A Conversation With ... Matt McKnelly

We opened in September of 1993, and employ more than 55 people in Nixa. We do the printing and embroidery on apparel, and we also do importing of apparel and hats. There are three owners – me, my brother, Mark, and a silent partner, a sales rep who bought into the company in 1996 or 1997 and lives in Colorado. Mark and I started the business (when) I had graduated from high school … on the side, because we had printed for a company … initially, we started selling locally and to the Branson market.

Who are your clients?

Our main markets are gifts and souvenirs. Another market is Christian retail stores. We dabble in some licensing things. It’s mostly wholesale quantity – we sell to Silver Dollar City and the Alamo. I’m also doing more business with the Missouri State University Bookstore. We do specific trade shows. My brother is … talking to the Cracker Barrel people, because we sell to the Cracker Barrel chain stores, because they have a gift shop in all the restaurants. We sell all across the country. In the Christian market, we have some international companies. We’re shipping to Australia and (will be) to a large Christian chain store in the United Kingdom that is looking to purchase some items as well. My brother sells to a chain store in the Caribbean, so it’s all over the country and some international, but not much.

Some people would say that of all manufacturers, those in clothing or textiles face the most threat from foreign competition. How do you deal with that?

What Crossroads is trying to do is to make a blend of the importing and domestic production. We’re trying to use importing as a tool to get goods cheaper, but also do as much of the manufacturing here in the states as we can, because certain items … once it’s embroidered or printed, it’s too expensive to ship it. Normally basics, like if you wanted just a white (T-shirt) it’s easier just to buy it from Fruit of the Loom … it’s just cheaper that way. We’ve got a niche … to import special styles, like a football tee or a ringer tee … which are more expensive wholesale. We do more of a fashion tee and import those styles and sell them closer to a basic price.

Are your customers ever surprised that a business of your size is in Nixa, Missouri?

Yes. We have four automated textile printing presses. We have five embroidery machines. We have five artists in-house that do all of our in-house artwork. Most people don’t realize the volume that we do out of here. A lot of the chain stores have requested that shirts be folded and bagged. We have two automated folder and bagger machines. We can fold and bag 350 shirts an hour. There are more and more retailers that are asking companies like us to do more things. We don’t just ship them a T-shirt. It has to be bar-coded … and folded and bagged.

What kind of volume does Crossroads do?

We usually go by pieces instead of dollars, just to keep it more general. I would (expect) that we’ll get three-quarters of a million pieces – garments embellished – in 2006. One specific order we had with a chain store – which I don’t want to name – but it’s a Christian chain that does a flag program every year … they did 330,000 pieces for a $4.97 flag promo, and that was a really good order for us. We’ve done it for the last three years, and they’ve just grown.

Do you have plans to add more services?

Right now, a lot of the retailers are asking for displays, so we are looking to import wood displays to sell with our products. Because a lot of the gift stores, especially the small, Christian bookstores that we’re starting to sell more quantity to, are limited in space, so to get product in … you have to sell or get a package deal … and give them a display.

Where would you like to see your company in five years?

We are trying to stay diversified enough in different markets so if one market takes a hit – like the souvenir market, if gas prices go up and people don’t travel – we’ll be OK. We have an arena football license that we just started and are trying to get into the Arena Football League. We’re also working (to get) college licenses. We want to increase our volume by using different markets. We have a license for Veggie Tales apparel. They’re planning to do a new movie in 2008. They just signed a deal with Universal Studios (for) more than 5,000 movie theaters. We’re hoping that getting it into theaters again will put (Veggie Tales) back into the mainstream.

Tell us about your family.

My wife, Shanie, has helped me sell for the last six years or so. She actually started her own complementary business, Bravo Advertising, for promotional advertising-type stuff. Because most people who want T-shirts will want mugs, keychains, stuff like that … we can use the same art. We have two sons, 5-year-old Cade and 3-year old Rafe. Cade is starting kindergarten. That’s one of the reasons we started (Bravo Advertising) … now that the kids are starting school, it won’t be as easy for her to travel with me.