Custom Ink is an American online

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

company headquartered in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

that makes custom

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

and other items such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, and tech accessories.

History

Custom Ink was launched in 1999 (as CustomInk) by former college classmates Marc Katz, Dave Christensen, and Mike Driscoll. In November 2013, Custom Ink received $40 million from Revolution Growth, the investment fund run by Steve Case,

Ted Leonsis Theodore John Leonsis (born January 8, 1957) is an American businessman, investor, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and former politician. He is a former senior executive with America Online (AOL), and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Monumen ...

, and

Donn Davis Donn Davis is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He is founder, chairman and co-owner of the Professional Fighters League, co-owner of e-sports team Team Liquid and founding partner of the investment firm Revolution LLC. Career ...

. The investment reportedly helped the growth of two new projects: Booster and Pear. Booster (later Custom Ink Fundraising) was launched by Andrew Moss (previously founder of

BuyWithMe BuyWithMe was a social e-commerce company that was known as the first competitor to group buying website Groupon. Launched in Boston and then later based in New York City, BuyWithMe allowed consumers to leverage group buying power to get discount ...

) who rejoined Custom Ink after being one of the original CustomInk founding members. In 2019, Custom Ink's investors sold their shares for an undisclosed amount.

Acquisitions

On February 4, 2016, Custom Ink acquired the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

company Represent.com, which helps celebrities sell limited-run T-shirts and merchandise to fans and followers. In 2019, CustomInk purchased Sidestep, a website and mobile app that strictly sells concert merchandise. The acquisition was done through CustomInk’s subsidiary Represent. In November 2021, the company purchased New York City-based giveaway startup Swag.com for an undisclosed amount''.'' Two months later, in January 2022, the company acquired Printfection, a swag management platform.

Awards

In 2014, ''Fortune'' and ''Great Place to Work'' ranked Custom Ink as one of their Top 100 places to work.

References

{{Self-publishing, state=expanded Clothing companies of the United States Clothing companies established in 1999 Retail companies established in 1999 Internet properties established in 1999 Online retailers of the United States 1999 establishments in Virginia