But, it’s not about us. It’s about getting your brand the exposure it deserves. We won’t waste your time talking about awards, accolades, or state-of-the-art offices.
We are here to partner with you to help your campaigns and events succeed. We are ready to bring you new ideas and products that will engage all 5 senses to help your target audience remember your name and what you stand for. Because in the end, advertising affects the bottom line and promotional products is one channel you don’t want to miss.
We understand your business. We put our 25+ combined years of marketing and advertising experience to work for you to help you find solutions to your advertising challenges. We are locally owned and operated so you aren’t just a number to us – you are a priority. We bring all our capabilities to every project including onsite Screen Printing and Embroidery, graphic design assistance, and negotiated pricing with select manufacturers. We strive to stay in-the-know about the latest products so you can always have useful and interesting products that your audience will talk about and keep for years to come. We look forward to bringing our creativity alongside your expertise to help you create a strategy that will bring results to your bottom line.
Gary started off as a Loss Control Investigator for multiple insurance companies. The job required quite a bit of travel in Oklahoma and Texas. He met a lot of people on the road and one man in particular asked if he would be interested in selling hats while he was traveling. At first, he wasn’t interested. He was pretty busy already, but eventually he decided he could really use the extra money. So, Gary began selling hats to businesses that were along his insurance route. He would hand deliver every order to his customers.
He sold hats part time for two years until he had so many orders that the company he was working for couldn’t keep up with demand. This really bothered him because he wasn’t able to keep his promises on delivery times.
He tried to find another company to sell for and when that fell through, he told his wife “I need to learn how to print the hats myself.” So, Gary went out and bought his first screen print machine and set it up in his back bedroom. He didn’t have a clue on how to use it. He confessed “I ruined hundreds of hats learning”. He started with “old man” hats because they were affordable and had a relatively flat bill.
Gary officially opened Cross Country in 1992 and began fulfilling his own orders. The machine was kept going around the clock as his kids and wife started pitching in to help with large orders. Eventually, he invested in more machines and moved the business into an old 1927 rental home they had across the street.
Gary didn’t receive any formal training and had to learn how to use a computer “from the college kids at the library”. He paid other screen printers by the hour to show him how to use the software to create separations and prepare the artwork for print. He spent a lot of time learning, but in the end, he was so advanced, he was able to help businesses create logos to put on their t-shirts and hats.
When the new 6 panel hats came out and became popular, the seam down the middle of the bill created a challenge for screen printers everywhere. Gary created his own technique to fill in the seam area and is still one of the few screen printers in Oklahoma to offer screen printed hats. He continues to operate the print shop and is still excited about learning new things and keeping up with the latest technology. He expanded his shop and now runs both screen printing and embroidery machines keeping his team busy.
Gary’s daughter Karesa joined her father in the business officially in 2015. She created a sister company to expand into offering a full span of branded promotional products. They work closely together with their teams to provide custom products and apparel for their customers.
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 Karesa Wells |
