Luckily, there weren’t a lot of digitizers back then. Steve had no idea what he was
doing. But he was young and, whenever a job came in, he would stay up all night
learning how to do it. He took every class, went to every trade show, and spent
every minute digitizing over the next two years.
Over the next several years, Steve worked with several licensing clients and created
embroidery for Disney, the NFL, Nickelodeon, MLB, and a host of others. During
that time, he won dozens of awards and was traveling around the country teaching
digitizing classes. One day a woman came up to him after a class and said her
mother owned a store in Florida and that he should come teach a class there. Steve
said, “What kind of store?” She then explained that people embroidered as a hobby
and had machines, software, and everything at home. Believe it or not, this was the
first he had heard about home embroidery. So, he went to Florida, taught the class,
and had a great time. During that class, he was introduced to representatives from a
machine company who hired him to teach at their convention. He then met sewing
machine dealers from around the country - it was like a new world!
As Steve traveled around teaching digitizing classes, he was asked the same
question from every dealer he met: “Why don’t you have your own designs to sell?”
After some thought, he contacted one of the artists that he was doing freelance with
to draw some artwork for him. The artist’s name was Ginny Vela and she still works
with us today. The first collection she created was called ‘Americana’ and it was
released under Artbox Digitizing.
Steve was still traveling the country and teaching digitizing at the time, but wanted
to create a company where he could teach software and create designs. So, in
September of 2004, Artbox Digitizing was dissolved and Anita Goodesign was born!
Steve soon relocated his business to Charlotte, NC with three of his employees.
Over the next 12 years, Anita Goodesign would grow at an exponential rate to the
company you have come to know and love!
Now to answer the most popular question we get at events, where did our name
come from? His grandmother was always a source of inspiration and supported
everything Steve did as she worked in the sewing industry her whole life. Her name
was Anita Pieroni. Of course, the second part of our company name is a play on
words, making it “I need a good design.”