T-Formation.com

Latest news...

January 7th, 2010
T-Formation Business Spotlight Video on Seminoles.com

Check out our Business Spotlight video and learn how T-Formation can help you with your next apparel project:

http://www.seminoles.com/genrel/businessspotlight.html

December 18th , 2009
T-Formation celebrates the holidays with our employees - We wish to thank all of our staff for all of their contributions for this past year. Our success is directly tied to their hard work and dedication. We are looking forward to 2010, and hope that everyone has a joyous and wonderful holiday season.
   
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
   
 
   
September 7th , 2009
T-Formation is proud to announce our partnership with ISP Sports to help support Florida State athletics. We’ve been working the ISP hospitality tent on the Langford Green before every home football game, taken a full page ad out in the football program “Game Time” and we’ve also produced the “T-Formation T-shirt Cannon” that fires t-shirts into the crowd during home games. Please see the pics of the scoreboard with our new logo, that show the cannon being used at the games.
T-Formation at Doak Stadium   T-Formation at Doak Stadium   T-Formation at Doak Stadium
August 13th, 2009
T-Formation Guidelines for Handling CPSIA Tracking Label Requirement

In compliance with the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Information Act, http://cpsc.gov/cpsia.pdf ), Section 103 mandate that all youth apparel have permanent tracking labels affixed to the garments, T-Formation will be adopting the policy of printing the job order number in one color underneath the design image.

This step ensures that the end consumer could easily identify the apparel product if it was subject to a recall action. Because we are using the order number, we can easily review the specifics on that production run if there is any question regarding the product.

For youth embroidered goods, we will be using heat transfer numbers and placing them in an out of the way location on the garment. If any client needs further information or has questions regarding this policy, please contact Marshall Atkinson, Vice President of Operations at matkinson@tformation.com or 800-223-7919 ext 114.

Click to read the full article...


August 2, 2009
T-Formation and our various production and art processes were featured in an article in today's Tallahassee Democrat.. Click on the image to the left to view the full article in pdf format.

 

July 29th, 2009
T-Formation is excited to announce some personnel changes in the Accounting Dept - Josh Simon has been promoted to Accounting Supervisor, where his responsibilities will include new customer setups & establishing/modifying our credit policies and ensuring that customer billing is completed each month in a timely manner, while continuing to be our go to guy for reports and analysis for other departments. In addition, Leslie Olsson will take on additional accounting duties besides her receptionist duties, before moving to a full-time position in Accounting in late August; and Tara O'Daniel will also move into Accounting, focusing on Balance Sheet Reconciliations and General Ledger.
July 20th, 2009
T-Formation is pleased to welcome Cheryl Martin, who has accepted the position of Procurement Specialist. Cheryl has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Florida State University and an Associate of Arts from the University of Florida. She also worked at The Clothesline as a Sales Assistant/Office Manager for 5½ years and brings purchasing, receiving and ShopWorks experience with her.

July 16th, 2009
T-Formation Invents the Green Playbook - T-Formation has been exclusively profiled in the latest digital edition of Eco-Impressions. You can read the article by clicking here.

July 1st, 2009
T-Formation is delighted to announce that we have moved from Number 10 up to Number 8 in industry magazine Impressions' annual ranking of screenprinting companies by volume. We'd like to thank all our employees and our clients for helping us move up in a positive direction from the Number 10 spot that we have occupied for the past 2 years. Check out the Impressions article on p24-33 of their July issue by clicking on the picture to the right.
Click for biggie...

June 21st , 2009
T-Formation Participates in SGP Roundtable Discussion About Going Green
Recently our Vice President of Operations Marshall Atkinson was asked to participate in a roundtable discussion regarding T-Formation’s efforts in becoming a certified green printer through the SGP (Sustainable Green Partnership). Click here to read the results of that discussion as posted on the “What They Think” Blog. (Click here to read article.)



June 8th , 2009
T-Formation is happy to share that the Southeastern Community Blood Center blood-mobile stopped in for a few hours. We had 12 people donate, several also from one of our clients and neighbors Ajax Construction. Thanks everyone for supporting this great cause.
Click for biggie...
April 8th , 2009
T-Formation is pleased to announce the results of our first quarter 2009 recycling efforts. So far this year we have recycled 23,340 pounds of cardboard (that’s 11.67 tons), 17 standard recycling tubs of paper, 4 tubs of metal cans, and 4 tubs of assorted plastic/metal.

Click for biggie...

Click for biggie...

April 1st, 2008
The newest edition of our company newsletter, 'The Pinhole Press' has just rolled off the press. The newsletter contains information on our work processes, a glossary of printing terms, a meet-the-employee section, and other fun facts. Click on the thumbnails on the left to open the pages full size.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

March 9th, 2009
T-Formation was honored to be a part of the recent February 2009 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' project here in Tallahassee for the wonderful Kadzis family. Working with Kenny Hightower one of our senior sales team members, we produced 1200 t-shirts for the show and 300 baseball hats for Myddleton Parker builders. Great job everyone, and we’re glad to be able to help out for this worthwhile cause!
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Sundays 8/7c on ABC
March 5th, 2009
Tricia Goodban has been promoted to the position of Quoting & Account Manager. Tricia started with T-Formation in September 2007 as the Quote Desk Administrator. During the past year Tricia has managed the quoting for T-Formation’s corporate accounts and national programs, providing pricing and sourcing of goods for numerous accounts, and handling a high volume of quality control for customer service orders. Tricia has now added Account Management to her area of responsibility by taking on the national Bodybuilding.com account and a web-based order program.
March 4th, 2009
T-Formation is proud to announce that we have promoted Leslie Olsson to the position of Office Manager. Leslie has been our receptionist since 2006, and will oversee our day to day office management tasks including personnel, office purchasing, company invoicing, and other duties. She is extremely task oriented, organized and wonderful at her job. Congratulations Leslie!
February 20th, 2009
After an exhaustive search, where we interviewed many top candidates from the around the country, T-Formation is pleased to announce that we’ve promoted Alan McVeigh and Brian Espy as our new Plant Managers. This position will oversee all production operations for the company. Alan has been with T-Formation since 2006 and was the Operations Manager, while Brian has been with the company since 1997 and was the Scheduling Manager. Alan will continue to add his organizational and personnel management experience to the position, while Brian will handle all the print production, organization and scheduling aspects for the company. We are proud to have this unique opportunity to promote from within, and to continue to grow our company to new levels with their talented help. Congratulations Alan & Brian!
February 10th, 2009
T-Formation can help you with the new CPSIA regulations!

The CPSIA regulation that passed last August has caused a lot of concern and sometimes confusion regarding the amount of lead and phthalates that are allowed for apparel products. There’s been considerable national controversy and lawsuits on this matter in recent days and weeks, and the outcome right now is that after February 10, 2009 childcare articles for those under 3 years of age that facilitate eating and sleeping are the only articles that are affected by this ruling. Youth t-shirts are not applicable….but onesies, bibs and other infant ware will be the items to be concerned with.

Going forward, T-Formation will be stocking ink that is compliant to the lead (under 600ppm) and phthalate (under 1000 ppm) rulings. Our regular ink (Classic MX) already passes the lead compliance ruling. The non-phthalate ink is called Epic, and we have created a non-phthalate order type in our system to denote it’s use for production on our internal jobsheets. We want to stress to our clients that we can use this ink for any youth t-shirt order…but under the law it is not required. We empathize and understand with how they want their jobs to be produced and will do what it takes to meet their needs. However, as the non-phthalate ink is a little more expensive any new orders will have a slight price increase of $0.05 per impression (NOT per color). If the client requires us to compile and ship the General Conformity Certificate with the order as well (compliance on this issue has been pushed out until 2010), we will be charging a modest $10 administrative fee to cover the extra work to fill out and maintain this document.

I have attached our ink manufacturer’s third party ink tests for Epic (our new non-phthalate ink) and their General Conformity Statement for review. Also, listed below are the links for the 2/5 ruling that sets aside Section 108 (see the conclusion at the end…pages 36 & 37) of the CPSIA regulation and the regulation itself. Section 108 starts on page 21.

Judge Gardephe’s ruling (see pages 36 & 37):

http://reformcpsia.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/phthalate-order-https___ecfnysduscourtsgov_cgi-bin_show_temppl_file5566333-0-_lm.pdf

CPSIA Law – H.R. 4040 (see page 21 for the start of Section 108):

http://reformcpsia.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cpsia.pdf

Finally, here’s comment that was posted by Marci Kinter, Vice President of the SGIA (Specialty Graphic Imaging Association….one of the professional printing organizations we belong to. They have been following the CPSIA ruling closely and posting information concerning this issue):

“The judge's ruling pertained to inventory of children's toys and child care articles that contained above the allowable limit for phthalates. All needed to be removed from the shelves and inventory and could not be sold, starting today. Remember, the phthalate ban only applies to a narrow subset of children's apparel -- child care articles for those under 3 that facilitate eating and sleeping. So for youth shirts, this ban does not apply.”

In closing, T-Formation’s stance is one that we will whole-heartedly do whatever our clients would like to regarding this ink issue. We are here to help, and will follow the directions provided to us at the time of the order. We are not, however, using the Epic (non-phthalate) ink unless specified by our clients on an individual order basis. This should be written on the purchase order, and quoted correctly before we process the order.

Thanks for your patience and understanding on this complex issue. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Marshall Atkinson
Vice President - Operations
matkinson@tformation.com
800-223-7919 ext 14

Click for biggie...

Click for biggie...

December 29th, 2008
The second edition of our company newsletter, 'The Pinhole Press' has just rolled off the press. The newsletter contains information on our work processes, a glossary of printing terms, a meet-the-employee section, and other fun facts. Click on the thumbnails on the left to open the pages full size.
November 21st, 2008
T-Formation employees gathered together today for our own Thanksgiving, and celebrated with home cooked dishes brought in by our wonderful staff. Brian Espy fried three delicious turkeys, and we served spiral cut ham, BBQ or Smoked Ribs, curried chicken, homemade tamales, bacon-wrapped asparagus, sweet potatoes, white-acre peas, baked beans, deviled-eggs, corn-bread muffins, lima beans, & potato salad. We also had a dessert contest with Kenny Hightower’s Pumpkin Pie Cake garnering first place, Cris Becker’s Sweet Potato Cake taking second, and Vince Labolito’s Carrot Cake taking third place.

We’d all like to thank our dedicated employees for their great contributions and efforts this year to make T-Formation not only the best t-shirt printer around, but also a great company to work for. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation
Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation
    Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation   Thanksgiving 2008 @ T-Formation    

Click to read the full article...

November 5th, 2008
Great news! T-Formation has completed our application to become a certified green printer through the SGP Partnership. Our application is the first step in our journey and we're now a "Candidate Pending Verification". We will be working towards our goal of becoming a SGP Printer throughout the close of 2008 and into 2009. If you'd like to discuss this process with someone at T-Formation, please contact Marshall Atkinson at matkinson@tformation.com or 800-223-7919 ext 14.

Here's our new Sustainability Policy statement:

T-Formation is committed to adhering to the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Guiding Principles. We will instill continuous improvement of environmental stewardship within all aspects of the apparel decorating process, including areas not subject to regulation.

By taking the lead in demonstrating responsibility through the utilization of sustainable & lean business practices, we will reduce our environmental impact and increase the social awareness of this issue by sharing information with all external stakeholders via communication on our website, meetings and newsletters.

We are committed to compliance with all environmental, health & safety requirements….including a commitment to pollution prevention that emphasizes source reduction, reuse & recycling.

To learn more about the SGP Certification process and why it's the industry standard go to:

https://www.sgppartnership.org/index.php

Click the pic on the left to see the Sustainable Green Printing Guiding Principles signed by Alan Gentry, T-Formation president & owner.

October 24th, 2008
A great friend and past member of the T-Formation crew passed tragically on Friday, October 24th in a car accident.

Adrienne Rogers, former member of our accounting team, had recently moved on as Human Resource Manager to a national restaurant chain - not a surprising career shift since she always seemed to bring out the best in people!

She graduated from FAMU in 2007 where she studied business and was very active, among many other things, as a mentor to younger students, a member of the National Conference for Negro Women from 2002-2004, 2003-2004 president of the FAMU chapter of the NAACP, and founder of two non-profit organizations.

Her smile warmed our offices, as did her ability to make each person feel like an important individual link in the T-Formation chain. She has left many footprints here, where her innovation and forward thinking have improved many of our processes.

RIP Adrienne Rogers

Most of all, we will miss her, and miss just knowing that she is making someone else's life better just by being Adrienne. We were so fortunate enough to share this bright star's light, and we take comfort in knowing she shines even brighter now somewhere else.
August 13th, 2008
Eddie Tays has joined our production management team as a Production Supervisor. Eddie brings 18 years of apparel screen printing experience to T-Formation’s leadership staff, and has an extensive background in manual & automatic printing, as well as screen room management. We welcome Eddie in his new role with T-Formation!
August 11th, 2008
Stuart Rochford has joined T-Formation's Art Dept. Stuart is a graphic artist with a BFA in Graphic Design from FSU. Stuart is also a photographer and has done photography work for the FSView. He is originally from Trinidad.

Click for biggie...

Click for biggie...

August 1st, 2008.
The initial edition of our company newsletter, 'The Pinhole Press' was distributed today to all employees. The newsletter contains information on our work processes, a glossary of printing terms, a meet-the-employee section, and other fun facts. Click on the thumbnails on the left to open the pages full size.

Click to read the full article...



June 3, 2008
T-Formation and our various production and art processes were featured in a recent article in Impressions magazine. Click on the image to the left to view the full article in pdf format.

 

Click to see full-size pic

May 19, 2008
T-Formation celebrated our One Million Impression Month with an afternoon BBQ – Crawfish Boil. Yes, you had to be there!

With Brian Espy cookin’ up his special Cajun Crawfish boil, and Chris Norris and Marshall Atkinson BBQ’ing chicken, hamburgers & fish, it was definitely a day to remember. An incredible mix of tunes was provided by our Alan McVeigh... or maybe Ricky Webster when Alan wasn’t looking!

All in all, a great afternoon and fun for everyone. Again, a big THANK YOU to all of our great staff!”

 

Click to see full-size pic

May 1, 2008
T-Formation is extremely proud to announce that in the first time in the company’s history our actual printed production capacity has exceeded one million impressions in one month. From Tuesday 4/1 to Wednesday 4/30 we produced 1,009,417 impressions, for 2,276 orders with 1,802 set ups. This exciting development was due to a tremendous team effort company wide, and is overwhelming focused on our overall sense of efficiency, teamwork, communication, and good ol’ plain hard work.

Everyone at T-Formation wishes to thank all of our loyal customers, employees, vendors, and our families that made this benchmark achievement possible.


February 25, 2008
Jessica Dial has joined the Sales Department Team as Sales Rep Administrative Assistant. Jessica has 5 years clerical and administrative experience. Jessica comes to us from the Brevard County Clerk of the Court where she worked as a Court Clerk.
January 30, 2008
Ashley Barber and Cory Davis have joined the company as members of T-Formation’s Art Department. Both will be working with the Non-Profit team. Ashley recently graduated from FSU with a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art. Cory is a self-taught, free-lance graphic designer. Cory has many years experience working in graphic design and 8 years experience as owner of his own graphic design company, 'Miami’s Finest'.

January 19, 2008
T-Formation recently invested in new technology - the purchase of 2 new machines and a new dryer increases our capacity to 9 presses and 5 dryers, and provides us with greater opportunity to meet and exceed all our customers' expectations for 2008 and beyond. Our new 18-color Challenger II press allows us to increase a design's color count without any loss of quality, while our new 14-color Gauntlet II is a fast addition to our production line, which can only increase our efficiency. Our new dryer is a Sprint 2000 HO - its unrivaled power and performance can keep pace in the most demanding production environments.

Challenger II Gauntlet II Sprint 2000 HO

November 14, 2007
Joseph E. Morgan joined T-Formation as the Sr. Customer Service Account Manager. Joe brings many years of experience to the position. He was a Customer Service Representative at Russell Corporation, a manufacturer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment; and, at Ithaca Industries, a manufacturer of ladies apparel. Joe also worked in Customer Service at Flightline at the Tallahassee airport for 7 years.
October 10, 2007.
Christoffer James has joined the company as our new Assistant Art Director. Christoffer has over seven years experience in the apparel industry as an art director in Tampa. He has an Associate of Science degree in Commercial Art from the Tampa Technical Institute. We look forward to bringing his creative skill, leadership and expertise to our art team.
October 3, 2007.
We are pleased to announce that Pat Flowers has accepted the position of Human Resources Administrator. Pat had many years of management experience at the Tallahassee Democrat, and has been assisting T-Formation for some time already with some HR related tasks. We feel she will be a great addition to the team and we will be able to focus on many new HR initiatives to improve our company.
September 12, 2007.
Jessica Garcia has been added to our Art Department as a night Production Artist. She recently graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and Visual Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design.
September 5, 2007.
Kaitlin Rose recently joined us to work as Sales Team support and help in our Marketing effort. She recently graduated from Old Dominion University in Virginia with a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational and Technical Studies, Fashion Emphasis and has a Minor in Marketing.
September 5, 2007.
Tricia Goodban recently joined us to handle our new Quote Desk, which will provide quotes to our customers so our Account Representatives can manage existing orders. Tricia recently graduated from FSU with a Batchelor’s of Science degree in Apparel Design and Technology.
September 4 , 2007.
Fred Simmons has been added to our Art Department as a Production Artist. Fred attends FAMU and is working on his Graphic Design degree with a Minor in Public Relations.

Click for biggie...

August 3, 2007.
After 4 years of great salesmanship, Damon Karras is leaving Tallahassee and moving to Chicago to be closer to his family. Everyone at T-Formation wishes him all the best with his future opportunities. To the left is a recent photo of Damon taken after his “Bon Voyage” lunch (click on the pic for the full version.) It’s an embarrassing light pink shirt with the caption “I worked at T-Formation and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”. Good luck Damon!
July 2, 2007.
LeighAnne Crosby recently joined the Customer Service team as a Jr. Account Representative. LeighAnne has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration.from Flagler College and has six years experience in customer service.
June 7, 2007.
For the second year in a row, Impressions Magazine has ranked T-Formation as the #10 top volume screen printer in the United States. In the June 2007 issue, T-Formation was ranked in this top spot with 6,147,274 impressions for our work in 2006. Thanks to all of our clients, staff and friends for helping us achieve this top accolade! Please click here for the complete listing.
May 7, 2007.
Following the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech, T-Formation is proud to be able to play a part in the recovery process for the Hokie Nation. We are the official printer of the much sought after ‘Hokies United’ shirts, which are currently on sale in the Blacksburg, Virginia area as well as online at http://www.hokiesunited.org.vt.edu

Proceeds from the sale of these shirts will go to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which was set up to provide:

  • Assistance to victims and their families
  • Grief counseling
  • Memorials
  • Communication expenses
  • Comfort expenses

April 16, 2007.
Marshall Atkinson has been promoted to Vice President, Operations. Marshall has been with T-Formation for over 14 years, and was the former Art Director. Marshall will be in charge of all aspects of the day to day operations at T-Formation, including the art, shipping, receiving, embroidery, and production departments. If you have any need within the scope of his responsibilities, please contact him and he will be happy to help you.
April 16, 2007.
Vince Labolito has been promoted to Art Director. Vince has been Assistant Art Director for many years, and will bring his wonderful creative talents and enthusiasm to the position. He looks forward to discussing your next project or creative problem, and will be glad to assist you with all art-related queries.
March 5, 2007.
Nancy Strackbein is our latest talented major addition to the T-Formation staff as a Senior Graphic Artist. She has an Associate's Degree in Commercial Design from MATC, and completed a 5 year apprenticeship in Gravure and Lithography with an emphasis on color quality control. She has worked as an artist in the offset printing industry from 1977 to 2000, and was the Senior Illustrator/Designer and Art Production Manager for Crown Prince from 2000-2007, the 3rd largest screen-printer by volume in the United States.
January 8, 2007.
Shauntel Roberts has recently came on board as part of our Customer Service team. We have rearranged our Team setups and will now now have three teams of Account Managers looking after our clients' needs each day.


January 6, 2007.
T-Formation received major coverage in the Business section of Sunday's Tallahassee Democrat due to our exclusive contract for printing t-shirts for the winners of this years National BCS game between Florida and Ohio State.