Our history:
From a college tee shirt startup to a professional promotional product manufacturer.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-1.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-1.png)
1996
Cory starts selling apparel in college.
Selling licensed swag at UC Berkeley and Stanford showed how much fun yet stressful the life of an entrepreneur can be.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-2.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-2.png)
1997
Cory brings apparel to the family trophy shop.
We had only $269k in sales but big ambition.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-3.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-3.png)
2003
Ignition Drawing is launched.
Cory received a spam email about a $10 vector art service, which sparked the idea for a new business. Ignition Drawing was launched a month later with a simple website.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-4.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-4.png)
2005
Embroidery digitizing is launched.
This became the foundation of our future, much of which was built on great embroidery files.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-5.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-5.png)
2005
Arrow Emblems is launched.
We combined our trophy shop pin import knowledge with our growing China manufacturing skills.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-6.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-6.png)
2006
Our state-of-the-art China facility breaks ground.
We began construction of our five story, 150k square foot office and later added a few more 100k of manufacturing.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-7.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-7.png)
2006
Emerald City Decoration is launched.
We removed our embroidery machines from the trophy shop and created a focused contract decorator.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-8.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-8.png)
2007
Chenille is added to Arrow Emblems.
We made our biggest capital investment in chenille machines and really turned chenille into a dominant product for us.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-9.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-9.png)
2014
HPI Emblem is purchased, massively expanding our China manufacturing.
HPI had a 20-year history of world-class patch manufacturing and came with a skillfully run factory. Our purchase came with a skillfully run factory of experience and expertise.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-10.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-10.png)
2015
Our operation moves to Tukwila.
Our new 13k foot office with modern industrial design seemed too big to fill, yet before long, we filled it.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-11.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-11.png)
2016
Layout Lab is launched.
Our research and development is always ongoing. We created a tool that allows our customers to have their end users create designs at home and add efficiency.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-12.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-12.png)
2018
Closing down the family trophy shop.
We held on or a long time, but financial losses were mounting, so we sadly closed the shop which began it all.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-13.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-13.png)
2019
Impulse Souvenirs is launched.
Tourism products seemed like an interesting market that took advantage of our direct manufacturing and logistics expertise.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-14.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-14.png)
2020
Emerald City Decoration launches stickers.
We invested in the equipment to make stickers and with growing success, we’ve upgraded to best-in-class machinery.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-15.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-15.png)
2020
The Pandemic really shocks us.
Our sales dropped by 85% in a week, so we pivoted all our factory production to masks and actually grew sales.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-16.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-16.png)
2021
Moving time again, to Kent.
Our steady growth required more space. We secured a 35k square foot facility for a spacious office and showroom.
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-17.png)
![](https://velociterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/history-17.png)
2022
Emerald City Decoration launches DTG printing.
We built a state-of-the-art digital printing operation with production capacity of over 500 prints a day and growing.