About us
Making smiles happen since 2023, Marin's Custom Apparel wants to bring fun, color, and a nostalgic fuzzy feeling to the peeps we serve. We are taught to be creative and to have fun as a kid, but for some weird reason, we're expected to forget about all of that once we become adults. There is a specialness of being child-like that doesn't have to end, but rather that we should lean into even more as we grow older. At Marin's Custom Apparel, we want our customers to experience a true relationship, tap into their creativity, and know they are taken care of.
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We are a family-owned business owned and operated by Kari and Robert Marin.​​​​​​​
kari's Story
​I didn't want to start this business. I was doing research when we ran out of funds to keep going. Rent, bills, and all of life decided to get more expensive and difficult when we were at our lowest in every way. I had to find another job, which I couldn't find even after over 50 applications. (Okay, there was this one job offer, but it was a MLM business, and I quickly found out that wasn't for me.)
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While shopping at the Dollar Tree, I ran into the owner of a t-shirt shop I had stopped by one time to try to get shirts for our research ministry. He had asked me if I needed a part-time job, and lo-and-behold... a job. I had never done anything like that before, but I figured I'd try it. Turns out, I was pretty decent at it. I had design experience, but my role at the shop was more laborious rather than creative. I still enjoyed it.
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Time had passed, and I wanted to get back into research, so I had told my boss that I was going to leave to get into research again... but this time I was going to make my own merch to sell to raise funds to keep going. My boss was very supportive and encouraging, and even bought me my first heat press and sent me off.
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I left, and started designing some stuff. Some of our peeps from church found out I was making shirts, and asked me to create some custom stuff for them. I told them I didn't do custom shirts, but rather just merch for our research ministry.
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Well, more people found out I was making stuff for our ministry and asked for custom shirts, and well... we still needed money. Next thing I knew, I was setting up Marin's Custom Apparel. Literally in about two days the logo, website, instagram, emails, licenses and certificates filed with the county and city, and everything else was done. Marin's Custom Apparel was born in December 2023! Now I had two projects I owned and needed to work on.
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Those custom requests didn't stop coming in.
I couldn't imagine myself not doing my research ministry. I still grieve it sometimes. But, this business has been a ministry I didn't know could teach me as much as research could. God knows me better than I do, and I hope I can make this journey for you as fun as it has been for me.
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My husband Robert joined full-time January 2026.
He does most of the production and has been so helpful!​​​​​