Heart of the Entrepreneur | H&H DESIGNS | Samantha Hill
By MIRANDA ERICSSON | Photos by JENNIFER GOETZ
A BUILD YOUR OWN SHIRT BAR!
At H&H Designs in Fairlawn Plaza, it’s easy to walk in and design a shirt — they’ll even print it for you while you wait.
“We have hundreds of designs,” said Samantha Hill, owner of H&H Designs. “People can pick the design and garment they want in adult and kid sizes. You can go with short-sleeved, long-sleeved, or sweatshirts, in so many colors and patterns. It’s done in about two minutes once we have all of the pieces together. It’s perfect for game day gear and spirit gear, even with a fast turnaround. If you’re going to support an area team, you can get that hoodie to show your team spirit and have something special.
”H&H Designs sells officially licensed Kansas State and Washburn University gear that feature the unique designs of Samantha Hill. She went through an application process to become an official designer, and every design must be submitted to the university for approval.
“You can only purchase those officially licensed designs through H&H, so you have something special to show your team spirit,” Hill said. “Plus, we do glitter and hearts and animal prints. We do fun things around here.”
One of Hill’s favorite ways to support community spirit is to develop designs for local schools and businesses. H&H offers creative designs for all area high schools, and quite a few elementary schools. Hill designs for schools at no cost and makes it easy for them to host a fundraiser through her website. After working with a school, Hill continues to make the design available online and in the store through the shirt bar.
“People come in and get so excited to see a special design for their alma mater or their kids’ school,” Hill said. “I also design a staff t-shirt for teachers that I make available for the lowest price that I can.”
Hill never imagined that she’d be making a living designing shirts. Like a lot of small businesses, H&H Designs started out as a fun side hustle.
“My sister and I always just kind of made shirts,” Hill said. “Growing up we tried out so many different designs, from puffy paint to bleach and tie-dye. Shirts feel versatile and inspire me with ideas.”
Hill started small by selling to family and friends back in 2016. Many customers returned for more and told their friends, causing a steady growth in sales. By the fall of 2021, Hill was taking in about 500 orders a month, and most of those were being picked up from her porch. Hill knew it was time to find a retail space, and Fairlawn Plaza was the perfect fit.
“We really love Fairlawn Plaza,” Hill said. “It’s just a different atmosphere from anywhere else in Topeka. Truly most of the businesses here are owned and operated by someone who lives in our community. A lot of times people will tell us that they came for a specific shop, then started walking and visiting the whole mall.”
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
The business is so much bigger than Hill ever expected, with sales continuing to rise from month to month. To divide and conquer the work while growing the business, Hill hired Cate Moody as a full-time production manager. Moody is Hill’s sister, and she started working part time for H&H to gain experience when she was still a business student. She gradually took on more and more responsibility in the running of the store. Moody’s education focused on marketing, management and data analytics, and she loves that her work with H&H Designs lets her have a hand in a bit of everything.
“Sam and I are a great team,” Moody said. “She has always been an entrepreneur. She’s always been creative and had some kind of business. I’ve never had that entrepreneurial drive, but I’m supportive of Sam and like to go along with her ideas. And she knows that she can trust me to tell her if I honestly think an idea isn’t the best way to go, from a business perspective.”
“We know how to tell each other no,” Hill said. “Nicely, for the most part.”
Hill and Moody have big dreams for the future of the shop. They currently work with a number of local vendors who provide a rotating selection of jewelry, hair accessories, skin care products and more. H&H will continue to seek creators and sell their original items on commission, so that customers always find something fresh and surprising. They’re also working to obtain approval for University of Kansas licensing. Eventually, they hope to open a t-shirt truck to connect with buyers at community events.
In the meantime, business is booming. Foot traffic in the store doubled over the last year, and new customers find H&H online and through word of mouth every day.
“I think it’s the uniqueness of our apparel that makes us so popular,” Moody said. “All of the designs are Sam’s, not something that you can get from others on Facebook or find in another store in town. Pretty much everywhere we go we see someone wearing a shirt that we’ve made.”
“I love seeing it out in the wild,” Sam said. “It’s a really good feeling.”
