With a focus on industry education, product development and decoration technology, industry veterans and decorators Tom Davenport and Brett Bowden recently held an event in Fort Worth, Texas, to mark the opening of their joint venture, MADE Laboratory.
The event, sponsored by Impressions, SanMar, ROQ, SAATI, Reece Supply Co., GSF, Matsui, Printavo, BELLA + CANVAS and Hirsch Solutions, was the culmination of educational workshops, a keynote address from graphic designer Aaron Draplin, food trucks and live music. Attendees also toured MADE Laboratory, located at 500 E. Broadway Ave. in Fort Worth — just steps away from the Printed Threads screen-printing facility — and saw live printing.
MADE Laboratory co-founder Bowden, standing on stage alongside co-founder Davenport — as well as partners Ryan Moor, founder and CEO of Ryonet and Allmade, and Brian Lessard — explained his passion for decorator education and recounted how the lab progressed from an idea to a state-of-the-art facility.
The 6,500-square-foot lab features a plethora of decorating equipment loaded with cutting-edge technology, such as a ROQ 26-station oval automatic screen-printing press with a hybrid digital print head; a Lotus Holland automated screen reclaimer; SAATI laser-to-screen imaging; computer-to-screen imaging from Douthitt; a Stahls’ Hotronix pneumatic heat press and more.
Davenport says the decorated-apparel industry needs this lab. “We need a formal place for the education of the industry [and] to bring the best and brightest minds together to learn from each other in a state-of-the-art environment where we have all decoration technology represented, [and] where people can come together in an open environment and learn from each other,” he says.
Davenport also says supplier partners are vital to MADE Laboratory’s ability to fulfill its mission. “We want to work with the latest and greatest technology, and we have a close working relationship with suppliers so they can put that technology in [the facility],” he says. “We learn from them, but we can also help them in developing next-generation machinery.”
Currrently, the lab’s founding team will focus on education; new-product development for equipment suppliers and apparel manufacturers; content creation; and events. Davenport says future initiatives could center on brand/line development, software development and more.
“We want this to be the center of the universe for apparel decoration,” Davenport says.
For more information, visit madelab.io. — J.L.
