About Rain City West — The Shop, The Story, and the People Behind It
We love hearing how people found their way to our shop. A Google search, a referral from a neighbor, a band who printed with us ten years ago and still comes back. Everyone has a story. Here's ours.
The Shop
Rain City West is a family-owned and operated custom print shop in West Seattle. We opened our doors in 2011, and between us we bring over 30 years of combined experience in screen printing, embroidery, and custom apparel. We are a husband-and-wife team — Dave and Lori — and we run every service ourselves, in-house, from this shop.
We started with screen printing because it's what we've always known and loved. Since then the shop has grown considerably. We added an automatic press in 2015, which gave us the capacity to handle larger jobs without sacrificing the attention we put into every order. Over the years we've expanded into embroidery, heat transfers, die cut stickers, laser engraving, group ordering, and screen remesh — building out a full-service shop that can handle almost anything a customer in Seattle might need under one roof.
That growth didn't happen by accident. It happened because customers kept coming back, kept referring their neighbors, kept trusting us with bigger and more varied projects. We take that seriously. Every new service we've added has been done properly — the right equipment, the right materials, the time to learn it correctly before putting it in front of customers.
How We Got Here — The Short Version
A few years before we opened Rain City West, Dave and Lori decided it was time to stop working for other people and start something of their own. The neighborhood where they were living at the time didn't have a bakery, so — in a moment of logic that made complete sense at the time — they decided to open a donut shop.
They spent most of 2010 testing recipes, perfecting their process, and recruiting their kids, family, and anyone else they could find to eat test batches. They got really good at it. They gained about 20 pounds between them. And then, somewhere in the middle of all that sugar, they had a realization: they had absolutely no experience running a food establishment. None. Zero. The health codes alone were enough to give them pause.
And then the obvious thing hit them — the thing that had been true the whole time. They had 30 years of screen printing experience between them. They knew the craft inside and out. They had the equipment knowledge, the customer instincts, the understanding of what it takes to do the work correctly. They'd been doing it for decades. They should be doing that.
Rain City West opened in West Seattle in 2011. The donuts are still made occasionally. If you're lucky enough to be in the shop when Lori's in a baking mood, you might get one. No promises.
The Rain City West family in their natural habitat. West Seattle, Circa DATE HERE
Why We Care About Getting It Right
Thirty years is a long time to spend doing something. You pick up a lot along the way — about inks and mesh counts and registration and what makes a print hold up through a hundred washes versus what makes it crack after five. You develop opinions. You develop standards.
Our standard is simple: if we wouldn't be proud to hand it to someone, it doesn't go out the door. That's not a slogan — it's just how we've always worked.
We think that's what a good shop does. And we think, after 14 years in West Seattle, people have come to expect it from us — which means we have to keep earning it with every order.
What We Offer Today
We've come a long way from where we started. Here's what Rain City West offers in 2026:
Screen Printing
Bold, durable, full-color prints on t-shirts, hoodies, totes, and more. Our most popular service — and the one we've been perfecting for three decades.
Heat Transfers
Custom names, numbers, and short-run prints applied in-house. The go-to method for team jerseys, roster gear, and projects where every piece needs to be different.
Embroidery
Stitched-in logos and text on hats, polos, beanies, jackets, and more. One machine, run by us — every order gets real attention from start to finish.
Die Cut Stickers
Full-color, cut-to-shape vinyl stickers printed and cut in-house. Orders from 50 to 400. Great for bands, businesses, artists, and anyone who wants their design as a physical, stick-able thing.
Laser Engraving
Permanent engraving on metal, wood, and plastic. Personalized gifts, keepsakes, branded items, and artist projects. Singles welcome — no minimum.
Group Ordering
We set up a custom webstore for your group. Everyone orders and pays their own way. You pick up the finished orders, sorted and bagged, ready to hand out. No spreadsheets. No chasing payments.
Screen Remesh
For screen printers: we remesh your frames at a fraction of the cost of new screens. 110–305 mesh, wood and aluminum frames up to 20x24. Drop off your cleaned frames and we'll give you an estimate.
Come Find Us
We're in West Seattle — which isn't just a mailing address for us. It's where we live, where we shop, where our kids went to school, where we know the businesses by name and the owners by face. When you bring us a project, we understand the community it's going into. That matters to us.
We work by appointment, so get in touch before you come in. We'd love to meet you.