About Us
THE STORY
I was 14 years old in 1984 and lived in Winchester when I came up with the ‘Printing Crazy’ name, and thought it would be great fun to print personalised teeshirts for clubs and local companies, and use my love of design to create logos for people.
Obviously still at school, I dabbled with screenprinting ( I had an amazing Art teacher who spent his lunch times teaching me how to print using handmade screens), and soon I was creating prints for bags and childrens’ teeshirts. I also had my products for sale in local children’s clothing shops in Winchester.
By this point, I had set up with all my inks etc in the old lounge at home, and used table mats inside the teeshirts, so the ink didn’t go through to the back! I made my own frames and had iron on stencils to create the logos, and bought all my supplies through ‘Creative Crafts’ art shop, where I worked after school and on Saturdays/school holidays.
It was clear I needed more room, I had an order from the Winchester Hospital for 300 teeshirts for an anti-smoking campaign, the design was very intricate and I realised I would have to individually paint the faces, the detail was too small for my screen making! My parents helped me get a unit on a farm in Sarum Rd, Winchester, it was a large converted pigsty, with a large sink next door which worked well. I had a donkey in the kitchen for company!
I moved on to using UV liquid stencil film for my screens so I could obtain more detail in the logos, using a positive of the image under glass, under a large UV light to expose the image onto the screen, and then I washed away the negative image that didn’t get UV light. However, I was using the sun for this – I didn’t have a UV unit, no funds for that! So business relied on the weather a little!
I worked from this unit carrying out jobs after college and weekends for the navy, army and hospital until I moved with my family to Hamble, Southampton.
1990, I set up in Hamble, at Hamble Pt, downstairs from Cougar Powerboats. I was lucky enough to be given some capital input so I could buy a ‘proper’ screenprinting carousel, dryer and curer, and the business soon picked up, the yachting fraternity soon became my main income of business and I started supplying branded crew clothing to many yachts and companies.
I stayed at Hamble Pt for about 5 years ( until I flooded throughout ), and then moved the business to Unit 15 Mitchell Point, where we are still based. Printing Crazy soon had the requirement for embroidery, and since 1993 we have grown steadily to house 24 embroidery heads, and now offer all the modern printing techniques. I decided to cease the screen printing service in 2016 and move this business over to cleaner, faster more modern printing methods.
Printing Crazy has now been running 35 years with a team of 10, and we are renowned as one of the best branding houses in the business for quality and longevity. Our branding has been round the world …. literally!
– Kate Brenton (aka Douglass), Managing Director
MEET THE TEAM
Kate
CEO
Matt
Director
Daisy
Sales
Florence
Time waster
Mrs B
Packing Dept.
Charlotte
Embroidery Dept. Manager
Alison
Book Keeper
Scott
Print Production Assistant
Lauren
Branding Operative
Georgia
Branding Operative
Lilly
Branding Operative
About Us
Please get in touch with our in-house branding experts for advice and quotes.
- +44 (0)23 80 457382
- [email protected]
- Units 12, 13 + 15 Mitchell Point, Ensign Way, Hamble. SO31 4RF. UK
Meetings
Meetings – By appointment only, please email
Contact Hours: 9am to 5:30, Mon to Fri
Christmas Hours 2025/2026
We close for Christmas midday Friday 19th December and re-open Monday 5th January 2026.
Please note, emails will not be monitored over the Christmas period.
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