Northwest Custom Apparel

We started as Northwest Embroidery back in 1977 by Jim Mickelson almost by accident. At the time, Jim was traveling from Washington to Alaska every other week to work as an administration manager for the Alaska Pipeline when came up with the idea to sell embroidered caps to fellow pipeline employees. Originally he sewed all the patches onto the caps himself while back home in Washington. When his trial run of 300 sold out in three days, he knew he was on to something.” he says. “I had all this room on the plane, so I filled it with hats. I just kept hauling hats up there and selling them until I started making more money selling hats than working for Atlantic Richfield.”

We originally occupied a rented location in downtown Tacoma with just a single 11 head embroidery machine. Within just a few years, we moved to our current facility in Milton, with two buildings and almost ten times the manufacturing capability. Today, we even manage a branch office in China to handle large specialty orders. Jim is now joined by his two sons Erik and Scott, bringing the company into its second generation.

Three decades in the business have given us a greater appreciation for the art that goes into creating an embroidered garment. Technology may have helped make things faster, but every item we produce is still manufactured with the same strict attention to detail as it was three decades ago. Throughout the years, technology has changed and trends have come and gone. Through it all, we continue to pride ourselves on the same principles on which the company was founded – top-notch customer service and high-quality products.