M&R CEO: "Screen Printing Will Survive" | A Conversation With M&R’s Danny Sweem

We sit down with Danny Sweem from The M&R Companies for an honest conversation about screen printing, DTG printing, and where the entire textile printing industry is heading for 2020.

Learn more and see amazing pictures of M&R HQ here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/screen-printing-will-survive

Located just miles from Printavo's Chicago offices, M&R is a trusted partner for thousands of print shops across the world. Their Roselle manufacturing facility is a giant operation that produces equipment for a worldwide market.

M&R's famous blue screen printing presses have a reputation for lasting decades. Now, they've taken the leap into digital and hybrid printing with their Digital Squeegee and Maverick products. But the global pandemic represents a huge speed bump for the textile industry as a whole.

We discuss M&R's future, what's in store for the industry, and much more in this episode of the PrintHustlers Podcast.

Q: How did you become M&R’s CEO?

“Rich Hoffman (M&R’s founder and legendary CEO) called me during 2018. Our companies were having a dispute, so I thought he wanted to talk about that. He said, ‘Are you sitting down? Would you like my job?’ So after some meetings, I convinced the equity group that owns M&R that I could have the job.”

Q: What’s up with the new Rebel screen printing press? SHIRT KONG is always posting about it.

See pics of the Rebel here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/screen-printing-will-survive

“The pandemic screwed up the launch,” Danny jokes, “But if I say too much, Thomas Trimingham [M&R’s Director of Marketing] will strangle me.” The Rebel is a new press that M&R has pioneered during the past year, with legendary screen print shop SHIRT KONG getting the very first model. “It’s a niche between the Sportsman and Gauntlet screen printing presses,” Danny says. He adds: “Once the stay-at-home order is lifted, we’ll show them to you on the show floor at M&R HQ here in Illinois.”

Q: What do you say to screen print shops that are discouraged right now?

“People still need t-shirts,” Danny says. He offers a positive look into human psychology: yes, this event has changed the world. But we still want to be part of our tribe, and t-shirts are a big part of how we signal that to each other. “The t-shirt is a personal billboard. You don’t put on one that you don’t believe in, that doesn’t reflect your personal attitudes and outlook on life.”

But things will be tough over the next year. “Our industry was hit harder than most. We’re just above the cruise and airline and hotel industry. Baseball, football, soccer, schools, the whole thing has been impacted. But it will start coming back. Retail will be the first channel to get product out through.”

Just like we’ve noted, M&R sees that print shops have stepped up and used their creative grit to power through this entire mess. Danny’s final words are a dose of realistic optimism that we all need:

“People have been wildly creative. Masks, gowns...I was on the phone with a customer printing a huge number of masks and gowns. You’ll see new things come out of this. The industry will not die, it will not go away. Batten down the hatches, survive the next several months, and we’ll have new ideas and thoughts. We’ll be more creative than ever, the industry will be stronger than ever in a year from now. I promise you that.”

See inside M&R's factory in Illinois here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/screen-printing-will-survive

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