April 2025 Recap
Seriously, where did the month go?
We’re starting to post a monthly blog more for us than anything- just as a way to look back on where we’ve been, but you can also follow along with us on our journey!
THE GROUND HAS BEEN BROKEN!
We’ve been a little quiet about it but we’re starting to let the word out- Skyline HQ is currently under construction in Bentonville (800 Village Loop!) and seeing the pile of dirt take shape into a foundation and parking lot has been way more exciting than I would’ve guessed.
More details and info to come on this entire project, but Team Skyline is psyched to be all together in one spot in central Bentonville to serve the Walmart and vendor community here in town with a level of service we haven’t been able to offer up until this point. Huge thanks to Bryce Larry and everyone at Legacy Bank. We have worked with Legacy for several years on all their bank merch so to partner with them on our building financing brings it full circle.
DTF EXPO
April kicked off with Lana and myself attending the DTF Expo in Phoenix/Mesa. DTF Expo is only in its second year of existence but always offers us a lot of insight on the growing print-on-demand industry. Much of the topics were around AI usage in the print industry – from art creation to customer acquisition and marketing. Big shoutout to Adriene and the team at DTF Printing.com for hosting the event.
A really sick new machine introduced by M&R that allows for fully automated heat press / robotic film removal that was at the Expo
RACE RACE RACE
Faster, faster…
Bentonville Half Marathon- This April we were honored to partner with Bentonville Parks and Rec, and Run Bentonville to produce the finisher hoodies for the Bentonville Half Marathon. This print job kept us busy for a day or two.
Square 2 Square – while we’re talking about the local parks and rec offices in Northwest Arkansas, its City of Fayetteville’s turn to host the Square 2 Square bike ride from the Fayetteville square to the Bentonville Square. If you haven’t been a part of this fun event, I would encourage you to try it sometime! It takes place every spring and fall- alternating direction and host cities each time. The event is highlighted by pit stops all along the Razorback Greenway where sponsors shower participants in freebies and activities. Its kid friendly – the entire ride is around 30 miles. One of our favorite parts of the race is the t-shirt they give to all participants- 2025 was the first year Skyline partnered with City of Fayetteville to produce the event merch and we’re hopeful its the first of many years!
Jackrabbit 5K was another race we were excited to partner with again this year, Flagstone Church of Christ in Bentonville hosts the easter themed 5k every year and we have been able to print the Jackrabbit merch for the past 6 years.
Easter weekend usually separates our calendar from “winter/spring” and “spring/summer”, everything post-easter is gearing companies and organizations up for their summer programs, camps and initiatives. But Easter week this year, our production schedule was loaded full with baptism tees, church merch and Easter event tees.
Tariff fun… just refer to my other blog post about this. Yes. Hopefully we can look back and laugh at this short period of freak out but time will tell.
Ledger Merch Lab –
Merch Labs by Skyline give organizations the opportunity to have us come on-site for an in-person activation where people have the chance to create a completely unique t-shirt. In April, we did a collaboration with Ledger Bentonville to do an activation for all their members to create a t-shirt. Pizza, drinks and a t-shirt bar- what else could you want from a sunny Thursday afternoon?!
Huge thanks to Emily and her team at the Ledger for including us on this one!
NWACC Graphic Design Field Trip-
We hosted one of NWACC’s graphic design classes at our printshop in Gravette. Once we’re all settled into Skyline HQ Bentonville, we will be hosting several interns out of the NWACC design program under what we’re calling “Camp Skyline” – a semester long real life design internship with practical week-by-week assignments. We believe being local means just that and what better way to pour into our local NWA community than inviting students into our space to learn. Thank you Kelsi Turk for bringing your class out to visit the T-Shirt Farm (skyline’s current printshop is on my family’s farm in case you missed that memo- so somedays we call it the T-Shirt Farm and other days we just call it the funny farm..)
