SLATER DESIGNS

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History

Slater Designs History

Slater Designs began doing business on a part time basis in 1988 as Slater Print Shop with
Edward Grimes and Rick Hays as partners. Their goal was to just make enough money to pay
off their investment. The duo put their newly purchased equipment, purchased from Green
Printers from Marshall, Missouri in a small back room of the auto shop Edward used for his
dump truck business. Thus, the beginning of a new screen-printing business in Slater Missouri.
After just about a year, the two partners moved the equipment to a small ex-coal room in the
basement of the Slater Garment Co. Rick quotes, “I can remember the first real job Edward
and I did in the basement of the factory was a five-thousand-piece order for headbands for the
MS 150 bike tour”. The group would be camping in Marshall, Missouri and would receive the
headbands for a gift for the ride. Not knowing what we were getting into for such a deadline,
we started printing with the help of just about any Slater citizen that would happen to drop by
to see the new printing business in town. Edward and I worked during the day at Slater
Garment so we figured if we worked every night, all night long for four nights we might be able
to deliver the product to them in time for the Friday night stop-over. We made it and paid off
the debt on the initial equipment!
On January 1, 1994, after twenty years working at Slater Garment., Rick decided to go out on
his own and start Slater Designs. He and his wife Connie reached an agreement with Jean Black
to clean-up, paint the building and replace windows that had been damaged in a storm and
rent the vacant former Moore’s Drive In building. Bob and Barbara Sweigart came on board in
this new adventure and it became Slater Designs Inc.
Working with the company Bob worked for in Kansas City, Missouri it became apparent Rick
and Edward knew nothing about sewing canvas bags, which they tried to sew, so we hired our
first employee Janie Morton Kimberling in the spring of 1994, thus adding sewing to our screen-
printing business. This became the start of a sewing operating that is still a big part of our
business today as is our association with MMI. As our business grew, we needed more space
to not only sew and screen-print, but also cut and warehouse goods, with a place to letter
trucks and make signs “inside” instead of in the parking lot of the old drive in.
With help of the Slater Development Corporation and president Sam Gilliam, a new building
at our current location at 326 South Central Street was built in 1995. With more space we
could now house more sewers to sew not only canvas bags but a variety of items. Our sewing
operation now numbered three full time in-house sewers with five-at home sewers. Items
sewn under the Slater Designs banner include sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts, medical
icepacks, military lanyards, exercise mats, sports seat cushions, wine duffels, vest and much

more. We have even printed and sewn covers for the stealth bomber for a company that delt
with Whiteman Air Force base.
Over the years we have had home sewers from Slater, Blue Springs, Buckner, Emma, Kansas
City, Lee’s Summit, Pleasant Hill, and Windsor all in Missouri. We now have three sewers that
sew from their home with one part time in-house sewer for special items. Over the years we
have sewn and screen printed over three million canvas bags.
In 2022 , Brett and Sarah Hays joined the SD family that includes Bryan Grimes, Rick and
Connie Hays and Bob Sweigart , and added Embroidery, DTG and DTF in house printing to their
four and six color manual, and eight color automatic printing, and vinyl sign business. It has
been an honor and privilege to be one of the longest tenured businesses in Slater, Missouri. In
2024 we will celebrate over 35 years in business and 30 as Slater Designs.