hand who can help realize the final design.

“Most of the time, they come in with an idea, and we will design it,” Allienello said.

The combination of creativity in design and conservatism in business expansion has served them well, the owners said.

“We started a business from scratch and worked to market what we could do,” Silva said. •

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