Forty-Five Years of Silkworm. A Southern Illinois Story.
In 1981, two friends turned a high school class project into a custom apparel business.
Forty-five years later, that little idea is a 32,000-square-foot facility with seven screen
printing presses, a team of over 70 employees, and one partnership that has been part
of every chapter of our story: Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
We have outfitted Saluki athletics. We have worked with the Alumni Association. We have printed for student organizations, departments, fraternities, sororities, and
reunions going back decades. The Saluki has been on more shirts coming off our
presses than any other logo in our history.
That partnership has shaped who Silkworm is. So has the team behind every order.
The Team Behind 45 Years
A custom apparel company lives or dies by the people running its presses, designing its artwork, and answering its phones. We have spent four and a half decades building a team that takes the work as personally as we do.
Some of them came up through SIU's art and design programs. Some came from trade
schools, technical programs, family print shops, and competitors. Some grew up in
Southern Illinois and never left. Some moved here for the work and stayed for the
community. We do not hire from one mold. We hire to one standard.
The Saluki connection runs deep on that team. Twenty-two SIU Carbondale alumni currently work at Silkworm, and dozens more have built the early years of their careers here before moving on. But ask any of them, and they will tell you the same thing: what makes this place work is the people next to them, regardless of where they went to school.
A New Generation of Silkworm
Forty-five years in, we are more invested in our community than ever. That looks like
sponsorships, donations, and continued partnership with Saluki athletics and the SIU
Alumni Association. It also looks like internships, apprenticeships, and giving young
people in Southern Illinois a real career path right here at home.
Too many graduates and tradespeople feel like they have to leave the region to build a
good career. We are working to change that one hire at a time. Manufacturing,
business, and design careers in Southern Illinois are still good ones, especially the kind
that combine the creative work of design with the hands-on craft of production.
Real People, Real Process, Real Quality
Anyone can print a shirt. Not everyone can deliver a great first impression.
That is what branded apparel really is when you think about it. The shirt your team wears to a trade show. The polos your staff puts on every Monday. The hoodies your alumni group orders for homecoming. Each one is a handshake before the handshake.
When you put a logo on something, you are putting your reputation on it, too. That deserves real people answering the phone, real artists working on the design, and real craftsmen running the press. It deserves a process designed to catch mistakes before they ship, and a quality check that does not cut corners.
What 45 Years Has Taught Us
You do not last this long in this industry by accident. You last because customers come
back. You last because employees stay. You last because you offer quality orders,
delivered on time, with awesome customer service.
We have outfitted Saluki athletics. We have printed reunion shirts for graduating classes that have stayed friends for thirty years. We have made everyday campus gear,
championship celebration tees, and alumni weekend giveaways. We have also printed
for hundreds of companies, schools, teams, and nonprofits across Southern Illinois and
beyond. Each order matters to someone, and that has never been lost on us.
To celebrate 45 years, our team put together a short video about what makes Silkworm different and special. You can watch it here:
To Our Fellow Salukis
If you are a Saluki alum running a business, planning a reunion, or outfitting your team,
we would love to work with you. Not just because we are local. Because we will treat
your order as if it were our own. After 45 years, we still take it that personally.
Quality orders, delivered on time, with awesome customer service. The human way. The Saluki way.