Personal Touch Works at T&S Embroidery

In an era in which one can order dozens of custom shirts with the click of a button, Windsor Locks' T&S Sports Embroidery continues to blossom after 25 years of service.

The Main Street shop, owned and operated by Tim and Sherry Foley, prides itself on providing its customer base, which stretches as far as Florida, with hand-placed screen printing and precision embroidering. 

Even as the industry changes, T&S manages to roll with the punches and produce high quality products.

In the past year alone, for example, the price of cotton has risen 65 perent, according to Tim Foley.

"See, we don't pick cotton in the United States anymore. We import it. And that's expensive," he explained. "When I first opened my business... I'd say I was paying $3.50 for a blank t-shirt. Now I'm paying $7... We've noticed when we look at the shirts in our catalogs, if a shirt has any cotton in it, it's like 75 percent polyester and 25 percent cotton."

While the industry changes, one thing has remained constant: "Price wise, we're very reasonable. We have been ever since we've been opened," said Foley.

His pricing, when coupled with personal attention trumps online competitors, he contends, adding that he gives customers the same discounts he receives from warehouses when buying shirts or hats in bulk.

"If you choose to go on the internet, you can get the same t-shirt, or something close to it, for about $4 less than what I charge," Foley said candidly. "But if something's wrong with that shirt, and I don't care what it is — whether it's crocked or mis-numbered — you have to, first of all, pay for the shipment coming. Then, if you have one or two bad shirts and you want to send them back, you have to pay the freight to send them back, and then you have to pay the freight to get two shirts back again.

"Whereas, you could just drive down here, come in and say, 'Tim, you're a little crooked on two of these shirts. Can we get new ones?' I'll have them for you tomorrow."

T&S Sports Embroidery's biggest customers include local high schools, little leagues, corporations, fire departments and more.

Click here to visit its listing on Windsor Locks-East Windsor Patch.