Mad Moose Designs has found big success selling and producing partial wraps.
As print specialists facing a surge in demand for vehicle wraps with a limited team, Kathy and Derrick Stewart of Mad Moose Designs in Cato, New York, found an innovative solution. Rather than turning away clients due to capacity constraints, they pivoted towards offering partial wraps.
The Stewarts, who established Mad Moose Designs in 2015, initially operated out of a storage building behind their home. However, their success allowed them to move into a 1,860-square-foot facility, demonstrating growth in both their customer base and product range. The business comprises two facets—screen printing apparel and producing vinyl for decals, signs, and vehicles.
During the pandemic, the split nature of their services proved advantageous. While the t-shirt production declined due to the absence of events and sports, the print side flourished. Mad Moose Designs played a crucial role in the community by creating signs for graduations, supporting essential workers, and facilitating online fundraisers through custom shops.
Despite being a two-person operation—Derrick as the designer and vinyl producer, and Kathy managing production and paperwork—Mad Moose Designs efficiently completes projects, from decals and shirts to signs and vehicle graphics. Their facility boasts a showroom for showcasing their work and a production area housing cutting-edge equipment, such as a Roland DG CAMM-1 cutter and a TrueVIS™ VG3-540 fifty-four-inch printer/cutter.
The shop’s commitment to customer service and convenience has attracted clients from diverse sectors, including trucking, construction, forestry, and farming. While staffing constraints currently limit them to partial wraps, Mad Moose Designs aims to expand into full wraps in the future.
Geographically situated in Central New York, where the weather poses challenges to full wraps, the shop has found partial wraps to be both visually appealing and cost-effective. According to Kathy, truck doors are the prime location for visibility in partial wraps, and simplicity is key in design to quickly convey essential information to potential customers.
Mad Moose Designs envisions growth in the partial wrap segment and plans to offer full wraps when staffing allows. Despite their size, the shop has undertaken unique full wrap projects, including transforming model trucks into miniaturized replicas of their larger counterparts and wrapping a child’s Power Wheels ride-on vehicle to resemble a police car. Kathy acknowledges the challenges of intricate angles in smaller projects, emphasizing the need for precision, even using tweezers in tight spaces.
In summary, Mad Moose Designs exemplifies adaptability and commitment to quality in meeting the diverse needs of their clientele.
Partial wraps can be applied to many vehicles.
The construction industry is a big partial wraps customer for Mad Moose Designs
Decals are a popular product at Mad Moose Designs.
The two-person shop produces a lot of different graphics projects.
