You probably don’t even realize how many shirts you’ve seen around the city of Pittsburgh or even in music videos that were either designed or printed by Joe Boots & his Boot Prints Crew! I caught up with Joe to find more about how his business came to life.

RPHH: How did you get started in the custom screen printing business?

Joe Boots: Well I first got interested in it at Carrick High School. By my senior year I was basically teaching the screen printing portion. Initially I wanted to be a screen printing teacher, so i joined the Army which would help with school. Then I went to Cal U for 2 semesters, learned they quit teaching screen printing teachers and I dropped out. A few weeks later got the letter that i was selected to go to Iraq with the 103rd engineers out of Philly. This whole time I was hand painting shirts IN Time Bomb Shop to customers, miskeen was big at the time and there was a market for this. I thought this was the way to go. When i was in Iraq I was hand painting shirts for my homeboys there with me and at home sending them back to the streets of PGH. When I got home I didnt know what I wanted to do but I had an idea. I continued hand painting shirts for our crew PRICELESS FAM. We were also a rap group and at the time were throwing very successful shows with hundreds of fans in attendance! That helped solidify my position with a few top tier hip hop scenesters in the ‘burgh. Everyone was tryin to create that “bigger” buzz they always asked about Priceless’ promo efforts. Everyone used to say “yo when can i get some tees made” and i would say ” ahh man , when i get my wheel (screenprinting machinery), its on!”

and well.. i got my wheel and it is certainly on!

RPHH:  Do you create your own designs? Where might we have seen them before?

Boots: I have created some original tees that have garnered some notoriety. Our first smash shirt was the DRINKING IRON GETTING SHITTY (front) and back YEAH HOW BURGH IS THAT (back) everyone would go crazy for these St. Patricks day tees! (keep an eye out for March’s #FirstFridayFreshness).

Another tee thats infamous now is the Big L Tribute shirt “Putchya L’s Up”. This was one of the first designs we printed after BPC opened. It was for a Big L / Big Pun / J. Dilla Tribute show with DJ Lord Finesse DITC. The Big L tribute shirt was a graphic I had had in my head for quite some time because theres just not any good Big L Tribute shirts so i knew that had to change. When we did the first run there were 20 shirts, and each of those is hand numbered. At the tribute show, Mac Miller saw me pull em outta the box to set up the merch table, he came right over and said “ahhh man i need one of those” and that was my first sale of the Big L Putchya L’s up tee. A few months later, Mac decided it would be an appropriate tee to wear for a video with a DITC beat. And the rest, as they say, is history. Big L tee available exclusively at timebombshop.com

RPHH: What inspires you in your work?

Boots: Years of hard work paying off. The end goal is in more plain view than ever before. I’m not near it .. but nearer if that makes sense. Attaining it, that is my inspiration.

RPHH: You recently quit your 9-5 in favor of this business, how hard was that decision?

Boots: Well, it was a very difficult one because I had been at my previous employer Full Time for over 5 years. I had worked my way through the ranks there and was living pretty comfortably (financially speaking) but I was so unhappy and stressed out. I was printing tee shirts and running my business and also working for someone else full time. Since they were paying me, my business tended to take a back seat all the time..the stress was starting to make me crack. One day I decided I’m not going to do this for another summer, this is the summer of JOE! and i put my 2 weeks in (it was actually a little over a month) and BOOM! here i am. Running my own business. This is not easy, life was way easier going to work collecting that paycheck, but its so much more rewarding when you bust your ass for it.. and its all yours.. The name the legacy .. everything ..and i was neglecting customers because of my obligations at my other job. That’s no way to grow as a business… plus, i can set my own hours and wear cut off shorts and tank tops every day (and i do). In the end, it was a no brainer what i had to do!

RPHH: What makes you different from others in the same field?

Boots: Technically speaking we all print tee shirts and have tattoos. Those are about the only similarities. Some are bigger companies, some are smaller … but when a customer chooses Boot Prints to work on their project, they know they are working with professionals who above all else want to satisfy their wants and needs. Also, there is very few Hip Hop Screen Printers .. or screen printers who are rooted in the hip hop scene. There are a few nationwide but its more of the rock n roll and punk rock scenes that give birth to screen printers (on average).

As I previously stated i was in the pgh hip hop scene before Mac Miller rapped for any crowd and before Wiz was anything but a work in progress. This allowed me to make connections with people and build trust showing them I am a man of my word and I will work to the bone to achieve what I said I would.

RPHH: What Pittsburgh hip hop music is currently in your rotation?

Boots: BZE, The 58s, Living Proofe, Varsity Squad, Basick Sickness, Apex, Boaz

RPHH: Who got next after Wiz and Mac?

Boots: There are quite a few ridiculously hard working emcees / groups out there in the Pittsburgh streets. and peace to all them! This is the time to shine because there is attention from other cities and the industry on the city. So keep working hard and good things will come if its meant to be that way. I would love to see some more people get on in a big way around here. Just hope that no one forgets the city that made them stand out above the rest.

RPHH: any closing words/ shout outs/ etc…

Boots: First off thank you K-Mo. I always liked what you were doing connecting people in a scene that was somewhat lost with so much to do and not one unified place to share it. So thank you thank you thank you! And for allowing me this outlet to those who may have seen alot of the BPC work but not sure how to go about getting hooked up.

Also I would like to thank the Copies @ Carson crew for showing me that a small business can be a very lucrative investment (if you dont mind hard work). Brick and KT at TimeBomb Spot for believing in me and helping to push me into the spot I’m at right now! The whole Pgh Hip Hop scene, thanks for trusting me with the production of your merchandise, it makes a group stand out if they get they’re stuff printed locally, not from some website to save a few bucks.

The whole Priceless Fam, mad support since day one. THAT’s WHAT IT IS!

And last but not least the Boot Prints Crew . We couldnt have made it this far without the help of a lot of people. Whether you reshared our info, sent business our way or brought us lunch and told us you were proud of us . That matters so much. Jewels, Dan, Matt, Billy, Stu, Uncle Arlo, Tommy, Brad, and Sarah … I couldn’t have done this on my own, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE HELP! and for believing in me.. CREW’D UP.

JOE BOOTS
BPC. TBC. PF. VK.
STREETS.

follow @BootPrintsCrew
bootprinting@gmail.com for orders

website coming soon!