the ink trax story...

SO FAR

Ink Trax is a one stop shop featuring graphic design, screen printing, embroidery and promotional products. From your first call to a finished promotional product in hand, we apply your vision and our expertise to a wide selection of quality apparel and promotional items. Every step of our design and production is done in-house, assuring you quality control at each phase of your project. This allows us to provide you with the finest level of screen printing, embroidery and digitized printing with short turnaround times at the most competitive prices in our area. Customer service and satisfaction are our number one priority and you won't find a staff more committed to that goal than here at Ink Trax. Take a few minutes to look through samples of our work and contact us about your next project. Whether it's your first impression of a new business, or you're looking to refresh your current design..."Let us give you the shirt on your back."

Ink Trax began as a one-man operation, founded in 1995, by Jerry Walters, a local from the Millville neighborhood. From Jerry's vision for exciting design detail and sound business management Ink Trax quickly outgrew it's humble beginnings in a small 5th street garage. In October of that same year Jerry brought in the dynamic duo of Laurie Lupton and Chris Bohon and the hunt for a larger facility began. By the following summer Ink Trax had settled into a new location behind a local paint store off Panama City Beach Parkway. Boasting 10 times the space of the old garage, Jerry saw his client base and production rapidly increase. Ink Trax steadily became the go to shop for quality apparel design and promotional products across the tourist corridor of the Gulf Coast. Needing another press and a bigger dryer along with shipping and receiving facilities it was time for another move - this time practically next door, and into a 7500 square foot warehouse which Ink Trax would call home for the next 11 years. During the first decade of of the new century Ink Trax's clientele grew to include Wal-Mart and many businesses unique to the vacation destination corridor of the Emerald Coast and the venues served by them. By 2009 with 3 automatic presses running full-time and now a company of 16 employees, the need for even more space brought Jerry and Ink Trax back to the downtown area of it's original roots.

After an exhaustive search, in 2011 Jerry came across the former Coca Cola Bottling plant on that same 5th street where it all began. Even though the building needed a lot of TLC, it's location in the heart of downtown Panama City and offering the right amount of space to grow, as well as a price he could live with, Jerry took his successful business on the biggest journey of it's 15 year history. Working side by side with the extraordinary assistance from the City of Panama City, The Downtown CRA, the Bay County Chamber of Commerce  and Prosperity Bank, as well as others, Jerry came up with the plan to renovate and restore the building to it's former glory.

Beginning in the Fall of 2011 and utilizing a team of Master craftsmen the entire building was stripped of paint and years of neglect. Finally, in February of 2012, he brought his company and it's 20 employees to the lovingly restored 16,000 square foot facility still called home today. Ink Trax's family of graphic artists and printers provide the highest quality of design and apparel products in a state of the art facility shipping to clients all around the world. With so many small businesses faltering and "Made in America" an exception, Jerry Walters business model, ethics and vision have created the kind of success story achieved through hard work and commitment to his employees, clients, and the community they live, work, and believe in.  

From humble beginnings in a tiny garage on 5th street to the historic building now called home...one thing has never changed - our commitment to quality and the clients we serve.