Culture Studio’s West Coast expansion continues: an equity stake in Shirt Shack, Chula Vista in Southern California.

It is no surprise that we are a music merchandise company that powers the music and entertainment industry across retail, tour, and sports. In a fast-paced, quickly-changing industry, our clients are at the forefront of every decision and investment we make: how can we deliver the best experience possible that makes their jobs easier?

That question is what took us from Chicago, to Daytona Beach, and now to the West Coast. Today we are proud to announce that Culture Studio has acquired an equity stake in Shirt Shack, a custom apparel production shop in Chula Vista, California. It is our West Coast production footprint, and it completes the coast-to-coast network we have been building to deliver 2-day ground shipping anywhere in the U.S.

Fifteen minutes from San Diego International Airport and roughly two hours from Los Angeles and LAX, this 20,000-square-foot facility puts high-volume screen printing, specialty decoration, and retail fulfillment within same-week reach of the entire West Coast market.

IN THIS POST

1 Why the West Coast, why now
2 Eight years in the making
3 Inside the Chula Vista facility
4 A location built for speed
5 One connected coast-to-coast network

Section 1

Why the West Coast, why now

Our clients live and die by the calendar. A last-minute schedule change, a 50-city tour, a retail launch date that will not move: the merchandise has to be there. For years, serving West Coast artists, labels, and brands meant shipping across the country from Chicago or Daytona. That works, but every mile adds transit time and freight cost.

A West Coast production floor changes the math. Now we can print, finish, and ship from inside Southern California, cutting transit time and cost for every order moving into or out of the western U.S. It is the same client-first logic that drove our enterprise expansion into Daytona Beach in 2022, applied to the other side of the country.

Section 2

Eight years in the making

This is not a cold acquisition. It is the natural next step in a relationship that has been building for the better part of a decade. Over the past eight years, Culture Studio and Mike and the Shirt Shack team have worked side by side, starting with specialty projects and growing into a true partnership. An equity stake is simply where that trust finally landed.

Section 3

Inside the Chula Vista facility

Shirt Shack brings serious firepower to the network. This is a shop built to run volume without giving up quality or speed.

It sits one mile from major blank suppliers including Mission Imprintables and Cotton Collective, and stocks premium blank programs like AS Colour, so speed on decoration is matched by speed on garments. Paired with our specialty ink and finishing and fulfillment capabilities across the network, the Chula Vista floor takes a West Coast program from blank garment to retail-compliant, shelf-ready product without leaving the region.

Section 4

A location built for speed

Location is not a detail here. It is the strategy. The Chula Vista facility sits in one of the best-connected apparel corridors on the West Coast:

15 minutes from San Diego International Airport for fast inbound and outbound freight. One mile from Mission Imprintables and Cotton Collective, two of the region’s major blank suppliers, so garment sourcing is measured in minutes, not days. Roughly two hours from Los Angeles and LAX, putting the largest entertainment market in the country within same-day driving distance.

When decoration speed is matched by garment speed, timelines compress. That is the whole point.

Section 5

One connected coast-to-coast network

Chula Vista does not stand alone. It plugs into the same network powering Chicago and Daytona Beach, running on our proprietary technology. That network is the engine behind the same playbook we ran with our 2022 purchase of a 75,000-square-foot factory in Daytona Beach: build an efficient production network across the country so quick turnarounds stop being a scramble and start being the standard.

With a production floor now on both coasts, we can route each job to the facility that gets it to its destination fastest and cheapest. For a 50-city tour, that means merch that keeps pace with the schedule. For a DTC brand, it means lower shipping costs and happier customers. For a retail or sports program, it means hitting the launch date without the freight scramble.

If you ship merchandise anywhere near the West Coast, you now have a Culture Studio home there. Same full-package capabilities, faster: screen printing, embroidery, specialty decoration, and retail-ready finishing.

We are so grateful for everyone who has been with us on our journey throughout the years, and we are inspired to continue delivering merchandise that fuels an industry we are so passionate about. Stay tuned on our social media and email list to follow along, and check out our new online catalog to browse thousands of garments with global inventory right at your fingertips.