We recently connected with Rohry OMalley and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rohry, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest parts of scaling a business is maintaining quality as you grow. How have you managed to maintain quality? Any stories or advice?

Quality control is of extreme importance here at SDF. I manually print all the garments, totes, etc that come out of the shop. So sadly there’s no machine I can blame things on haha. I work very hard at continuing to make sure that I provide the best quality possible to all my clients. Attention to detail is key. If that requires me to re burn a screen or even reprint an entire order (it has happened) I will do it, because I stand by my products and services. I want all of my clients to know that I value them and their brands, products etc so much. I want massive success for everyone I work with.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Rohry and I started my manual screen printing shop in 2019. I got started out of a want to make merch for a promotions company my friend and I had started. I quickly fell in love with screen printing and once covid hit and I lost the day job I dove head first.

With screen printing you really have to know at least a little bit about a lot of things. I had to study up on graphic design and color theory, learn how to separate artwork for printing and do a ton of research on the mechanics of screen printing in general. Screen printing is really a ton of problem solving. There are so many variables that can effect a lot of things along the path to a finished shirt.

I take pride in being able to offer my clients a simplified process where I take care of all the variables and help them make informed decisions that will lead to amazing end products. I love being there for my clients every step of the way. I help them find the right blank garment and the right process for which to decorate that garment. Sometimes that leads to trying out new inks and processes and I love that. I enjoy trying new things and learning about new processes. I have been extremely blessed to work with some amazing humans that share my passion for creating dope stuff.

At SDF I do mostly print shirts in various forms but I also print posters, work with vinyl, dye sublimation and promotional items like koozies, bags, stickers, etc.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

So when I first started printing I was in a two bedroom apartment with my press drilled into my kitchen table, exposure unit in my closet and I would dry my screens in my bathroom. Little did I know at this time that humidity has a HUGE effect on emulsion and drying your screens.

Just to get everyone up to speed…emulsion is what you coat your screens with and then expose with a specific spectrum of UV light to then create a stencil to print with.

Well, emulsion is very susceptible to humidity and when you “dry” your screens in a bathroom that still gets used on a daily basis with the shower and sink being used regularly, you’re fighting a serious uphill battle.

It amazes me that I was able to get any working screens at that point in time. I was extremely close to giving up and selling all my equipment. But I kept at it and did tons and tons of research. I learned that high humidity will keep your screens from drying completely even if they feel dry to the touch. Once I moved to a house and got my shop set up in a proper garage I built a drying cabinet where I have a dehumidifier and a small fan to help speed up the process. I also keep a hygrometer in there to let me know what my humidity levels are.

That was an absolute game changer for me! I can coat a screen and have it ready in about 30 min now. I also know that it will be dried properly and I don’t have to stress about it.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Initially I started out buying a starter kit from a website. I thought I was being smart and getting a good deal for the money. Well I was wrong. I had used my hard earned money to buy a press that was in all honestly a piece of crap haha. I should have known when it arrived brand new and I had to bend part of the metal frame to get it to go together. Rookie mistake.

I am however extremely blessed to have the brother that I do. He believes in me and stands by me through anything. When it was peak covid and I lost my day job plus the side hustles of being a dj and throwing parties and I had not received any unemployment my brother came to the rescue. I found a used press locally that would be a huge upgrade to what I had at the time. At that point I basically had nothing and my brother offered to invest in me and the company and help me buy the press. His investment paid for the majority of the press and ink mixing kit I got along with it. Without that I can easily say I would not be where I am today. This led to being able to scrounge up enough cash to get a conveyor dryer so that I could properly cure the shirts and the rest is history. Thanks Casey! I love you dude and so does SDF!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sickdopefresh.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sickdopefresh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDFPrints

Image Credits
pictures of me by Tam Allen (Moody Girl Hues). The rest were taken by myself