Stackin’ Tees steps up

By BRITTANY FHOLER 
Cove Leader-Press 

Members of the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant royalty witnessed up close what goes into making their screen-printed shirts at Stackin’ Tees. 
Stackin’ Tees, located on S. F.M. 116, is a new sponsor of the pageant this year. They are providing screen printed shirts featuring the Five Hills pageant logo, traveling dress bags for each royalty member to utilize when they travel from event to event to keep their gown protected, as well as 150 canvas tote bags that feature the Five Hills pageant logo printed on one side and the names of all the titleholders on the other side for each participant. Each of the crowned royalty will also receive a double-satin embroidered Five Hills Scholarship Pageant banner trimmed in rhinestones, with embroidery courtesy of Stackin’ Tees. 
These items are part of the $80,000 in scholarships and prizes that will be given away at the pageant, which will be March 23, 2019 at the Copperas Cove Civic Center. 
Owner Kody Heinze shared that all screen printing and embroidery is done inhouse in his shop. He started Stackin’ Tees more than three years ago out of his house with a four-color single-station press and now has a fully-automated operation in his store.
“It’s gone from a hobby to a full-time job,” Heinze said. 
 Though this is his first year sponsoring the pageant, Heinze said he looks forward to continuing the partnership. 
If volunteer pageant director Wendy Sledd needs anything, Heinze said he does his best to help her out. 
“I wholeheartedly believe in paying it forward but in giving back,” Heinze said. “I think that community involvement is one of the top tier things you have to do when you live in a city.” 
Heinze is a U.S. Army veteran and said he feels that helping others gives a purpose and a sense of adding value to other people. 
During their visit to see what goes on behind the scenes of creating the screen-printed shirts,  Ms. Five Hills Ashley Coombs, Young Miss Five Hills Allyssa Kimball, Five Hills Ambassador Emily Kimball, Preteen Miss Five Hills Briana Liles, Little Mister Five Hills Brayden Chase and Miniature Miss Five Hills Naomi Williams each got the opportunity to place a shirt on one of the machines to prepare it for printing. They also got to press buttons on the machine and got to place the freshly printed shirts on the rack to go through the heater, which seals the design.  
Liles said she thought it was weird and cool at the same time to see how the image gets painted on by the machine. She said she was used to seeing people do that process by hand. 
Liles said that she appreciated everything that Stackin’ Tees was providing. 
“The bags are neat because they have our names on them,” Liles said.
 These bags will be a keepsake for participants and something that they can use over and over again. The shirts will be used for every event the royalty have to attend. Because of the process used, the logo on the shirts will last a long time and will not peel off like a decal added to a shirt would. 
“We always wear our shirts,” Liles said. 
If people are interested in getting their own shirt featuring the pageant logo, they can order one for $20 and have the option of adding their name to the back.
Stackin’ Tees is located at 1406 S. F.M. 116 Suite D, in the same storefront as the Cactus Lilly Boutique. Their hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.