Zoe Howard
Staff Writer
Senior Henry Humbarger combines his love for design and inspiration from the elements in order to create a personalized t-shirt company, Pyroco. He designs and produces high quality t-shirts for local customers.
Humbarger started Pyroco in November of 2018 with his friend Jack Beggins, who lives in Colorado. After Humbarger reached out to Beggins, they began to outline the business, and Pyroco was born.
“At first it was tough because me and my friend both invested a good amount of money,” Humbarger said. “When we first started, we were still in debt, but we now are making profits. It was just tough in the beginning.”
Humbarger first became interested in making t-shirts when he saw his Costa art teacher, Kate Heredia, using screens from her printmaking class to create an image on clothing. He asked her questions about the process and she taught him how to screen print the shirts.
“I was able to build off what [Mrs. Heredia] told me and now am able to do the whole process from making the screen to printing on shirts,” Humbarger said. “She really helped lift the business off the ground and without her guidance, I don’t know if I would be where I am today.”
Humbarger and Beggins sell and advertise the t-shirts mostly through word of mouth, but they also have an Instagram account called @pyrococlothing and a website called pyrococlothing.wixsite.com/shop, where customers can e-mail them to buy a t-shirt. They hope to expand their website in the future in order to grow their customer base.
“My favorite part about having my own clothing brand is being able to show off these designs and products to friends,” Humbarger said. “I usually make myself a shirt when we print a new design, and it feels awesome to be able to wear something I made.”
Humbarger works on the design aspect of the company and the production of the shirts, while Beggins focuses solely on management and the business side of their brand. What sets Pyroco apart from other student clothing companies is that Humbarger’s products are all handmade. When Humbarger makes a t-shirt, he starts with a blank screen and a coat of emulsion and waits for it to dry so he can place a logo on the screen. Then, he uses a special ink and a squeegee to finally print the shirts he later sells.
“I pay more attention to design things now and other logos, seeing if I can do something similar for my brand,” Humbarger said. “I’m just more aware of [the type of] t-shirts out there and seeing what they look like and how people respond to that and our brand.”
The name of the brand, Pyroco, is derived from the Greek word “pyro,” which means fire, and “co” for company. Humbarger has two screens at his house that he uses for the printing process. He then ships the shirts to the customer from his own home.
“It would be cool if we could become a pretty big clothing brand but that would definitely be way down the line,” Humbarger said. “In the near feature, we could maybe get an online presence besides Instagram.”
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