A couple from Arnold hopes to start their own business in the same city as it is growing.
Mark and Crystal Saxon founded their T-shirt printing business, Elevate Arnold, on a design by their 6-year-old daughter, Audrey, around Valentine’s Day this year.
Audrey’s shirt, featuring a heart with the word “Love” within it in sign language symbols, proved popular enough that they launched a website after finding they couldn’t keep up with demand for it through a Facebook page.
“It had a lot to do with the positive response from the community,” Crystal Saxon said. “It gave us enough traffic and momentum.”
That original design is no longer available, but a collection of Audrey’s designs, called “Auddish,” is featured on the Elevate Arnold website, among several others.
Now, the Saxons run the business from Arnold, where their living room is their shop.
“We removed the living room from the living room,” Mark Saxon said.
They plan to move into a storefront in Arnold by the end next summer.
“A lot of it came from wanting to give back,” Crystal Saxon said. “We want to elevate not just ourselves but those around us.”
Mark Saxon suggested that they might find space more easily elsewhere, but this is contrary to their mission.
“We’d like to stay in Arnold,” he said. “It’s the whole basis of the business.”
Crystal (30 and Mark 35) have been married 10 years. They moved to Arnold in 2012 after they had a 10-year marriage. They met online.
Mark was born in Homestead, and served four years in the Marine Corps. Crystal moved from Washington State to the area.
“It was just a fresh start,” she said. “He was my only friend at the time.”
Both of them worked previously for the Veterans Administration. He was housekeeper for 10 years while she was a nurse technician for a few short months.
Mark was laid off in March after his last job at a property management firm. Crystal had been a hobbyist and crafter from home.
Elevate Arnold is their debut venture in a business.
“I was just a hobbyist who sold things here and there,” Crystal said.
Earlier this year, Mark attended an eight-week Opportunity Accelerator program for small-business owners at The Corner, Penn State’s entrepreneurial center in New Kensington. Mark says the course helped him focus on business fundamentals and let go of technical details.
Their home is where they make shirts using direct to-garment printing. This involves using a large inkjet printer that creates images on the shirts. They can turn around in about a week, but they allow for a two-week turnaround.
Mark Saxon stated that they started with T-shirts but are now making sweatshirts and hoodies for Halloween. They also make temporary tattoos and magnets. They hope to expand into window stickers by the end the year.
Mark Saxon explained that the plan was to collaborate with artists in order to create shirts for area business and to sell their own designs to individuals.
“Our motto that we went with is, ‘Inspiring others forward together,’ ” he said.
While smaller businesses might not be able to afford buying in the numbers other T-shirt companies require, the Saxons are able to handle small orders, even if it’s just one or two shirts. One custom shirt costs $20.
For Arnold, where Mark Saxon chairs the city’s redevelopment authority, they made four shirts for the city’s two code enforcement officers this summer.
George Hawdon, Councilor, stated that he wanted officers to wear clothing that identified them and made it clear that they were city employees. However, minimum orders elsewhere required 10-12 shirts.
“I wanted the code officers to have some kind of distinguishing clothing, but I didn’t want it militarized like the police or bulky like the fire department,” Hawdon said. “They’re very nice, very high quality. He was able and willing to take on a small order. The bonus was he was a local business.”
Mark Saxon still works to support his family. He hopes Elevate Arnold becomes his full-time occupation.
“I want to build an empire to give to Audrey,” Crystal said.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Tribune-Review staff reporter, is available. You can contact Brian by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .