Stitchify celebrates opening with a ribbon-cutting

Martinsville High School (MHS) celebrated the official opening of its first student-run small business, Stitchify, with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, January 31.

Stitchify is a graphic design printing business that sells t-shirts, hoodies, hats, beanies, and other items.

This is the second student-run business in the Martinsville City School division. The first, the Kennel, a café at Martinsville Middle School, opened earlier this school year.

Schools Superintendent Dr. Zeb Talley said the division is excited to have student entrepreneurs.

“This is student-driven, it’s student-made, and they have a very professional taste with it. So, needless to say, we are very proud of them and what it will bring to the Martinsville community,” he said.

Student Niikko Dews said Stitchify’s vision is to create a student-run clothing business that gives young entrepreneurs the ability to express their skills.

“Our mission is to engage more creativity, and confidence into our students and guide our students through making ideas for different people,” student Bryan Amaya said.

Dews said Stitchify students completed the goal of turning a classroom into a well-run store that opened in January.

“We wanted to be able to run a business without adult supervision. Coming together, we fulfilled multiple orders, including MHS cheerleading hoodies, the Martinsville City Robotics Team, and we also have a 255 T-shirt order to a college,” he said.

Dews said a goal was for Stitchify to earn $3,000 by the end of the second semester. Its starting budget was $720.

“Right now, we have a current balance of $15,670,” he said.

Amaya said future goals include getting more students involved in the program, expanding the business to include a website, and collecting $25,000 this year.

Amaya said he decided to join Stitchify because it’s different from the regular study in which students are in class with a teacher.

“And it’s more fun than bookwork. I’m not reading a book and doing a paper on it, I’m actually getting involved” in the business, he said.

Nevaeh Norman said she wanted to get involved because she wants to start her own clothing business in the future.

Amaya said the students had to learn everything to start the business.

“Obviously, we learned how to print designs, designing as well, (and) pricing. We also learned how to stay motivated when others aren’t,” he said.

In addition to meeting with customers to work on designs, Amaya said Stitchify also creates its own custom designs using their designs. The most popular design is a bulldog shirt of the MHS mascot.

MHS business teacher Christopher Talley said Stitchify is two blocks, or half the day, for students. Students can take it each semester.

Amaya said the first semester of Stitchify focused on planning the business while the current semester is more practical.

There are no hours for customers to come in and shop. “Its order based,” Amaya said.

Christopher Talley said there are no current plans to start a third student-run business at this time.

“I think I want to do an expansion on this business before I open another one,” he said. “More products, and we’re actually looking into maybe embroidery, monogramming. We just want to expand more.”