Mark-VenitMark Louis Venit (1948-2015) – Industry consultant and marketing guru, speaker at many trade shows, writer, author, teacher, hypnotist, game show contestant, a pianist, disk jockey, professional sandcastle builder, a Rotarian and Mason, and a staunch Republican.

Venit was born on December 5, 1948 in Philadelphia to Irving Gordon Venit and Mildred F. (Schnoll) Klugman. He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, went to high school in Havertown, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Ocean Pines, Maryland. He received both his Bachelors from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 19760, and received his Masters Degree in Public Administration from Temple University in 1973 and his Masters of Business Administration from Temple University in 1976.

In 1973, Venit founded USAdvertising Corporation, a full-service advertising agency, and expanding into screen printing and embroidery, which he founded while attending Temple University for his Masters in Business Administration.

mark-venits-ringAfter receiving his Masters degree, in 1976, Venit founded Empire Specialty Printing Corporation in 1976, which quickly rose to became one of the East Coast’s highest volume screen printing firms as well as becoming one of the first decorated apparel suppliers ever listed as an Advertising Specialty Institute supplier.

In 1982, Venit moved to New York City to become Executive Vice President of a fashion manufacturer. That same year he established the Apparel Graphics Institute LLC to provide management and marketing services to apparel decorating firms and proprietary research to industry manufacturers and high-volume decorating companies.

As a management and marketing consultant in the apparel decorating industry, Venit has worked inside nearly 650 screen printing, embroidery, promotional products, garment retailing, and garment and equipment manufacturing companies.

Venit was engaged extensively as an expert witness, qualified in all US and Canadian jurisdictions in the areas of trademark and copyright applications and business conventions and trade practices in the apparel graphics industry.

A featured speaker at more than 300 trade shows, conventions, and vendor symposia, Venit conducted over 1,000 workshops and seminars at the Imprinted Sportswear Shows, ASI events, SGIA, Printwear and Promotion (UK), SGIA, among other venues.

Author of several books and over 400 articles on management and marketing published in trade magazines and professional journals, Venit has been recognized by Impressions Magazine as one of the Top 25 Innovators in Industry History.

In 1995, Venit became a co-founder and later retired chairman of the board of ShopWorks Software, the apparel graphic industry’s leading provider of industry-specific business software, headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. This comprehensive management software program is used every day by more than 3,000 industry professionals working in nearly 600 screen printing, embroidery, garment manufacturing, and promotional products companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

In 2011, Venit published his highly acclaimed book, “The Business of T-Shirts: A Roadmap for Success in Marketing and Selling Decorated Apparel.”

His self-confessed passions were studying medieval castles and especially build sand castles and other sculpture, an art in which he was recognized as a World Masters Solo Division competitor and a 3-time world sand sculpture champion. He also was an oil painter and woodworker. The video below was from 2010. He spent many weekends in Brigantine, New Jersey, where he most enjoyed his sandcastle building.

Mark Venit Origami T-shirtVenit will be remembered for many things that are certainly more important to the apparel decorating industry as a whole, but anyone who ever received one of origami-folded dollar bills in the shape of T-shirt will never forget the man who folded it for them and presented it to them.

There is no telling how much money, Mark gave away before he started asking, “Do you have a $1 bill in your pocket?” to offset the cost of making the T-shirts.

Industry Consultant, Bill Hood, stated, “I remember when I first met Mark and we found that we both had the same technique for the folding of the $1 bills, and we exchanged them on the spot. I still have mine prominently displayed in my home. And, who could forget that ring?”

Career

Works

Membership and Honors

In Memoriam

In November of 2015, Mark was involved in an automobile accident and was seriously injured. After a month in the hospital, Mark passed away at 5:40 p.m. on December 26, 2015. He was buried at Mt. Sharon Cemetery.

His son Gabe issued the following statement from the family,

“We appreciate all the love and support everyone has given to our family, and thanks for being a friend/family to my dad as your love and friendship meant a lot to him.