3Hi

Dec 22, 2023

Associate Editor

3Hi-Res Designs has made life easier for people looking for customized T-shirts after introducing a T-shirt sublimation service earlier this year.

Graphic designer Michael Temperante, who co-owns the company with wife Ruby Gozon, said their T-shirt sublimation service was due to a lot of inquiries from their customers.

“The sublimation T-shirt business came about when a lot of people started asking me about it. First, I wasn’t interested as at that time we were customizing T-shirts using silk screens and digital printing.”

He, however, admitted that the former was quite labor intensive and the latter resulted in a lot of ink wastage.

According to the internet, T-shirt sublimation is made when an image or design is created on a computer and printed onto sublimation paper using sublimation ink.

The printed design is then placed onto the T-shirt and using a heat press, the design is permanently transferred to the material using heat and pressure.

Temperante said before he introduced their T-shirt sublimation business, orders on Saipan were outsourced from off-island.

“So I told myself if you have to have it made in, say the Philippines, how long does it take for the order to be produced and shipped to Saipan? That’s when I thought why not have a T-shirt sublimation business on the island to cut the lead time as well as ultimately help the local economy,” he said.

Aside from the reduced price due to eliminating the shipping cost, another advantage of 3Hi-Res Designs’ T-shirt sublimation business is it helps customers with the propensity to order at the last minute.

As well as making giveaway shirts for corporate events, 3Hi-Res Designs have also taken orders for long-sleeve hoodies for fishing derbies, cycling tops, and customized team shirt from the Saipan Electronic Darts League, which easily is the biggest sporting competition on island with more than 100 divisions encompassing over 700 players.

Soon, Temperante said, they will be making a full set of basketball jerseys—tops and bottoms—at a fraction of the cost of off-island manufacturers.

As for the T-shirt materials, 3Hi-Res Designs uses polyester shirts ordered from the U.S., China, South Korea, and the Philippines and the sizes range from extra small to 5XL.

“Design comes from the concept of the customer and I improve on it and then finalize with the customer, which is also an advantage of an on-island design business. Deliverable from concept order to delivery is around 3-7 days and the costs range from $18 to $25. The price also goes down further when you order in bulk,” said Temperante.

Since they offered the service, Temperante said business has been booming and so far the largest order they’ve received is for 170 T-shirts.

3Hi-Res Designs started more due to necessity in 2009 in a small room at Marianas Business Plaza, according to Temperante.

“My wife lost her job and I told her why don’t we expand what I know about printing. Growing up my dad was a visual artist and I did T-shirt silk-screening on the side so I’m familiar with the industry.”

But instead of making custom T-shirts right away, Temperante and his partners started small by first making calling cards for friends using a very small and second-hand table printer.

“It turns out, my wife was good with finances and after a few years we were able to save money and invested in better equipment like more advanced printers and moved on to bigger jobs.”

From calling cards, 3Hi-Res Designs soon was cranking out creative designs for wall clocks, mugs, and other souvenirs for gifts and giveaways for parties.

“Then I introduced large banners for events for companies and that was around 2015. At that point, business was doing great and we finally were able to buy new and branded top-of-the-line printers like Roland and Epson brands, which are photo quality printers,” Temperante added on the growth of the design and printing company.

From the beginning until now, 3Hi-Res Designs’ guiding principle is to always keep their customers happy.

“I never want to disappoint any customer. It’s actually OK if we earn just 5 cents, break even, or even lose money as long as our customer is always satisfied,” he said.

3Hi-Res Designs is located next to Yu Bo Corp. tire shop along Beach Road in Oleai. It’s open from Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm, and Saturday, 8am to 12pm.

For more information, call (670) 234-1137 or (670) 989-7158. You can also email [email protected] or reach them on Facebook. 3Hi-Res Designs will also soon launch a website (3hres.com) and a mobile app.

Associate Editor

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