Shut the front door: Tampa small business creates fabric coverings for your home

After investing $100,000 to get the company off the ground, DoorFoto, a Tampa-based startup company offers door decorations (and now fabric door wraps) for your home.
 
Offering three different sizes, covering the most common door sizes in the U.S. -- 30/32x80, 36x80, and 36x96, the products athletic fabric gives you about 1-inch leeway. If none of those work, you can contact them directly to create a custom fit door covering. Offering wraps to celebrate just about any holiday or occasion, pre-designed door art features Thanksgiving and Fall, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas, Cinco de Mayo, Mardi Gras, Hanukkah, baby showers, graduations, weddings, and more. There are also wraps with motivational quotes, flowers, animals, etc. 

The idea came about four years ago while Josh Christian, Co-Founder, was at the annual Gasparilla festival and noticed that lots of people had decorated their front doors with elaborate pirate wreaths. Not being much of a wreath person, he thought of a better idea; having the whole door covered with a pirate image. Looking online and not finding what he was looking for, he used his background in digital textile printing to create this vision. 

“I knew a product could be created digitally using athletic fabric that is washable, reusable, stretchable, and affordable. So, we started building this company, in essence, to scratch our own itch,” Christian says.

His wife Jen, Doorfoto CEO, handles most of the operation as well as some marketing via social media, production, and customer services. Together with one other employee, who handles production and shipping, they’ve grown their business since it was founded in 2018. All custom-made in Tampa, you can purchase your own on their website; prices range from $49 to $79. 

Gasparilla 2019 really gave them the opportunity to debut their product, Christian says, resulting in great responses and reviews from customers, friends, and family. 

DoorFoto offers 1,500+ designs, or customers can create and customize a unique design. Pre-existing background templates can be customized with personalized images and messages, or you can design the door wrap completely by yourself and upload it. 

Every order is print to order, reducing waste. Wraps are made through a process called dye-sublimation printing, giving the greatest gamut of colors to give your door that ‘pop’ you’re looking for.

With their easy-to-use fabric, transforming your door into your own unique masterpiece can be done in less than 28-seconds and storing them is as simple as storing a T-shirt.

“You can hang one up in the morning to support your favorite sports team that day and change it out by nighttime when your guests arrive for your annual Halloween party,” Christian says. “We wanted to give our customers the ability to change a boring door into something amazing with very little effort.” 

As 2021 winds to an end, they hope to reach their milestone of 10,000+ customers and turn a profit. Long-term, they’re planning to expand their licensing agreement with Fathead.com for complete professional, collegiate, and entertainment licenses. They’re also aiming to build the business up to support itself and become profitable enough to make it their full-time job.

“We want to be known as the go-to source for high-quality, simple-to-use door décor,” Christian says. “We have currently shipped DoorFotos all over the world, and there are a lot of doors out there, so we see a tremendous opportunity in front of us for our fabric decorative door covers.” 

With 99% of their 600+ reviews being 5-stars, they take great pride in their product. The return policy is simple -- if you’re not 100% happy, they’ll make it right!

To get your very own door wrap visit their Doorfoto website or one of their partner sites: Fathead, Wayfair, or Etsy. You can also visit South Tampa Trading Company to purchase one of their Gasparilla products. 
 
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Read more articles by Lauren Wong.

Lauren Wong is a graduate of the University of Tampa with a degree in journalism who is freelancing while she looks for a full-time job. Originally from the Chicago area, she enjoys travel and aspires to be a travel photojournalist. During the summer of 2019, she worked for Premier Travel Media in Chicago and as a correspondent for Input Fort Wayne, another Issue Media group online magazine based in Indiana. She loves spending time outdoors camping, kayaking, and taking pictures.