A team of eight uses the facilities at Unique Spirit Company to produce each order.[/caption]
What began as a hobby in Kristi Graves’ home has turned into Unique Spirit Company, a lucrative business she calls fun, fulfilling, creative and sparkly, too.
Graves is the queen of school spirit, making T-shirts and promotional items in a colorful country homestead in Cypress.
She leads a team of eight women who help her produce various projects, such as T-shirts, rhinestoning, embroidery, pop-up logos for corporate events, promotional giveaways like caps and koozies and other trinkets.
“I’ve always wanted to own my own business, and I’ve always had a creative side although my background is in accounting and working on the trade floors in the oil and gas business,” Graves said.
She has operated Unique Spirit Company out of the home in Cypress for the past two to three years, but has been in business officially since 2009. Unique Spirit Company serves six high schools and a variety of corporate businesses. It provides full- or part-time service and creative direction in a start to finish process—from picking a design and color to the final product.
“It’s a bit like a build-a-bear workshop in here, except it’s build-a-shirt,” Graves said. “I have a lot of moms who have great ideas—sometimes they come in and their design just takes off.”
As a mom herself with a daughter about to graduate high school, Graves said she finds inspiration in everything from fashion trends in magazines to college Greek life. With a keen eye for trends, her business continues to grow with plans to open a store in Galveston in fall 2016.
“I’ve learned a lot from experience and trial and error,” Graves said. “My team is great, and I’ve been blessed to have great retention over the years. Some of the moms started working for me so long ago that now their children have graduated. They are everything to me.”
