Anton Sport was started with an idea, a tiny dorm room and a maxed out credit card. When John Anton was a student at Arizona State University he decided to print 200 t-shirts for an upcoming ASU vs. USC football game. Within 2-hours, John’s t-shirts quickly sold out. Over the next few years, John became a permanent fixture at college events and became known as the campus t-shirt guy.
After graduating from ASU, John ventured into the corporate world before returning to his t-shirt business. John’s renewed belief in his business prompted him to purchase his own screen-printing equipment and set up shop in his garage. Forced from his garage by HOA and unable to sell his house due to the housing market values, John took a huge gamble, rented out his house, sold his car and used his life savings to buy a 3,000 sq. ft. warehouse on Scottsdale Road in Tempe, AZ. John, his business and his bed promptly moved in to the warehouse, just blocks away from the campus where it all started and Anton Sport was officially born.
In 1991, John got his big break with an order to produce the official shirts of the PGA’s Phoenix Open. That order changed his life and his custom t-shirt & apparel business was off to a roaring start once again. In the ensuing years, Anton Sport grew to include a staff of 18 employees and a major expansion that tripled the size of the building to over 10,000 sq. ft. and John saw this as an opportunity. As the surge in online sales continued, John hired a software development company to build a web-based design system. No more waiting for proofs. No delays for artwork revisions. John wanted the customer to be in complete control of the design process.
Finally, after numerous delays and sleepless nights, DesignAShirt.com went live and another one of John’s gambles had paid off. 25-years later, Anton Sport and DesignAShirt.com has customized millions of t-shirts, apparel and promotional products for local, national and international customers.
We look forward to welcoming you as one of them!
When John Anton was a student at Arizona State University, he decided to print 200 t-shirts for an upcoming ASU vs. USC football game, which he sold in under two hours.
Over the next few years, John became a permanent fixture at college events and became known as the campus t-shirt guy. Realizing the t-shirt business could become more than a side gig, and with a forceful nudge from his Tempe homeowner’s association, John used his life savings to purchase and move into a 3,650-square-foot warehouse. Anton Sport was founded in 1985, and through building solid relationships (and a few lucky breaks) John is still known as the t-shirt guy, and Anton Sport has grown into one of the Valley’s leading screen print, embroidery, and promotional product suppliers.
As the surge in online sales continued, John hired a software development company to build a web-based design system. No more waiting for proofs. No delays for artwork revisions. John wanted the customer to be in complete control of the design process.
As members of the Fair Labor Association, we receive training and resources to ensure materials and manufacturers within our supply chain align with our vision to supply items from sustainable and ethical sources.
Our business realizes that effective management of social and environmental issues can raise our performance and we strive to make a difference through thoughtful, continuous improvement. Protecting the Planet has been a progressive endeavor for Anton Sport, beginning with implementing our Green Initiatives in 2011, which included simple ideas such as providing a free bicycle for employees to commute from nearby Arizona State University. No effort is too small, which we have shown by eliminating disposable dishes, utensils, and K-Cups in our break room, and replacing cleaners and chemicals with more environmentally friendly products.
Larger efforts have proven our commitment to the environment, including installing water reclamation equipment to collect, filter, and reuse water in production, as well as installing over two hundred solar panels, which fully power our production facility.
Our number one priority is our People. Without our team, many of whom have been employed with us over ten, even twenty years, we would never have seen the exponential growth and change in the past thirty-five years. We support our employees by offering medical insurance coverage from day one of employment, free telemedicine, matching employee 401k contributions, providing sick and personal time, paid maternity and parental leave, and schedule flexibility, including remote work. We further support personal and professional development, by participating in charitable events important to our community, contributing to advancing education opportunities, conferences, even offering personal financial planning classes to ensure future stability. There is no hierarchy when it comes to the worth of employees and their ideas; individuals at all levels are given the ability to make a difference within the company. We have found that employees who feel supported and important will take pride in their work and go the extra mile for their customers or projects.
If you or a loved one needs an organ transplant, DesignAShirt would like to donate free of charge up to 5 shirts per family with a one color design similar to the one displayed on this page. We can only hope to play a small part in your journey to health, since that is a calling we want to participate in.
The Ronan Foundation is a volunteer-run organization focused solely on funding more effective treatments for childhood cancer.
By empowering our team to act with our customers’ and company’s best interest in mind, we have created and implemented processes which have improved our customer service, turnaround times, quality of workmanship, and environmental footprint. Our latest endeavor is an update to DesignAShirt.com to offer improved price quotes and design mockups, and workflow.
