The Story Behind the Shirt & Travel the World.

One Thread at a Time: The Story Behind Travel the World

Global Threads is not a travel company…

Founder of the custom apparel company, Global Threads LLC, Kyle McAllister began his entrepreneurial t-shirt journey in a way that some would consider being an accident. At this time, he was a junior studying Finance and Marketing at Gonzaga University with plans of going on well known Florence study abroad program. He noticed something peculiar — the most popular study abroad program on campus had no t-shirts or tangible representation… So, he proposed to design and manufacture 100 t-shirts for this trip. All of them sold.

“Kyle McAllister began his entrepreneurial t-shirt journey in a way that some would consider being an accident.”

The idea for Global Threads came to Kyle while traveling throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Upon his arrival back to the United States, students consistently approached him with t-shirt design ideas for clubs and committees across campus. At this point, there was no way he could refuse; he designed and sold t-shirts for the rest of his college career.

Travel The world sweatshirt pictured in Dallas, Texas.

“He designed and sold t-shirts for the rest of his college career.”

After he graduated from college, his company continued to grow. Even though he decided to take a full-time job in Dallas at TD Ameritrade, Global Threads was still fulfilling consistent orders at Gonzaga thanks to a business partner who kept it going. In the early days, he would fly back to Spokane once a year to check on everything, maintaining GT standard of quality and execution.

After many attempts and failures to spread his company outside of Gonzaga, his first major clientele post-graduation was the University of Tulsa. They still remain a client today.

From there Global Threads hasn’t looked back, McAllister remembers driving his truck throughout Texas and Oklahoma setting up meetings with universities.

“His first major clientele post-graduation was the University of Tulsa.”

Through the growth of Global Threads, the company has learned how to build clients based off of providing high-quality t-shirts, good customer service, and creative custom designs. Adding a team of talented people has also aided tremendously in the continuous growth of the company, Kyle adds. Today, Global Threads remains a customer first brand. It’s the go-to t-shirt service for colleges, businesses, and events with a big focus in the Dallas and Seattle markets.

“It’s the go-to t-shirt service for colleges, businesses and events with a big focus in the Dallas and Seattle markets.”

Custom tees designed and curated for the Startup Surfboard.

McAllister and the team don’t get to Travel as much anymore as the majority of attention is focused on quality assurance, happy customers, creative designs and continuing to grow the business. But, he does credit his international travel experience and overall wandering ability for his love for entrepreneurship and the founding of Global Threads.

“The classroom in Florence was like corporate America. Getting out of class on Thursday, having the weekends to explore new places, interacting with new people, and seeing business opportunities was Global Threads.”

It’s not a surprise McAllister lasted 12 months in corporate America.

Custom t-shirts for the Throwback Thirty party!