Nov. 4
November 4, 2008
Roger "Jay" Rebstock
November 6, 2008
Danny and Brent Adams, a father and son partnership, will celebrate six years in business next week with their local screen- printing and graphic design store, Tiger T’s/Kajun Graphics.
The Thibodaux business debuted in November 2002 at 1113 Tiger Drive.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. Thibodeauxville was that weekend (Nov. 8 and 9), then we had our first customers at the shop that Monday,” Danny Adams, 51, said.
The Adamses credit their success to a lot of trust and a little compromise.
“We are pretty much made out of the same mold. We have bumped heads a few times, but it all works out,” said Danny Adams of his partnership with his son.
They agree that working together these past six years has brought them closer together as father and son.
“Before, we had to arrange for some father and son time. Now it’s father and son time all day, every day,” Brent Adams, 33, joked.
Prior to this, Danny Adams operated a similar home business, Accent Specialties, for years. He mainly made trophies and plaques for local businesses and sporting events.
It has always been his intention to open a shop in Thibodaux.
“I just had to find a decent building and an affordable rental price,” he said.
When the duo opened Tiger T’s/Kajun Graphics, they added screen-printing and graphic design since the same printing machines are used for both.
“It just made sense to expand our business to offer more things,” Danny Adams said.
Brent Adams brought the graphic design aspect to the company. He has always had an interest in graphic design but never pursued it until he opened the business with his father.
“When the opportunity presented itself, I thought to myself, ‘This may work,'” the younger Adams said. “It was much easier to expand on the success my dad was making than to start from scratch.”
It wasn’t long before the two Adams men began to teach each other how to do one another’s job.
“We were self-taught,” Brent Adams said. “Neither of us went to school to learn how to do this. All we did was buy the equipment and teach ourselves how to use it.”
Tiger T’s/Kajun Graphics caters to businesses, clubs, social organizations and schools.
They still make trophies and plaques for sporting events. In addition, they screen-print logos and make vinyl graphics and signage for shirts, hats, vehicles and any other promotional items customers want to use to advertise.
Compared to other screen-printing businesses, Danny Adams said Tiger T’s/Kajun Graphics is a one-stop shop. There are nine other screen-printing and graphic design businesses spread out across the Tri-parishes.
“The luxury of this business is that we can mass produce a product or make a small amount,” he said. “No matter how many they want, whenever a small business needs to display their company logo, we can print it for them.”
“Also, when family members want to get items made to support their child’s school, we can do that too without having them buy 50 shirts when they only need four or five,” Danny Adams added.
The Adamses agree they’ve come a long way since opening. In the early days, the shop name attracted a lot of LSU fanatics. They thought the store only sold LSU Tigers items.
“When I started, I never thought about having LSU stuff in the store, but my customers took the name and associated it with LSU and they would come in and ask for LSU merchandise,” Danny Adams said. “It got to the point I was like ‘Hey, there may be a market in this.'”
The actual name for the business stems from the street it is located on: Tiger Drive.
Once they begin selling LSU stuff, the Adamses had to accommodate all the area fans. They added New Orleans Saints and Nicholls State University items to their selection.
“It was a good decision,” Danny Adams admits. “We want to be the place people think of for specialty screen-printed goods.”
Father and son team Brent and Danny Adams celebrate six years in business at Tiger T’s/Kajun Graphics, located at 1113 Tiger Drive in Thibodaux. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN
