UPDATE: 4EZtees.com / Texas Art Embroidery is back up to 100% operations as of Wednesday, July 10. “We’re asking for a little more patience as our team makes its way in safely and works on getting fully caught up. We’re really grateful for the support the last few days,” says Micah Stalarow, business development manager at 4EZtees.com.

The first major hurricane of the season slammed Texas on Monday, forcing multiple Houston-based suppliers to close for the day.

  • By the time Hurricane Beryl weakened to a tropical storm, more than two million homes and businesses were without power across the state, according to poweroutages.us.


HIRSCH – the No. 20 supplier in the 2024 PPAI 100 – reopened on Tuesday with all employees safe and accounted for. “No building damage, but with issues city-wide, we may have some delays on specific orders that our team will be in contact with customers about,” says George Morgan, director of marketing at HIRSCH. “But we’re open, taking orders and production is operating.”

4EZtees.com / Texas Art Embroidery (PPAI 380229, Silver) also closed its production facility on Monday due to a power outage. Micah Stalarow, business development manager at 4EZtees.com, says partial power has been restored and that the firm plans to be running production by the end of Tuesday.

“We’re in the process of distributing remote login information to more team members, and we’re also working to provide flexibility for team members to continue to put their homes back together while helping keep business running as normal as possible,” Stalarow says.

“The one thing I want to share is that the more business we receive, the more it helps us through this challenging time. We hope that the PPAI community at large will take this time to both help us and give us an opportunity to earn more valuable partnerships. I’m available to talk with anyone that would like to.”


Meanwhile, KTI Promo (PPAI 238818, Silver) remains closed after experiencing a power outage.

“Our staff is safe, although some still don’t have power at home,” says Shawna Cano, West Coast sales manager at KTI Promo. “Our IT team is working to see if we can get set up to work remotely. However, without power, our processes and responses may be a little slower than usual. We haven’t received an ETA on when the power will be restored but are hoping it will be within the next day or so.”

Beryl’s Impact

Josh Pospisil, MAS, vice president of business development at AIA – the No. 18 distributor in the 2024 PPAI 100 – lives in the Houston area and considers himself very lucky that his power was restored Monday evening.

“My kids and I are very close to our neighbors, so we spent a majority of the day hanging out with them as they have a generator,” Pospisil says. “Once the storm passed, it was all hands-on deck with cleaning up our yard and helping the neighbors with theirs. Although we had power, we didn’t have internet or cell service. I was able to handle just one meeting yesterday morning via my phone, but once that was done, so was my access to everything.

“My heart and soul go out to all those affected by the storms, that have dealt with the loss of a family member, flooding, downed trees that have hit houses and those that are still without power as this Houston heat rises back up.” 


At least seven deaths in the U.S. have been attributed to Beryl, which brought damaging winds and heavy rainfall throughout Monday, The Associated Press reported.

With temperatures expected to soar into the 90s and humidity that could make it feel as hot as 105 degrees, a heat advisory is in effect through Wednesday in the Houston area, according to the National Weather Service. The lack of electricity for air conditioning could make for extremely dangerous conditions.

  • The storm is expected to bring heavy rains and possible flash flooding from the lower and mid-Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes into Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported.
  • A flood watch is in effect for parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.


Texas placed 121 counties under a disaster declaration ahead of the hurricane’s landfall. Should the state request federal assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has pre-positioned 500,000 meals and 800,000 liters of water in the region and 60 generators on stand-by.