With side hustles holding strong in today’s economy, creating and printing garments has become a popular way for people to work from home and make some money running their own creative businesses. Now, garment and embroidery industry pioneer Henry Ma has unveiled Garmeo, an online, on-demand print and embroidery business that allows anyone with an idea to create high-quality, custom garments. 

Be it an upcoming event or the launch of a new brand, Garmeo, under Ma’s leadership, is making custom apparel easy and accessible like never before.

A platform for the customer

From bachelorette parties to corporate events, custom apparel has always had its place in the fashion world. Most well-known brands have customized offerings, and many trends — such as monogrammed items and custom bridal wear — have been born from the customized apparel industry.  

However, it hasn’t always been easy to get custom apparel made. Ma has set out to right the wrongs of the custom apparel industry, starting with customer service. “We have custom-built the experience to mimic exactly what we would like to see as customers,” he explains. 

This includes having no minimum order requirements through the Garmeo platform and providing real embroidered proofs for customers. “Garmeo allows embroiderers to focus on what they’re good at: the craft,” Ma told Impressions Magazine. “Everything else is done for you.”

Ease of use is one of Garmeo’s hallmarks. Once on the site, the customer chooses their desired garment, quantity, size, color, design, and placement. Billing and shipping information entry are also simple. A sample will be sent to the customer before order fulfillment, and once the order is approved, customers can expect shipment within two weeks. 

Each item is individually inspected and must meet rigorous standards before being shipped to the customer. Garmeo works with each customer to ensure they are completely satisfied from start to finish. 

With a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee and an “above and beyond” ethos, Ma and his team are applying everything they know about customer service, entrepreneurship, and creativity and building it into the Garmeo platform. 

Built-in customer and marketing management

Garmeo is truly the custom embroidery business for entrepreneurs. Its platform allows custom embroidery businesses more time to focus on the creative aspects of their ventures by taking over the marketing and customer-acquisition areas of the business. The platform has built-in business management features, going beyond offering just an order-and-fulfill platform into a truly all-inclusive, business-building program.

“Most embroidery entrepreneurs have to rely on tools like social media or word of mouth to build their businesses. They don’t have a strong web presence or an editor to improve the customer experience,” Ma explains. “Those who do sell online usually buy software to manage orders and run their online store, but they still have to maintain the site while doing their own marketing.”

Garmeo steps in to help these entrepreneurs with these marketing and order fulfillment tasks.

Endless options

The options offered through Garmeo are only limited by the creativity and imagination of the user. Garmeo offers custom embroidery services on hats, button-downs, t-shirts, polos, hoodies, beanies, and more. The ordering interface is simple, and the results speak for themselves. Having launched in January 2023, the platform has already garnered rave reviews for ease of use and accessibility, not to mention the business-building help offered through the site.

“The design services Garmeo provides are impressive,” said one customer. “I love how their shirts came out and how quickly I got them.” Another client sang the praises of the cost-effectiveness of Garmeo’s services: “If you’re looking for the fastest and most cost-effective way to print on demand, Garmeo is the way!”

While Garmeo is perfect for bulk orders for businesses, teams, parties, or events, they also offer single-garment customization.

Helping entrepreneurs succeed

Henry Ma has a vested interest in helping people start businesses and nurture side hustles in a creative space. When he joined Ricoma as COO, he was coming from a fast and furious, high-stress position at Goldman Sachs, so he understands the desire for the better work-life balance that comes from striking out on one’s own. He has built the Garmeo platform to help entrepreneurs launch and scale, and keep their creative vision alive.

The low cost of entry and the high-profit possibilities behind custom apparel make it an appealing home business for many. The flexibility that a platform like Garmeo can offer to fledgling apparel businesses can be precisely what many entrepreneurs need to inspire them to go all in on their business dreams. “Quality is the key to success in the custom apparel business,” Ma told the Grit Daily podcast. 

A focus on quality is woven into each and every product that Garmeo helps its customers create. With all the tools necessary to launch a creative custom apparel business at a customer’s fingertips, Garmeo is the stepping stone many can rely on to build a lucrative side hustle in this new world of work.