Appli-Ks Embroidery

Shortcuts

• Address
• Telephone
• Opening Hours
• Alerts
• Contact The Business
• Claim ownership or report listing

• 

  Want your business to be the top-listed Business in Shreveport?

Our Story

Back in 2008, Katy Rhodes and her mom Kay Johnson wanted to buy an embroidery machine. The original idea was to monogram Kay’s homemade clothing for Katy’s daughter, Abbey. Abbey was 3 at the time, and both Katy and Kay wanted to create unique clothes for Abbey and monogram them. They had seen others doing embroidery, and Kay knew they could do it too. Kay was already very skilled at sewing, and encouraged Katy to learn embroidery. They purchased a desktop single-needle embroidery machine. It was temperamental, slow, and tedious, but adequate at the time. What followed was more demand and eventually a brand creation. Appli-Ks was born. The name and logo were designed by Katy’s father, Bill. The name is unique and comprised of the first part of the word Appliqué and using Katy and Kay’s initial as the “K’s” to replace the -que. Quirky and genius, as appliqués became Appli-Ks

What followed was years of trunk shows, small craft events, The Shreveport Farmer’s Market, and more demand for Appli-Ks items and embroidery services. A professional machine was purchased and the orders grew.

In 2014 Appli-Ks was approached while set up at the Farmer’s Market to apply for the 2014 Downtown Pop-Up Project. This was a small business initiative, to give upstart businesses a chance to be seen, and shopped, in a brick-and-mortar storefront. The project supported new and small businesses, in an effort to bring life and shopping to downtown. The Pop-Up Project ran all year, but Appli-Ks only participated in the Holiday Market, which ran from November-December of 2014. At the end of the project, one winner was to be chosen. The winner was to receive a storefront in The Red River District, rent free for one year. This was part of that areas rejuvenation, and to help a new business get started.

Katy really wanted to take the business to the logical next level, and she had a ton of resources to make this happen. She enlisted the help of her father, Bill and her husband Chris. Bill had 35+ years in sales, had owned a print shop, and was a graphic arts instructor. Bill helped design the layout, decor, and signage. Chris had worked 20 years in retail management and developed the business model, online presence, and retail side. The vision Katy had for Appli-Ks was realized.

 ...