How Badlime Scaled Smarter with the ROQ IMPRESS

Shop: Badlime | www.badlime.com Location: Twinsburg, OH

Team Interviewed: Ben Eccles, Ron Gizzo & Eric Kahle

Some print shops grow by adding more people. Badlime grew by rethinking the process. Today, Badlime is known as a high-volume contract decorator that helps distributors, brokers, and print service providers deliver everything from screen printing and embroidery to DTF and specialty decoration. But the company started much smaller, with founder Ron pressing shirts in his basement after work on a Geo Knight heat press.

As demand increased, the team invested heavily in apparel decoration, bringing screen printing, embroidery, and eventually DTF into the business. Their focus was never simply adding more equipment. It was increasing utilization, improving quality, and helping customers find the best decoration method for every project.

"We have to keep the presses spinning. At the end of the day it was about utilization of equipment."

Building a Business Around Decoration, Not Just Screen Printing

Badlime operates alongside its sister company, Visual Marketing Systems (VMS), giving customers access to a complete print solution while keeping Badlime focused on contract decoration.

Rather than selling one decoration method over another, the team educates customers on which process fits each application best.

"We're selling decoration. Stop talking about screen and digital and embroidery. Let's offer the best decoration for the application and then let's see what the customer says."

That customer-first mindset also extends to education. Their website features blogs, artwork sizing tools, pricing calculators, and resources designed to help distributors become better decorators themselves.

Looking Beyond Their First Automatic Screen Printing Press

As production grew, Badlime found themselves limited by older screen printing equipment.

The team dealt with registration issues, slower production, excessive maintenance, and even burned garments because of standard quartz flashes.

"We had registration issues, constantly burning garments... we were looking for something that could better support our operators at a faster speed while having a higher level of quality."

After evaluating their options, the ROQ NEXT XL stood out for several reasons.

1. Better ergonomics and ease of access for operators

2. Smart Probe technology on the quartz flash dryers which prevents under flashing and most importantly DOES NOT BURN garments.

3. Ease reduced maintenance backed by a great warranty

4. Faster, more reliable production at over 1200+ indexes per hour. 

Choosing Automation Before Buying a DTF Printer

One of Badlime's biggest decisions came when they entered the DTF market. Instead of purchasing a DTF printer first, they invested in a ROQ IMPRESS with automatic FEED and PEEL modules.

Their reasoning was simple. Transfer suppliers were already producing quality transfers, but applying those transfers efficiently was where they saw the biggest opportunity.

"What was more important was output, not transfers because we could go buy a transfer from anywhere."

That decision allowed them to begin selling DTF immediately while taking time to carefully evaluate which printer would best fit their operation.

Eventually they selected a Mimaki system, but only after their production workflow was already optimized.

More Throughput Without More People

Before the ROQ IMPRESS, large transfer jobs often meant pulling employees away from other departments to keep up with production.

The IMPRESS changed that.

"The throughput probably doubled with the same amount of staff... we're probably doing twice as much with half as many people."

Instead of adding more heat press operators, Badlime automated the repetitive portions of the workflow while making training dramatically easier.

"The IMPRESS is, for lack of better terms, an easy machine to run.

Today, setup times are often around 15 minutes, and once production begins, the team typically runs between 300 and 350 transfers per hour depending on the application.

Changing Minds About DTF

Like many decorators, Badlime discovered that the biggest hurdle wasn't technology. It was perception.

Many customers remembered older transfer products that cracked, peeled, or felt stiff. The team invested significant time educating customers, demonstrating durability, and showing how modern DTF differs from the transfers many people remembered decades ago.

"These aren't the same as your dad's transfers used to be."

Rather than simply telling customers DTF was better, they showed them. Tours through the production floor, hands-on samples, and creative applications helped distributors understand what modern decoration could accomplish. "When they come and see the machine, they're like, 'Holy... that's cool.'"

Why FEED and PEEL Made Sense

For Badlime, the automation modules quickly justified themselves. Adding automatic feeding and peeling reduced labor requirements while maintaining production speed.

"The feeder doesn't call in sick and the peeler doesn't call in sick either."

The automation also helped improve consistency by eliminating one of the biggest sources of decoration errors.

You took away 50% of the ability to mess something up... the transfer's in the same spot the same time every time."

Support That Builds Confidence

Reliable equipment matters. Reliable support matters just as much. Badlime says their experience with ROQ has reinforced their decision to continue investing in the partnership.

"The ticket system's excellent... your team has been absolutely excellent."

One service call even turned out to be a simple air hose routing issue. A quick response from the ROQ team had them back up and running almost immediately.

Looking Ahead

Badlime continues to grow while expanding both its decoration capabilities and production capacity. As they evaluate future acquisitions and additional equipment, one thing remains consistent.

"Outside of embroidery, obviously, ROQ will continue to be our partner."

For Badlime, success hasn't come from choosing screen printing over DTF or automation over craftsmanship. It's come from choosing the right decoration method for every job, investing in technology that increases efficiency, and building long-term partnerships that help them continue growing.