Simmons Ink and Stitch engages with Syracuse community by staying small
Reggie Simmons used to work as a firefighter. Following his retirement, he was inspired to purchase an embroidery machine after his own negative experience with custom shirt orders. Solange Jain | Photo Editor
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Reggie Simmons used to be a firefighter. Back then, his firehouse had shirts designed with a custom logo of a Tasmanian devil. When a shop refused to do small orders for his team, he decided to try it himself. After retiring in 2006, he bought an embroidery machine and started learning how to use it.
“I needed a job. I didn’t want to go to Home Depot and have some kid tell me how to sweep the floor,” Reggie said. “So that’s when I got the embroidery idea.”
Simmons Ink and Stitch is a custom embroidery and printing shop in Syracuse. Own and run by husband and wife team Reggie and Lysa Simmons, the business is known for more than just shirts and banners — a passion for personal service and a strong connection to the community distinguish it.
Lysa, who previously worked at Onondaga Community College and SUNY Morrisville, supported Reggie’s idea from the start. At first, the pair worked out of their duplex.
“He said he only needed one room,” Lysa said. “I gave him two. He took the whole first floor.”
Before embroidery, Lysa and Reggie pursued desktop publishing. They designed and printed things like flyers or brochures on a laptop under the name Simmons Ink. After desktop publishing started to die out, they added embroidery and the business’ name changed to Simmons Ink and Stitch.
Simmons Ink and Stitch officially opened in 2008. At first, Lysa and Reggie sold their products at craft fairs and local markets. A few years later, they discovered sublimation printing at a trade show, a digital printing process that uses heat, pressure and time to transfer dye onto different materials, which opened the door to new products like pillows, wall art and more.
Now, Simmons Ink and Stitch offers embroidery, sublimation, vinyl transfers, rhinestones, small signs and other custom items. One thing that sets the business apart is that they don’t have a minimum order requirement. This approach has drawn in customers because Simmons Ink and Stitch can address the specific needs of customers, Reggie said.
The Simmons’ pride themselves on the care they take with each customers. Lysa Simmons spends time helping customers develop logos for their brands, some of which the business owners still use to this day.
Solange Jain | Photo Editor
As class president, Stevie Tchako-Tchokouassi, a first-year medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, worked with the shop to get over 150 white coats embroidered for his classmates. This collaboration happens every year for the students to use these coats throughout their time at the university.
Lysa and Reggie stayed up late for days to make sure everything was done on time. When Reggie came into work early Monday morning, there was a line of 50 students waiting to get their coats embroidered. The couple loves what their relationship has grown into and looks forward to seeing the students every year.
The Simmons’ journey hasn’t always been easy. As Black business owners, they expected strong support from their own community, but at first, it didn’t happen the way they hoped.
“We tried hard to connect, but we weren’t part of certain social circles or media spaces,” Lysa said. “Eventually, people started to find us, but it took time.”
Today, their customer base is very diverse. They work with students, small businesses, churches and community groups. Some see them as partners. Others, like Tchako-Tchokouassi, said they feel like family.
“They really want to get to know their customers,” Tchako-Tchokouassi said. “They asked us about our backgrounds, our goals, and took the time to really connect.”
Simmons Ink and Stitch has grown mostly by word of mouth, Lysa said. Karen Davis, a former Assistant Dean for Inclusive Excellence at Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, first met Lysa while she was a graduate student.
Years later, Davis turned to Simmons Ink and Stitch for personal and school-related projects, like graduation stoles and sashes, and hundreds of T-shirts. She said the Simmons’ went above and beyond to get her exactly what she needed.
“Even when there was a mistake on our end, they fixed it without hesitation because they care about the relationship, not just the order,” Davis said.
Rich Bezner, the owner of In Better Hands Remodeling, described Lysa and Reggie as “the type of people this country needs more of” because of their kindness and care for the people they serve.
When Bezner first came in with a rough idea for his business’s logo, Lysa helped him design a version that better reflected his faith-based mission, he said. It’s the same logo he uses today: two open hands holding a house. Lysa often helps customers improve their designs, but tries to do so constructively.
“I just want their message to come across clearly,” Lysa said. “We’re not just copying designs, we’re helping people tell their story.”
Looking ahead, Lysa and Reggie don’t want to grow too fast. Their dream is to hire a third employee who shares their values and can carry the same level of care. To them, that would be their sign that they made it: helping someone else make a living through this work. They would love to be able to give somebody a life opportunity to sustain themselves.
Simmons Ink and Stitch is more than a business — it’s a place where people are seen, heard and helped, Lysa said. Lysa and Reggie emphasize forming relationships with their customers to ensure the final product is just what they wanted.
“We have an unspoken tagline between us, and it says ‘We make and keep it personal,’” Lysa said.
