Brown’s Printing House is a small Chicago shop turning blank shirts, hats, mugs, glasses, plates and candles into something that is unmistakably yours. Screen printed, heat pressed and poured by hand — one piece or two hundred.
“Bring us a napkin sketch. We’ll make it a shirt.”
How we work
Who we are
Most print shops want a big, tidy order. We like the other kind — the t-shirt for a grandmother’s eightieth, the caps for a softball team that keeps losing, the candles a bride hands out as thanks. The jobs where the thing has to say something about a person.
We screen print and heat press by hand in small batches, pour our scented candles in the same room, and print labels for everything we send out. Shirts and caps share the bench with mugs, drinking glasses and ceramic plates, each one printed with somebody’s name on it. Nothing sits in a warehouse waiting for a buyer; it gets made once you ask for it.
Read our storyChoose a piece from the shop, or tell us what you have in mind and we will find it.
Names, a logo, a photo, a rough drawing on a napkin. Add it to your order in one line of text.
We confirm the details by email, print or pour it by hand, and get it to you.
The shop
Add a piece to your order and tell us what you want on it. Real prices, no surprises — bulk discounts start at twelve pieces.
In the shop
Every shirt passes through the press by hand — one screen at a time, one colour at a time — or through the heat press when a design needs full colour. Scented candles get poured, wicked and labelled at the same bench. It is slow work, and that is rather the point.
Water-based inks
Soft to the touch, and they fade gracefully rather than cracking.
A press, not a promise
Heat-pressed transfers bond into the fabric and hold up to the wash.
Real proofing
We send you a photo of your design before anything is printed.
Custom & bulk
Teams, classrooms, church groups, restaurants, wedding parties and small businesses all end up here. Tell us how many, when you need them and what should be on them, and we’ll come back with a price and a proof.
Bulk pricing
Discounts begin at 12 pieces and climb from there.
Free proof
A real mockup of your design before we print a thing.
Deadline talk
Tell us the date. We will tell you honestly if we can make it.
Pickup or ship
Collect it in Chicago or have it sent to your door.
A few lines is plenty. Jeannette reads every one herself.
More than merchandise
The same press and the same care that makes a shirt also prints a photograph worth framing, or a memorial card a family hands to everyone who came. Bring us the picture; we’ll handle the rest, gently.
Photo printingPhone photos, old family portraits, a picture you only have as a print — send it over or bring it in and we’ll make a proper copy. Standard sizes through large enlargements, single prints or a whole batch.
Memorial printingFor a family in the middle of losing someone, the last thing anyone needs is a printing problem. Bring us the photo, the dates and the words — we’ll set them carefully, print them quickly, and hand them to you ready to give.
These are made-to-order jobs, so we quote them by hand rather than by a button. Tell us what you have and what you need, and we’ll come back with a price and a proof.
Questions?
Call or send a message and we’ll figure it out together — the design, the quantity, the timeline.