Whether you're just starting to plan on opening your small shop, or you've been in the thick of it for years, a question I think we can all relate to is: "Where do you shop for your small business?" When I was first starting out, I feel as if I searched that exact phrase every single day; some shops love to support their fellow business owners with resources, and others may guard it like a close secret.
Here at Sure Fire Studio, we like to share the knowledge. Keep reading to discover our sources, and what we love (or don't) about them!
Stationery & Print
We use a range of vendors for our various stationery items:
The Sticky Brand
Ahh, The Sticky Brand. They make great quality stickers, what more can I say! Actually...I will say: Try and wait for a promo/coupon before you order just because they always have some sort of sale.
Personalized Paper Manufacturing Group (PrintPPS)
Listen, these guys are great. Yes, PrintPPS's website is a little old school, but maybe that's because they're focusing on their notepads. 🤷‍♀️ I was a little nervous about my first order, but I haven't been since! Quick 'n easy.
Moo
Of course, I have to mention Moo. They're the first printing company I ever used (shout out to their SEO team for having them pop up in every search result). They're a little on the pricy side, but the quality is *chef's kiss*. We use them for business cards, postcards, and greeting cards (as well as our packaging stickers). I can usually scrounge up a coupon, so keep that in mind when ordering.Â
CatPrint
I LOVE CATPRINT. These are the only printers I use for my art prints. They have an amazing array of paper stocks (and endless resources to help you choose the best ones). They also do a "donate for a coupon" program, where you get a discount if you donate to charity. Why are they called CatPrint? Because they work with a cat foster program. I'm not sobbing, you are.
Shirts
There are a few sources for our shirts and sweatshirts:
Original Favorites
These guys are my favorite in terms of blanks. The shirts are SO DAMN SOFT, and come in beautiful colors. They even provide some photos for buyers to use in their marketing, as well as this super in-depth sustainability brief.
Bella+Canvas
I use Bella+Canvas specifically for their baby tees, which I use to print these fun, fishy shirts. They have some pretty decent business practices, so I like to use them as a wholesale vendor.
Vintage
We do vintage, too! I love being able to make truly unique designs using thrifted threads. I shop at local thrift shops for this, and I try to avoid Goodwill (read about their business practice concerns here). They key to this is only thrifting small amounts over time. I understand the importance thrift and consignment stores play for those in lower economic families (I grew up shopping at Goodwill–before it was seen as "cool"), and so I minimize the amounts I take. For instance, throughout all of 2024, I thrifted less than 20 clothing items the full year. And when I'm at the stores, I make sure I only take clothing that has something similar or better near it. I think these are all important things to remember, if you take this route. Thrifting is fun, and it's better for the environment, but you should always be cautious about taking resources you don't need.
Matches
We actually make these in-house! We print them, cut them, score them, and fold them by ourselves. If you're looking for a company that you can order from, the only match-maker I know of in the United States is Atlas Match. They do offer a small quantity program, but the minimum is still 50 matches. (This is why we started making our own!)
Buttons
Again, we make these in-house. But the machine we use is this one! If you follow the instructions, it's worked perfectly fine for us. Making buttons is even somewhat meditative, once you get into the flow. If you don't want to make your own, I've also heard good things about Busy Beavers Buttons, which is a woman-owned company.
Shipping Supplies
We love HeroPack! They have compostable mailers (in pink!), and tons of other supplies. We use the plain mailers and the bubble mailers for the majority of our orders. They are based in Australia, but they were the best, inexpensive, small MOQ shipping company I could find.
That marks the end of our list! If you are ever curious where we purchase anything you see on the shop, just drop us a line and we'll fill you in.