Reliant Apparel: Clinton Appelhanz & Anna Stauffer
Photos by Emma Highfill, Rose Wheat Photography
A lot of people dream of starting their own band, just as many others dream of starting their own business. There’s likely not many, though, who start a business to support their own band; and even fewer who then turn that side-gig business into a full- fledged company with more than a dozen employees and growing.
That is not how things work out for most dreamers or doers. But Clinton Appelhanz found a way to achieve just that, right here in Topeka.
“I started Reliant Apparel out of a need to print t-shirts for my touring band,” said Appelhanz, speaking to the origins of his now-booming apparel printing business. “I was just trying to print some shirts and make some money while on the road.”
While Reliant Apparel may have had humble beginnings, operations began to pick up steam when Appelhanz was able to recruit someone whom he trusted greatly to help with the business growth: his sister.
BUILDING TOGETHER
“In 2011, my sister, Anna Stauffer, started with me. She got involved in the business and we started printing shirts in the basement of a rental house with a little tiny printer,” Appelhanz explained. “I was bartending at the time, so we started getting accounts with bars. We slowly started getting different types of clientele, and then in 2011, we had enough demand and momentum that we opened a storefront in downtown Topeka.”
The company started as a small shop with a single printing press but quickly took on a life of its own, with Appelhanz and Stauffer building out a staff and expanding their menagerie of production equipment.
“It was pretty cool to build a new thing between siblings,” Appelhanz recalled of the early days. In terms of } the day-to-day now, things look quite a bit different—in a good way—yetremain true to the founding purpose of the company and the sibling relationship that made it all possible.
“There are challenges, but nothing we can’t figure out,” Appelhanz said. “We know what to expect from each other and are looking in the same direction: to grow the business as much as we can.”
ROLES DEFINED THROUGH GROWTH
With the growth, naturally, came the divvying up of responsibilities and the delegation of ever-increasing tasks to the staff. Now boasting 15 employees, Reliant Apparel is able to have more specialized roles within the organization.
“Anna does a lot with the bookkeeping and payroll,” Appelhanz said. “And she can do sales if needed. Myself, I'm the technology guy. I maintain all the networks and computers, plus sales and marketing. A lot of our stuff overlaps, but we also have our own distinct roles.”
That growth, while slightly hindered at the onset of COVID-19, has rebounded and then some since.
“The pandemic slowed us down a little bit, then it started ramping up. I believe the nature of our business fortunately put us in place to benefit us with people needing PPE masks. A lot of it is luck that we’re in the industry that we are. We realize a lot of businesses aren’t so lucky. Now we also do full-on promotional products to round out offerings. We’re a complete, one-stop-shop for everything promotional.”
The clientele of Reliant Apparel can range from the local garage band, to parents hosting a birthday party, to—in the case of one of Appelhanz’s favorite memories—Mars executives who need to place a second order for “Made in Topeka” shirts.
Doing business with Fortune 500 executives aside, Appelhanz mentions one great benefit of owning a family business—as well as a few pointers for the entrepreneurial-minded.
“You need a vision, you need to be on the same page, and then you need to be committed,” he said. “It’s not something you get into and then decide you don’t want to do it. Once you’re in, you’re on the line. The difference between working for someone and working for yourself is the level of commitment. But the tradeoff is you have your freedom.”
