Plymouth State
University
MAPS
School: Plymouth State University – MAPS Program
Year Established: 2017
Decorating Technique: DTG and Embroidery
Type of business: Marketing Program – 2 credit course on T-shirts business
The State House | Success In Education
It’s not the story of a couple starting a business during nights and weekends. It’s not a stay at home Mom or young entrepreneur doing good with a side hustle in the custom t-shirt business.
And while it takes place in a small town in New Hampshire, it’s not a small-town business story either.
About 18 months ago ColDesi was approached by Professor’s Brad Allen and Greg Dumont of Plymouth State University in Plymouth, NH. They are the advisors for the American Marketing Association program (called MAPS in their case) on campus – and had the idea to use a custom t-shirt business to teach their students all the lessons that running a small business can provide.
Here are the results:
- They were ranked in the Top 10 out of 400 for their chapter plan and annual report
- 100% of Graduates secured jobs within 6 months of graduation
- Since getting the t-shirt printer they have made over 1,800 t-shirts for University and charitable institutions
- Their biggest order so far has been 220 shirts
- There’s a new scholarship fund begun from the proceeds of the sales
- Demand is so high they added an Avancé 1502 2 head embroidery machine to the business
- MAPS Advisors renovated a campus building to house the new business – Called the State House
- Graduates are starting to come back to help or contribute to the future success
Brad Allen Ph.D., Professor of International Business, said “Our partnership with ColDesi is a great example of what we call an “open laboratory” experience for our students where external partners play a major role in an experience the extends the classroom.” The students deal with deadlines, budgets, shipping issues, equipment training, and maintenance schedules.
These are proving to be great learning experiences and provide our student’s opportunities to overcome adversity and appreciate the rewards of hard work. “From the beginning… we reached out to ColDesi, Inc. to learn about this venture and explore the equipment options before we made what was to be a substantial purchase for the MAPS organization.” He said.
The University has been using the
“Everywhere I looked I saw highly engaged students” reported Mark Stephenson, Director of Marketing for ColDesi, Inc. “Professor’s Greg Dumont and Brad Allen have developed an outstanding group for this chapter of the American Marketing Association, and the new State House set up is to their credit. During the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony, you could see how the University itself is standing behind the students, advisors and the program itself.”
The Marketing Association of Plymouth State (MAPS) is a student-run, applied marketing and research organization operating within the national AMA chapter guidelines. MAPS provides our members with applied marketing along with many other business opportunities by engaging in projects with regional corporations, non-profit organizations and other local entities. MAPS works diligently to attract, engage, and retain top students at Plymouth State University. These students wish to experience the many facets of domestic and global marketing. MAPS provides hands-on experiences to reach for the highest levels of professional and ethical standards.
ColDesi Equipment:
Digital HeatFX Transfer System – The program started with the DTG
Avancé 1502 AND Avancé 1501C– part of the Avancé commercial embroidery machine line up, 1502 is a 15 needle, 2 head machine designed for high volume production in a small space. They added the 1501C single head version to better fulfill their need for name drops.
The University student and faculty equipment operators have gone through both ColDesi classroom and live online training. The training is included with purchase and is available on an ongoing basis.
Technical support is made available at no charge for University for the life the machine. ColDesi offers the most advanced support options in the industry including phone, email, FAQs, videos and even live video support sessions.
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