Hi! I’m Adam, and I Am Dad… The Story Behind the Brand
As founder & CEO of Dad’s Printing I’m often asked, “Why is your company called Dad’s Printing?”, “Who’s Dad?” or even, “Did your father start the company?” It’s time to answer these questions once and for all!
Have you ever heard the expression ‘when I was young & irresponsible, I was young & irresponsible’? Well, when I was young and irresponsible my friends and I liked to have fun and party. For a reason I can no longer recall, we started to call each other ‘Dad’. It was nothing more than a stupid little game – an inside joke, really – but it caught on way more than expected. To this day, my high school buddies still call me ‘Dad’.
You would not know it to look at me, but I’ve been in the clothing game for quite a while! Prior to starting this company, I had another business in my early twenties called WTF (a clothing line) and right out of the gate, I just started pitching my brand to retail stores. They didn’t like the brand, but they liked my capabilities. I’d get a lot of questions along the lines of, “Adam, how do we print this?” or “Can we do this or that with our logo?” Needless to say, it wasn’t the response I was hoping for!
Around this time, I participated in a Birthright trip to Israel. I don’t want to be corny and say, “I saw the light in the Holy Land!” but honestly, the question of what to do with my company was answered on that trip. I discovered that the domain name dadsprinting.com wasn’t taken. (A sign from above? You be the judge!)
Upon returning to Vancouver, I pivoted away from my personal brand and started to focus on the production side. I’ve never looked back. A side benefit I discovered with my company name is that by avoiding a company title with a geographic location (Vancouver, East Side, West Side, etc.) we have not been pigeon-holed to just one market and have clients all over North America.
So there you go; I don’t have any kids, and my father has nothing to do with the business… But I am Dad!