The Wells County Chamber of Commerce staff and ambassadors recognized owners Kyle Johnloz and Chad Ringger with Team Mantra Wear as the April Member of the Month. Team Mantra Wear is located at 979 North Main Street in Bluffton.
In 2014, Team Mantra Wear opened their doors on Oak Forest Drive to bring school spirit, company unity, and brand awareness to Wells County. Team Mantra Wear is a custom screen printing and embroidery company. As the company grew in customer base, employees, and machinery, the business outgrew the location and found the perfect building on State Road 1. “This was a God thing having this building being available just when we needed it,” explained Ringger. “It is great visibility being on main street and sitting across from one of busiest restaurants in town. This was a great move for us.”
Ringger appreciates the seasoned employees they have working at Team Mantra Wear. “Each employee has worked between two to four years and our productivity is really good right now with their experience. These guys can print many shirts with little oversight, which gives us the ability to focus on other things in the business.”
Team Mantra Wear focused heavily on school custom apparel, which Johnloz said was a great opportunity to form relationships and a solid client base; however, the sporting events are seasonal. A new opportunity Team Mantra Wear is adding are online stores for businesses to purchase logo wearables.
“We have some large businesses that have an online store where employees can purchase items all year long,” said Johnloz. “This has changed our business completely and gives us more consistent work for our staff to help our business grow. We can offer this service to any size of business because embroidery does not need a minimum order. Some employers are offering coupons to help pay for the clothing in the online store for new employees, perfect attendance, birthdays, or anniversaries. Employees purchase the items from the online store with the company branding and wear logo material in the community. It is a win-win for everyone.”
The online store can offer a variety of wearables such as collared shirts, cardigans, or quarter zips. “The employee gets to choose the item they want,” explained Johnloz. “There could be 100 different embroidered items to choose from or just two. It all depends on what the company would like to set up in their store. The majority of people appreciate the options and we have gotten very positive feedback.”
Johnloz said that their turnaround time for products has been outstanding, in addition to the exceptional customer service they provide. “I will answer my phone on weekends and in the evenings for customers. We can turn the product around rather quickly and respond to the needs of our customers.”
Team Mantra Wear also offers custom screen printing between one to four colors on t-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, pants, and other apparel. In addition to the embroidery, leather patches for hats are a popular item now offered.
“We have to mention our secret weapon at Team Mantra Wear, Jamie Rinkenberger,” said Johnloz. “She does all our ordering and is excellent. Jamie is crazy accurate and breaks down all the orders, checks the prices, and ensures the paperwork is in order. We are so lucky to have her.”
Having a business in Wells County is important for both Johnloz and Ringger. “We love Wells County, and all of the people here understand why supporting local is important,” stated Johnloz. “Our service is just as good, if not better, than those in Fort Wayne. People like shopping in Wells County and it is a nice centralized location to serve our customers near and far.”
“We really want people to know that our morals and values will always be in the customers’ favor,” Johnloz said. “Between Chad and I our character is the most important things to us running our business. Chad was a former Pastor and I grew up with a Christian faith, which we carries in what we do and how we treat people. Going the extra mile is not uncommon for either one of us.”
