Entrepreneur Steve Danzig didnt need much time to mull it over when the owners of a North Side custom-apparel shop asked him two years ago whether he might like to buy the business.


I said absolutely not, he recalls.


Danzigs attitude softened, though, after a management team for the shopfor which he had done some consultingput together and presented to him a detailed business plan in a bid to get him to reconsider. Hes glad they did.


He acquired the operation in July 2003, and since then Cuda Apparel Inc.s sales have risen sharply, buoyed in part by an intense new focus on establishing a strong Internet presence and on helping its customers generate additional apparel-related revenue through its Web site.


Its absolutely booming on us, growing every day, Danzig says.


He declines to reveal Cudas annual revenues, but says the company has become a multimillion-dollar enterprise, with sales up about 18 percent so far this year and projected to jump another 20 percent or more in 2006.


Cuda produces decorated corporate, college, sports, and other customized apparel, using screen-print, embroidery, and tackle-twill processes to apply images to garments. It also markets a broad range of other promotional items. The apparel the company decorates includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, and caps, plus bags, aprons, and most other wearables. It says its customers range from individuals, small businesses, schools, and special-event organizers, to trade associations, nonprofit groups, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.


It occupies about 6,000 square feet of leased space at 2015 N. Division, where its corporate offices, design and production operations, and a small retail store and showroom are located. It also operates a 1,000-square-foot store, called Varsity Sportswear, on the Washington State University campus in Pullman.


It now employs about 34 people, 24 of them full time, which Danzig says is up about 16 people overall from when he took over the company. The business formerly was called Vyper Sportswear, and that name still is well-known, Danzig says, so Cuda has retained it for a line of clothing it offers.


Cuda is licensed to produce logo apparel for WSU, Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, the University of Washington, the University of Idaho, and Oregon State University, and some of those schools sell its products in their bookstores. It also is licensed by the Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences.


It was notified a few months ago by the Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Co. (CLC) that it had finished 19th in total sales, or in the top 2 percentile, out of 1,600 local CLC licensees nationwide for CLCs fiscal year ended June 30.


What Steve did was bring in a perspective that was totally different, says Zane Troester, Cudas general manager.


Beyond spearheading the development of a Web site that would appear prominently on Internet search engines and draw business from elsewhere, Danzig pushed the creation of a proprietary online marketing program that has proven popular, Troester says.


That program, called Custom Apparel E-Stores, enables Cudas customers to sell their logo-emblazoned apparel and other items year-round, with no inventory or order fulfillment costs, through dedicated areas of Cudas Web site.


Cuda charges customers who want to set up an e-store a one-time setup fee, typically $250 to $500, to create and activate Web pages devoted to the clients logo apparel and other products. Cuda then fills the orders as they come inproducing, packaging, and shipping the items, and also handling the billing and even processing gift certificates, as warranted. It pays the e-store sponsors, who accrue no other charges, 15 percent of gross sales.


Cuda is marketing e-stores not just for marketing sportswear and school logo attire, but also for businesses that want to supply decorated garments to their employees. Troester claims the e-stores also have proven to be enormous fund-raising vehicles for organizations than want to use them for that purpose, since the costs to them are minimal.


Internet-based schools American InterContinental University Online and Colorado Tech Online and a host of Northwest universities and Spokane-area high schools now have e-stores through Cudas Web site, Troester says. The Internet-based schools, in particular, have generated a lot of orders, he says.


Among other clients that also have e-stores there are the Spokane Chiefs, Citadel Broadcasting Corp., ComedySportz, the EWU Alumni Association, Northwest Christian Schools Inc., Life Center, the Spokane Lilac Festival Association, and the Wishing Star Foundation.


One of the national clients that has been impressed by the response to its Cuda-created e-store is San Diego-based Christian Youth Theater, which has a branch here.


As a growing national organization, CYT needs a branded professional image, and the Custom Apparel E-Store is helping us build that image, said Lynette Fisk, the organizations information-services manager, in an August news release issued by Cuda. However, we want to be a great youth theater program, not a retailer, so Cudas system of handling all of the retail apparel transactions has proven to be ideal, she said.


Separately, Cuda this fall rolled out what it calls a hands-on learning program for middle and high-school students that uses e-stores to teach them business-related skills while also providing a fund-raising mechanism for their school business clubs or other groups. Troester says the program will give the students access to Cuda executives, who will serve as mentors.


One of the main company initiatives planned for next year, Danzig says, is the creation of a sophisticated online design center that will give visitors to Cudas Web site the ability to easily design the exact attire they want.


For all of its ambitions, Cuda maintains a relatively low profile here. The older building on Division that it occupies, and where it intends to remain, has no big sign identifying its occupant.


Inside, though, its showroom is packed with brightly colored attire representing schools, and adjacent production areas are fairly bustling as employees work to meet tight order deadlines.


Our problem is we dont say no, regardless of the size or type of an order or who it comes from, Troester says. That nimbleness, though, also has helped generate strong word-of-mouth business for the company, he says.


Looking ahead to the additional orders that he thinks the companys planned online enhancements next year will bring, he says, Our expectations are very high.


Danzig also owns a business here called Cuda Coffee Co.