Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Gruss.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The We Bleed Ohio brand began almost 15 years ago with just two shirt ideas. For a few years prior, I had been freelancing and designing t-shirts on the side, as the Cleveland T-shirt scene was rising. Recognizing an opportunity to create my own apparel line, I developed the We Bleed Ohio name, aiming to capture the commitment of Ohio sports fans that “bleed” their team colors. To launch the brand, I created a Facebook page and a website to debut the first two shirts. They were ‘Skullhoo’ and ‘Incredible Hillis.’ I then sold these shirts before Browns games, walking the Muni lot in downtown Cleveland.
As sales increased, I was able to purchase a four-color screen printing press and start producing items at home. This growth led me to participate in a Cleveland Bazaar event at Winterfest in 2015, which, along with encouragement from friends and family, inspired me to open a retail store. After careful planning and saving, I transitioned to running We Bleed Ohio full-time and established a storefront in the historic 5th Street Arcades.
Three years later, we had outgrown both our storefront and my basement printing operation, with hundreds of screens stacked along the walls. A larger space opened up across the hall in the Arcades, we seized the opportunity and moved there in 2019, which featured a retail store in the front and our now bigger screen-printing equipment in the back. The expanded layout allowed customers to watch their apparel being printed, which led us to begin hosting screen-printing parties for small groups. The parties were a lot of fun and a great way for customers to learn and experience how their T-shirts are made.
We had 9 great years in the Arcades, but as a small business with a busy family schedule, we decided to shift our focus from direct retail to online sales and wholesale accounts, along with custom printing for other businesses and organizations. We now have a small warehouse space in Berea where we print and fulfill all our orders. It does have a small showroom where customers can shop in person. We just recommend calling ahead of time, as we don’t have regular business hours.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Of course, it hasn’t always been a smooth road. Everything changes so fast nowadays. There’s a lot to learn as a first-time business owner, but the main thing is to always keep learning and adapting to change. One of the main things we had to adapt to after the pandemic was that our retail storefront was in a bustling shopping center in downtown Cleveland with a food court nearby. We got our daily foot traffic from downtown workers on their lunch breaks. After the pandemic, so much had changed. The people who used to be downtown were now working remotely, so we lost a big part of our daily foot traffic and had to figure out how to get ourselves out in front of our customers, instead of waiting for them to come to us.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I studied graphic design and multimedia, but my specialty was realistic illustration and portraits. It was my art teacher in high school who recognized my drawing talent and love of sports and recommended I learn more about graphic design so I could combine those two worlds.
One of our first big hits that got our name out there was our football leg lamp design. Cleveland has adopted the iconic leg lamp from the movie ‘A Christmas Story’ as an unofficial mascot because the house filmed for the movie is in Cleveland. The movie became a cult classic and a huge part of the Cleveland scene, so it made sense to do a mash-up with Cleveland’s love of football.
I think one thing that sets us apart is that we love creating designs, but we need them to last. So many fads and hot topics change with the seasons that we want our designs to become classics, staples in any wardrobe for a long time.
Another great thing we do is produce everything in-house. From designing to printing, and packing online orders to shipping. Every order goes through our hands to ensure quality.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Well, a major part of what we do is sports-related, and sales can be impacted by how well the sports teams are doing. So, luck is definitely on our side if the teams are winning. On the downside, I’ve had a few of my personal favorite designs I did for playoff runs end abruptly, and the shirts go on clearance just as fast.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://webleedohio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeBleedOhio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WeBleedOhio
- Twitter: https://x.com/WeBleedOhio
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/we-bleed-ohio-berea
