ROCKINGHAM — John Carter is a big guy, so it came as no surprise that when he took over the Big Dad-Ez screenprinting business on Broad Avenue in Rockingham, he kept the name from the previous owner.

Carter, along with his girlfriend Roschelle Tillman, have owned and operatted the business since the beginning of August, which provides wholesale screenprinting, custom embroidery and trophies, among other services.

He dabbled in the T-shirt business while driving trucks and thought it would be something he could do full-time.

“I’ve been doing T-shirts at my house for the past two and a half years,” Carter said. “I used to drive trucks, and in February I said, ‘I’m tired of driving trucks.’ I was just tired of doing it. I said, ‘I’m doing half my time in shirts, maybe I can make it a business.’ I talked it over with my girlfriend, and I just quit. I went full-time making shirts.”

At that point, Carter said he bought a trailer and a generator and starting attending flea markets on the weekends and selling shirts. Two months into this endeavor, he met the owner of the store beside Big Dad-Ez who told him it was for sale. Carter never looked back.

“I said, ‘Well, this place has been here for I don’t know how many years making shirts and stuff,’ so I came by here and talked to the owner, Teressa. Her husband was Richard Singletary. He passed away around this time last year, and she was just ready to sell it. She was pretty much done with it. She gave me a number, we made it happen and we’re in here.”

Right now, Carter said, he’s trying to get more inventory in the front of the store. The back is used for printing shirts and other articles of clothing, but he said business is booming.

“Right now I do custom shirts,” said Carter. “You can come in here and get one shirt or you can get 1,000 shirts. It’s gonna cost you a little more, but you can get one done.”

Big Dad-Ez offers pictures on shirts such as rest-in-peace memorial or “in memory of” designs and logos, but Carter said the sky is the limit on what can do on a shirt. The process to get to that point, however, takes a bit of work.

“We start with a design,” Carter said. “Someone comes in the door and says they’ve got a church and wants to have a shirt saying ‘Choir anniversary,’ and they tell me we want someone on there clapping their hands. I go into my computer and design it. I show them, they approve it and prices begin. I make the screen, burn the screen, screenprint, and we’re out the door.”

Carter said it’s an extensive process from the designing to coating the screen, making the screen, burning the screen and washing the screen. Turnaround for an order can take anywhere from one day to one week.

If someone from out of town comes in, Big Dad-Ez tries to get the order done the same day, but Carter asks that large orders be made in at least a week prior to pickup.

“If you need it done today, and I’ve got time to do it, then you’ll get it today,” he said. “A lot of times I try to base who I do first on who needs it first. If you come in today, but you don’t need it until next week, and someone else comes in and needs it tomorrow, I’m gonna do theirs first.”

Big Dad-Ez also offers plenty of Raider gear, as well as middle school apparel for those attending Rockingham, Ellerbe, Hamlet and Rohanen middle schools. Richmond County businesses are also well-represented at Carter’s shop.

“If you look around, I have every business in Richmond County that you could think of already here,” he said of the inventory of screen prints.

Because of that, he offers a 10 percent discount on first orders to companies that come back and keep their business with him.

“You can get that same design here,” he said. “It’s a loyalty discount.”

Big Dad-Ez offers custom shirts, pants, hats, hoodies and shorts and is located in the shopping center between Food Lion and Big Lots on East Broad Avenue in Rockingham. The business can be reached at 910-997-2610.

Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.

Matt Harrelson | Daily Journal John Carter, owner of Big Dad-Ez screenprinting in Rockingham, has plenty of custom apparel and Raider gear in his shop on East Broad Avenue in Rockingham.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_John-Carter1.jpgMatt Harrelson | Daily Journal John Carter, owner of Big Dad-Ez screenprinting in Rockingham, has plenty of custom apparel and Raider gear in his shop on East Broad Avenue in Rockingham.

By Matt Harrelson

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