StickerBros: Mastering The Wide-Format Sticker Game

Serving a variety of customers spanning B2C and B2B spaces, StickerBros, founded in 2022 and operating out of Fort Worth, Texas, is a 10-person company committed to producing stickers at a level that exceeds commodity assumptions. The company, says founder and president Tom Christensen, offers, “custom-printed, online, print-on-demand stickers.”

Tom Christensen, president and founder, StickerBros

For StickerBros, a common order, he says, is between 50 and 200 pieces. In addition to stickers, the company also produces vinyl banners and yard signs. These comprise about 10% of total business, and are almost always sold as add-ons to sticker-buying customers.

Asked to describe the company’s unique selling proposition — a hard thing to have in an increasingly crowded market — Christensen says the company prides itself on quality printing.
“There are lot of cheap and quick sticker companies out there,” Christensen explains. “We put more time and effort into it. We use only U.S.-made vinyls and materials. We’re trying to serve those [customers] who care more about quality than price.”

Because StickerBros regularly works at a higher quality level, it works with a lot of artists producing stickers for them. The stickers are then sold to the public on sites including Etsy. So at times, StickerBros is a small business that produces for micro businesses.

Acting on Opportunity

Prior to opening StickerBros, Christensen was (and still is) part owner of Craftmark, an industrial printing company that has produced OEM decals for products including truck trailers, AC units, and computer chips since 1957. He describes Craftmark as an “old-school decal printer” that did not have the character and identity to attract a new and differently oriented customer base, or an easy ordering process. Hence, StickerBros became its own established brand.

Christensen says he’s always been attracted to what he calls “pretty stickers,” and had advertised Jeeps and trucks for Rockstar Performance Garage. In so doing, he says he developed a deep roster of contacts in the automative customization space — a community he was able to leverage as he launched the StickerBros brand.

Innovation in Action

A couple key aspects of StickerBros give them an attractive and uncommon edge. The first is that their producing their stickers using wide-format equipment instead of systems designed specifically for decal or label production. The reasons for this technology approach, Christensen shares, are greater productivity, better print quality, and stronger color gamut.

Specialty substrates can be used for eye-popping effects. | Credit: StickerBros

Additionally, the ability for wide-format devices to produce opaque white enables the company to offer specialty substrates, which can be used for eye-popping effects — not to mention textures and embossing, which can supply a visual and tactile enhancement to a well-designed sticker. These specialized treatments, it should be stated, also bring a stronger margin.

Another key innovation is that much of StickerBros’ growth and identity is the result of a strong social media presence. TikTok and Instagram, in particular, have driven a vast amount of growth through word-of-mouth.

Specifically, potential customers would see sticker production on their feed and would want to have video of their own stickers being printed, then also posted online. “It took off from there,”Christensen says. This online feature became so popular that StickerBros added an extra element where customers could order a video of their job or brand on press.

Well Equipped

For a company as young as StickerBros, the production area is well equipped. The shop currently runs Epson SureColor S9170 solvent printers, primarily used for standard white vinyl stickers, and for those utilizing expanded color; Roland LG UV printers, used for their capability to print raised elements and embossing; and Canon Colorado printers for high capacity runs and for using white ink on specialty vinyls. Cutting is performed using a fleet of 10 Graphtec cutters, along with two Cutworx flatbed cutters.

Christensen describes production cutting operations as being “somewhat automated.” The Graphtec machines can utilize a printed QR code to bring up cut files for each job; the Cutworx systems similarly use a barcode. In both cases, he says, StickerBros, “can have a free second shift during overnights.”
He shares that 98% of the company’s orders are submitted online, and the remaining 2% are sent via email. Using intuitive online ordering software, customers can select from standard sizes and shapes, or specify a custom shape and quantity, then upload their file. A digital proof is then sent for approval. Customers can choose from eight substrates, which include rainbow holographic and glitter. If digital embossing is desired, the customer can specify what elements should be embossed or defer to the StickerBros team to make that decision.

Christensen says 95% of the jobs StickerBros handles are shipped without a need to adjust customer files. Color management is addressed through custom profiling of all printers and vinyls used.
Among the specialty media products StickerBros offers, Christensen says the most popular is rainbow holographic. He believes it is popular because it’s a strong option to plain white, and certain designs can “pop and look cool.” These designs can include those utilizing a white under base, thus enabling show-through rainbow effects.

Looking Forward

Looking ahead, Christensen is seeking additional automation as the company grows, including automated file preparation, which would use artificial intelligence to finalize files. This, he adds, would save money and lessen the company’s reliance on labor, the hiring of which he describes as extremely difficult.

In terms of the company’s direction, he also sees StickerBros branching into new spaces. In 2026, he is expecting to move somewhat into the T-shirt market. “We’re going to offer DTF [direct-to-film] print-on-demand T-shirts,” he shares, noting that a lot of the company’s customers would want to include T-shirts with their sticker orders. “We feel that’s a market we could benefit from,” he adds.

Observations and Suggestions

When asked if he could go back in time to when he started Sticker Bros in 2022 and do something differently, Christensen replies simply, “I’m not sure I would change much. It’s worked pretty well, and I’ve had fun doing it.”

Currently, he sees the sticker space as becoming increasingly saturated. As people see others having success in that space, “they’re jumping in too and getting a ‘sticker’ domain name.” He further thinks those jumping into stickers see it as an opportunity to work from home, grow a business, and then quit their day job.

For those currently equipped for wide-format, and who are considering the sticker opportunity, he adds, “Jump in and go for it. If you’re already in business and it’s something you can add to your lineup, it’s a no-brainer. There’s unlimited business out there.”