About Us

The Story of WolfDog Printing

The story of WolfDog Printing—and how I began my journey into custom apparel—goes back long before I ever thought about printing a single T-shirt.

When I was leaving middle school and heading into high school, I was involved in the school band as a percussionist. I can't say I was any kind of prodigy. In fact, I was probably more of a problem for the band director than anything else.

I didn't give rehearsals the attention they deserved. I rarely knew what I was supposed to be doing, and I got sent to the principal's office a few too many times. I was a little bit of a hell-raiser.

When I got to high school, I joined the front ensemble of the L'Anse Creuse High School Marching Band. Unfortunately, my attitude hadn't changed much. I wasn't learning my parts, I was getting screamed at during almost every rehearsal, and I was rarely prepared.

Then something happened that completely changed my direction.

During a summer rehearsal, a friend I hadn't seen in a few years stopped by. He was wearing a jacket that I thought was the coolest thing I had ever seen: an Eastside Fury Percussion member jacket.

I wanted that jacket.

I went home and immediately started figuring out what Eastside Fury was and, more importantly, what I had to do to earn one of those jackets.

Over the next two years, after a lot of hard work—and probably a lot of frustration from my instructors—I finally started becoming a decent performer and member. I moved from the front ensemble to the tenor line in high school, and in 2002, I became a member of the Eastside Fury cymbal line.

That jacket had changed everything.

From Performer to Instructor

My journey continued from there.

I moved to the Eastside Fury tenor line in 2003 and became section leader in 2005. That same year, I earned a spot in the tenor line with the Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps, performing nationwide with the corps during the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Eventually, I returned to my former high school as an instructor and went on to work with several high school programs, winter drumlines, and drum corps.

Every season, with every group, I collected something—a T-shirt, hoodie, jacket, or another piece of apparel.

Some of those shirts were handed to me for free. To anyone else, they might not mean anything.

To me, they mean everything.

Every time I pull one of them out, a flood of memories comes back. I remember the ensemble I was with, the show we were performing, the people around me, and what was happening in my life during that particular season. I remember the exciting moments, the difficult ones, and everything in between.

I also remember something an instructor once told me after I earned a position in the Eastside Fury tenor line:

"You are never done auditioning until you're wearing your jacket and looking at the group picture taken at the end of the season. That's when there's no possible way you can be cut."

Years later, thinking about that advice made me realize what those jackets actually represented.

I did it.

I had a goal, worked toward it, and made it happen. Then, year after year and season after season, I raised the bar a little higher. I accomplished things I once didn't think were possible and met some incredible people along the way.

More Than Just a Shirt

Eventually, the season ends.

You have the memories, but as you get older, life changes. Your body doesn't always let you do what it once did, and your responsibilities start pulling you in different directions.

Slowly, you move away from the activity that once defined your life.

Private lessons and rehearsals that lasted into the early hours of Saturday or Sunday morning are replaced by work, bills, families, and responsibilities. The alarm clock that once woke you up for rehearsal gets replaced by a crying baby who needs to be fed at 3:00 in the morning.

As I started distancing myself from the activity that had once defined me, I began realizing just how important those old pieces of clothing had become.

A free T-shirt that meant almost nothing when someone handed it to me suddenly meant the world.

Then there were the member jackets.

The jacket you don't wear anymore but once practically lived in.

The jacket that didn't really protect you from the cold, but somehow you wore it all winter anyway.

The jacket you continued wearing well into the warmer months when you definitely didn't need a jacket.

And when it finally became too hot, it stayed in the car until you met up with your friends—the ones wearing the exact same jacket.

Because that jacket stood for something.

It represented something you were part of that could never be taken away from you. It represented your contribution to something bigger than yourself.

You became part of a family.

Years later, that jacket can come out of the closet and immediately bring those memories back.

And that realization eventually became part of what WolfDog Printing is about.

Now I'm the One Making the Jacket

Today, I'm on the other side of that story.

Now, I'm the one making the jacket.

I'm the one printing the shirts, hoodies, and apparel for the members who are living those experiences right now—not just in marching bands, drum corps, and indoor percussion, but in sports, schools, businesses, organizations, clubs, and countless other groups.

On the surface, we're making custom apparel.

But sometimes we're making something much more important.

We're making the shirt someone will find in a drawer 20 years from now.

We're making the jacket they'll eventually "retire" to the back of a closet, only to pull it out years later and instantly remember what it felt like to be part of that group.

We're making something that can bring two strangers together because they recognize the same logo and realize they share an experience.

We're making the clothing people wear while they're creating memories.

How WolfDog Got Its Name

We weren't always WolfDog Printing.

Originally, the business was called J.R.E. Shirts, which stood for James Ryan Elite Shirts—James being my middle name and Ryan being my first.

There was just one problem.

Another JRE was becoming pretty popular: The Joe Rogan Experience.

Even in our local market, people occasionally confused the two, especially since Joe Rogan also sold apparel. It became clear that we needed something different.

At the same time, I wanted the business to grow beyond performing arts organizations. For years, we had focused heavily on custom apparel for those groups, but I wanted to expand and work with anyone who needed custom clothing.

When the global pandemic hit, it felt like the right time for a fresh start.

I wanted a name that was different, personal, and represented something I genuinely loved.

For as long as I can remember, I've loved dogs. Siberian huskies have always been my favorite breed, along with wolves. Obviously, owning a wolf wasn't exactly practical, so a husky was about as close as I could get.

My first husky, Mia, came into my life before printing apparel was even a thought. A few years later came Zala, a husky-wolf hybrid.

Then my girlfriend—now my wife—came along, and with her came Izzy. Izzy has some husky in her, along with a collection of other breeds, so we've always just called her a brown dog.

Then one day, my four-year-old daughter walked into the kitchen. Zala was standing there—those two were best friends—and my daughter simply said:

"Zala is a WolfDog."

I snapped my fingers.

That's it.

That's the name.

From that moment forward, we became WolfDog Printing.

Bringing WolfDog Home

With a little help from friends family and new partnerships, I was able to begin expanding WolfDog Printing beyond the performing arts world.

Today, we produce custom apparel for schools, sports teams, organizations, clubs, events, and businesses. We handle everything from the standard T-shirt and hoodie to embroidered jackets, polos, and Oxford button-downs.

More recently, WolfDog Printing moved into our shop in Harrison Township, Michigan—the same community where I grew up.

Bringing the business back to my hometown means a lot to me.

And every day, I get to walk into that shop with the dogs that helped inspire the WolfDog name and create custom apparel for other people.

Some of what we print will simply be a shirt.

But every once in a while, we're making someone's version of that Eastside Fury jacket.

The one they'll wear everywhere.

The one they'll refuse to take off.

And the one they'll pull out of a closet 20 years from now and remember exactly who they were when they wore it.