ABOUT US
OUR STORY & MISSION
About Us
The Culture.
Culture Studio is a decorated merchandise company that has found a strong niche in the music industry. We are on a mission to build the largest, most efficient merchandise company. Yet at the heart of it all, what is most important is the fan!
The fan comes first because they drive the demand. Having the largest facility or being the most efficient means nothing if the fan doesn't love the product. And for that, we consider the fan above all things dear to our hearts. We deliver enlightened hospitality we call The CS experience in an industry that is overwhelmed with brash exchange.
Culture Studio is a technology company that powers merch sales and production for music + entertainment. In 2022 we are focused on expanding our network and building our technology. We have invested heavily in our proprietary technology, which keeps up ahead of the pack in a complicated and custom business.
THE TEAM.
RICH SANTO
CEO
CARLO OVIEDO
Chief Revenue Officer
JOEY SANTO
VP of Production
NICK SANTO
Director of Logistics
ANABEL RUBIO
Director of HR
STUART MILLER
Director of Southern Production
MARCELLO MANFREDINI
Finance
Chicago, IL
THE FACILITY.
50k sq. ft. of production power.
12 auto presses
3 lines of retail folding & packing
Digital Squeegee Hybrid Machine
OUR STORY
2008 Starting our own screen printing company.
We couldn’t find the service or quality we wanted, so our entrepreneurial wheels went into motion.
In 2008, We decided to bring our 2 main core values:
1. To innovate the printing industry.
2. Deliver superior customer service, to the screen printing game and opened Culture Studio with an 8 color manual press.
We printed for our own brand and then eventually opened up our services to other businesses in Chicago. It turns out we were not the only ones that had trouble getting quality T shirts made.
2010Setting up shop in the West Loop.
We realized that we were experiencing tremendous growth when we had to move to a larger location in the West Loop and invest in more machinery, including our first auto press.
INC magazine released its Inc 5000 fastest growing companies in America ranking and we made the list for 3 years in a row.
2015 Making our home in the Stockyards.
We quickly outgrew out West Loop shop and needed even more space to acommodate the increase in demand. We moved to our current facility in the heart of the Stockyards, with 50,000 square feet of space for production and a front office to bring in new team members.
2016 Investing in technology.
If we wanted to keep building toward our mission to be the largest, most efficient merchandise company then we needed the technology to match. We built our own proprietary technology, Stokkup, with sophisticated capacity planning algorithms to streamline the ordering and production process.
2020Adapting & growing.
2020 was tough year for businesses with the pandemic haulting all live events and major supply chain issues. However, we were not going to let that stop us. We pivoted to creating face masks and sanitizers, launching promotional products for businesses, adding a 3rd line in finishing to keep up with the influx in retail orders, and even launched a Drop Shipping and Print On Demand department as e-commerce sales skyrocketed. During this year we also added a Digital Squeegee and 2 new autos to expand capacity and decoration services.
2022A new mission.
Today Culture Studio services leaders of the retail apparel industry including tour merchandise, direct to retail, and e-commerce. We have the privilege to work with some of the world's most legendary music influences like The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Kanye, Justin Bieber, and Chance the Rapper.
We're embarking on a new quest; 2 day ground shipping anywhere in the U.S. We want to allow our clients to sell merch confidently by being wherever they are. We're accomplishing this by tapping into our production network, staying ahead of the trends with new product launches, and further investing in our proprietary technology, Stokkup, to fuel our process.
