Design and creativity have big roles at NC State, but there was once no place on campus where students could create their own one-of-a-kind Wolfpack gear. NCSU Bookstores realized the need for such a place and, a little over two years ago, put together a store that could fulfill this need. Since July 2016, State of the Art has stood in Talley ready for student designs.
The concept is not to compete with the bookstore, but to compliment it. The production shop’s manager, Richard Lombardi, was recruited from working in the NCSU Bookstores shipping department three years ago to open and pitch State of the Art.
“Over 30,000 kids at this school, they’re all proud to be here, but they’re all different humans with different personalities and they need different things to suit them,” Lombardi said. “Think of this as a production shop version of the Free Expression Tunnel.”
The shop can also print non-school related designs. When State of the Art first opened, a lot of the printing done was for clientele from outside of the school that heard of them by word of mouth. Even a few local recreational sports teams came in for custom gear. Now a majority of the clients are individual students and student groups.
Abby Schoeller, a fourth-year studying human biology, works for State of the Art and notes the variety of organizations on and off campus that they print for.
“The NCSU Boxing club recently ordered gear, we did an order for the NCSU Jenkins MBA program, and a local elementary school’s Lego team placed an order,” Schoeller said. “Our main goal here is to offer NC State related stuff for students that is different and eccentric.”
Students are able to come into the store with almost anything and have it printed. Either a simple resemblance of a design that needs work or a complete complex design to be printed on 100 shirts can be done easily.
“Basically you can come in here with your own design, or if you’re not artistically inclined you can come back here and we will work with you,” Lombardi said. “I like being the kind of operation that can accommodate that kind of need.”
The production shop uses direct-to-garment printing, instead of screen printing, which allows for flexibility of designs and quantity. Without the usual setup fees for screen printing, prices are lower and more affordable, even for just one T-shirt.
State of the Art orders bulk amounts of 100 percent cotton T-shirts from Gildan and Comfort Colors by request, although students are welcome to bring in their own garments.
The prices vary depending on the item, color and quantity— a price list can be found on the State of the Art website. One custom printed T-shirt could be $15 or $20. Discounts are given for quantity and bringing in 36-45 shirts would cost around $8 per shirt. Printing can also be done on pants, jackets, hats or any garment of choice.
“Since starting here I have a small army of custom printed shirts, I even gave my wife a joke T-shirt as a gift one time.” Lombardi said.
State of the Art has over 50 feature designs up for sale in the front of the store, and across the hall in Wolfpack Outfitters the featured design shirts run at $15. In addition to custom designs, the store sells NC State Brick Apparel. On-brand gear runs around $16.99 per item.
While students may not have known of the store in Talley, some of the shirts printed for concessions at NC State football and basketball games came from State of the Art’s printers. This year the shop had a booth at Packapalooza and sold over 80 shirts for $10 each. Schoeller hinted at a possible Halloween deal on shirts as well.
Similar to the bookstores, State of the Art is a nonprofit organization and proceeds go toward scholarships. The production shop is open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on weekdays and is located next to the Wolfpack One Card office in Talley Student Union.
The staff are ready to print for students year-round, and with the holiday season coming up, a custom-printed shirt may be a unique gift for some.
A t-shirt available for sale in State of the Art in Talley Student Union. Catalina Morris, an in-house designer for the store and a NC State graduate, said that the design was a collaboration between the store's three designers.
