DPRINT Worldwide Is Celebrating 80 Years of Client Excellence
In 1939, just as the Great Depression was loosening its grip on the nation, visionary, Leroy J. Douglass took a leap of faith and opened a sign shop. Armed with creative illustration skills and a gift for lettering and layout, Leroy and his trusted artisans quickly resolved customer problems with unbeatable graphic design solutions. Douglass soon built a solid customer base in central Florida as a pioneering screen printer of decals for gas water heaters. His business quickly became known as the “Can Do!” company.
Leroy later sold his sign company but left the fledgling screen printing division with commercial artist Tom Kaiser, who incorporated the division in 1964 as Douglass Screen Printers. Kaiser’s artistic skills, customer savvy, and love of community attracted customers and left a lasting reputation with his delighted clients. Tom’s daughter, Lisa Kaiser Hickey, succeeded his leadership in 1983, becoming the third artist-owner in 1996. Lisa brought a passion for women’s entrepreneurship and equal opportunity to the business on an international level. Fittingly, she was succeeded in leadership by her daughter and fellow artist, Lane Hickey Wiggins.
Douglass was nearly always first to market with the latest inks, materials, equipment and processes – a trend the company continues to this day. By 1990, the company was among the first in the industry to move into digital design and print technologies. With 57 years of SGIA membership, they’re also the recipients of more than 60 industry awards for innovation, quality and creativity, including:
- A+ rated by Better Business Bureau
- Multiple Flexcon Awards for Innovation
- 2012 Earth Charter US Award for Sustainability
- Listed multiple years in Screen Printing Top 100
- Partner recognition for NAWBO locally and nationally
- Lakeland Chamber of Commerce Small Business Award
- SGIA Excalibur Award for 50 continuous years of membership
- Recognized as a Top 500 Diversity-Owned Business in the USA
- Multiple awards for Screen Printing in the Florida Print Awards
- Partner recognition for The International Alliance for Women (TIAW)
- Multiple years listed in Top 100 Diversity-Owned Businesses in Florida
- Printing Industries of America “Benny” awards: three Certificates of Merit
- Founding partner of Kids Tag Art and sponsoring partner in multiple Florida counties
- Partner recognition and founding member of Steering Committee for “Go For The Greens” regional conference for women business owners
- Multiple years listed in Tampa Bay Business Journal “Book of Lists”; Top 75 Women-Owned Businesses in the Tampa Bay area
- Partner recognition by Polk Museum of Art and Founder/Donor of the Douglass Screen Printers Serigraphy Collection
Douglass, the first screen printing contractor to NASA – a relationship now spanning over thirty years – soon became a Top 50 screen printer to the U.S. Government Printing Office. He led his community in social and environmental responsibility, becoming Florida’s very first green-certified digital and screen printing facility. After 55 years in SGIA (Specialty Graphic Imaging Association) and more recently PDAA (Professional Decal Applicators Association), ever-evolving technology brought Douglass to another threshold of change. We’ve adopted the simple name, DPRINT.
DPRINT works where today’s businesses work – in the cloud – to give our clients greater access and control over their products by enabling them to talk, collaborate, and work with us in real time. Originally a division of Douglass Signs and incorporated on its own in 1964 as Douglass Screen Printers the company boasted, Signs of All Kinds Since ’39. With eight decades in the graphic communications industry, DPRINT remains focused on customer excellence, innovation, creativity, and durability. Our “Can Do!” vision is as fresh for today as it was in 1939. We’re continually adding innovative new product lines, helping women take great strides in the graphic design industry, and working hard to live up to our social responsibility policy.
Our trade name, DPRINT, was registered in 2014 as the printing industries converged and the term screen printers no longer conveyed the full scope of our products and service. We’ve also expanded our reach into the small business community by launching a state-of-the-art new DIY marketing and branding website. This new site myDprint.com provides all the creative and design tools small business owners need to do things their own unique way. The print-on-demand products featured on this site are competitively priced and come with our legendary “Can-Do!” service. Small business owners can choose from over 270 decals, posters, banners, signs and wall art graphics and have total design freedom and control.
At DPRINT, we proudly provide amazing products, an unbeatable purchase experience, and the highest possible quality-to-price ratio. Our weekly newsletter, Lasting Impressions By DPRINT and daily blog were designed to help corporations and small businesses stay up-to-date on graphic design news, trends, and strategies. In addition to our website, you can follow our extremely popular Facebook page Sign Smiles By DPRINT, and follow us on Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Welcome to DPRINT. We’ve got this!!
