Timothy Pipp started Beeze Tees out of his basement with only one screen printing press while attending Keene State College in 2011.
Pipp is now moving the business to a new location at 116 Main Street.
“Going into my senior year I didn’t even have a job. I let go of everything and taught myself how to screen print in my basement. The first shirt I ever printed, I wore it out with a group of friends and I sold ten. I took a twenty-five dollar investment and made I made one-hundred bucks the same day,” Pipp explained.
Pipp said his first shirt read, “I’ve got more miles than your car.”
Pipp said the business grew from there. As friends heard about his shirts, the orders began rolling in.
Emily Orell / Equinox Staff
“People started finding out I was doing this. They started ordering shirts for their teams or for work. I was getting orders for four-hundred shirts,” Pipp said.
“Up until junior year this has been my only job. It’s the only thing I have done. I have such big dreams and goals for this business,” Pipp explained.
Beeze Tees has grown since its days spent in the basement.
The company is moving from its roughly 1800 square foot location on Emerald Street, to a 5000 square foot facility on Main Street, in the Good Fortune Plaza.
According to Pipp, the move will create the needed room to expand the business.
Amy Richo, Social Activities Council’s hospitality coordinator said, “He was very easygoing, he listened to what we wanted. He can click the mouse faster than I can ever think. It’s very exciting that he is going to Main Street.”
Coordinator of First Year Residential Experience Casey Wilson mentioned how the new location will be a positive move for the company, “I think it’s really exciting that he’s moving to a location that is more in the open. His last location was kind of hidden. I think it speaks volumes about the work he has been doing that he is able to move over to Main Street and have a pretty large presence on Main Street, where we hope he will continue to be successful.”
“I imagine we will bring on more full-time people,” Pipp explained.
Pipp said he has already filled a new front desk position.
“She is going to be doing all the up-front work. Invoicing and all that kind of stuff,” Pipp said.
Pipp added, “By the end of next year we probably won’t double, but we will have a few more people.”
The expanding staff is a far cry from the company’s beginnings.
Pipp explained that he did not hire anyone until a year-and-a-half after he starting the business.
Pipp recalled, “I hired my first employee a year-and-a-half after being in business. I was just so nervous. It’s a hard thing to give up control of everything. When I first started I was taking the orders, I was designing them, I was printing them and I was delivering them.”
Pipp attributed his successful growth to his hiring methods.
He stated, “One thing about my business is I won’t hire someone unless they love it. The people that I have hired that have worked out are people who love screen printing and love this industry. I have a group of people that are passionate about this and love the art of screen printing.”
Not only will the new location allow for more employees, but new services and retail space as well.
“The in-house embroidery is new. I add little things at a time and embroidery was one of them. When we get on Main Street we will do more retail,” Pipp explained.
Pipp continues to do business with Keene State College on a regular business.
At the time of this interview Pipp stated, “In fact, right now [an employee] is printing a Keene State job. It’s six-hundred shirts for health and wellness.”
Casey Wilson also works with Beeze Tees to purchase clothing for Residential Life on campus.
Wilson said, “Tim is pretty awesome. I know he is an alum of Keene, so we wanted to be able to give back to one of our own. We have worked with Tim—both Residential Life as well as student organizations I advise. We lean towards him anytime we are looking to purchase any apparel.”
Pipp stated that his involvement with the Hannah Grimes Foundation, a nonprofit business and entrepreneur incubator in Keene, helped him get Beeze Tees to where it is today.
“I didn’t have a marketing plan or business plan for any of this. I built the roof, then I built the walls, then I built the foundation. They helped me build the foundation,” Pipp said.
The non-traditional approach worked well for Beeze Tees.
“I didn’t know I was starting a business when I did this. It was a hobby, I was smiling every time I printed a tee shirt. It’s still my hobby, I just happen to make a living. I had to start with the roof, because I didn’t know I needed a foundation,” Pipp said. “I’ve never had a job,” Pipp concluded.
David Walsh can be contacted at dwalsh@keene-equinox.com-
