STILLWATER, Okla. — What started with the opening of a bar in 1975 has grown into a worldwide screen printing company.

The Eskimo Joe’s Promotional Products Group has been incorporated since 2002, but the first design work that lead to the iconic smiling Joe and his friend Buffy started with Bill Thompson.

“He sat in the front eastern most window of Joe’s and drew with a magic marker and a sketch pad,” said CEO/Founder Stan Clark “and there they were Joe and Buffy and they haven’t changed a bit in 40 years.”

Originally Eskimo Joe’s was only going to be a bar, but when the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 in 1984, the business became a restaurant as well. The name came from the desire to express that Eskimo Joe’s had the coldest beer in town.

Eskimo Joe’s has been selling shirts since day one and the big push and need for a bigger system came to realization around 1990. Eskimo Joe’s World Headquarters was up and running and Clark took notice that they needed to start controlling their own destiny and start screen printing.

“Laura Demry, our general merchandising manager of 30 years this year, really was just adamant that we have to get in to screen printing,” Clark said.

After buying the building right out the back door to Joe’s, Eskimo Joe’s Clothes started printing their own products.

“Everything was printed in there and we would just carry them across the parking lot to Joe’s Clothes,” Clark said “That is where we really cut our teeth and learned screen printing.”

From conception

In 1995, Oklahoma State University took on the University of Massachusetts in an Elite Eight game and made it to the Final Four.

“It was the wildest celebration I’ve ever seen around our campus, beer cans everywhere sororities and fraternities papering their own houses, just complete mayhem,” Clark said.

The next day after things had died down is when the idea came for Joe’s Clothes’ best selling shirt ever.

“During the game Scott Pierce, our senior forward, had his front tooth knocked out in the last few minutes of play and we came up with the idea of ‘Toothless in Seattle.’”

Eskimo Joe’s couldn’t keep the shirt on the shelves.

“We were printing them and running them over to the store before they were even cool yet, no folding or anything, just grabbing handfuls of shirts,” Clark said.

The current building the Promotional Products Group is in was built for the next ‘Toothless in Seattle’ in 1998. The first design to come of the presses was a promotional shirt for the Special Olympics.

“That was really the first time we leveraged Eskimo Joe’s great big smile for the great big good,” Clark said.

The popularity of Joe’s smile has been utilized for many different charities and causes over the years after Clark realized its potential which really launched them into another realm of business.

Kendra Moreland, public relations director, said the new building just started as a division of Eskimo Joe’s Clothes.

“We were just Eskimo Joe’s Screen Printing Shop, we were still just printing stuff for Eskimo Joe’s,” Moreland said.

By 2002, Clark realized that there may never be another ‘Toothless in Seattle’ and they may have overreached in building this new facility for Joe’s Clothes.

“I had realized we had overbuilt, and we had too much space for just a retail brand to fill,” Clark said.

In 2002, the focus widened to to more than Eskimo Joe’s brand. Joe’s would help others with their brands. The Eskimo Joe’s Promotional Products Group was born and has been growing ever since.

In 2014, the Promotional Products Group was the largest grossing company under the Stan Clark Companies umbrella.

“We tell groups when they come on the tour we are going to treat them like a T-shirt and take them through three steps,” Moreland said.

Although the graphic design team doesn’t necessarily work face to face with the clients they are not opposed to it.

“Sometimes when we are working on a logo or a design that is real close to their heart we work close with them to get the job done right,” said Darren Maine, the senior member of the graphic design team.

The Eskimo Joe’s Promotional Products Group runs on a principle that Clark holds very dear and has based his business plan on for forty years.

“We offer all our customers an unconditional guarantee,” Clark said. “Everything that we do is unconditionally guaranteed to meet our customers complete satisfaction.”

Cole writes for The Stillwater (Okla.) New Press