All those jackets, hats, and uniforms with embroidered logos? Did you ever think about where they come from? Melissa Moran of Northwest Threads & Embroidery in NE Portland saw an opportunity for a business two years ago and bought a very expensive piece of equipment to address the niche she recognized.
The pandemic hit almost immediately thereafter, leaving her in a very challenging situation. “I opened my business three days too late to receive any of the federal Covid assistance dollars,” she recalls ruefully. “I had significant losses those first two years. People were hunkering down.”
“Some of my clients are chiropractors and dentists, and I used to embroider their scrubs with the company name and logo.” But when the pandemic hit and people stopped going to see providers, they stopped ordering uniforms.
Surrounded by boxes containing 600 polo shirts staged for embroidering, Moran says her very expensive and complicated-looking equipment can embroider colorful logos onto “almost anything: puffy jackets, backpacks and fanny packs, baseball caps, and shirts.”
Moran recently learned that she is the recipient of a Comcast RISE technology makeover for her business, which will give her a year of free Comcast Business services, plus a mountain of new technology – a new desktop computer, some tablets, and laptops – to help her grow her business.
Comcast RISE was developed to assist small women-owned businesses like Moran’s. “Honestly, I think this whole thing is awesome,” said Moran. “It’s huge for me that Comcast Business is helping me out. It’s another couple of hundred dollars a month that I don’t have to pay.”