Printful Publishes Double Hockey Stix Story on Solo Brand Operations
Double Hockey Stix founder Lacey Conine explains how listening to fans shaped her product choices, community rules and approach to working at her own pace.
CHARLOTTE, NC — November 8, 2026 — Printful today published a customer story examining how Lacey Conine runs Double Hockey Stix, a hockey fan apparel brand she operates on her own. The November 4 feature documents her preparation before launch, audience-led product decisions and approach to moderating an online fan community.
The story addresses operational questions for solo ecommerce founders, including which tasks they retain when production is outsourced and how they balance customer communication, website maintenance and social media. It presents one founder’s account, not independently evaluated findings or a forecast of results for other sellers.
Conine is a Printful customer and participates in the company’s affiliate program.
Preparing for Launch
According to the feature, Conine created her Printful account around February 2023, ordered samples and spent several months learning the system. By June, she had decided she was ready to build a public-facing website. She built her store on Shopify and timed its launch to the start of the hockey season.
Her designs draw on inside jokes and shared experiences within hockey culture. While Printful handles production and shipping for the store, Conine continues to manage customer emails, social accounts and other daily operations herself.
Responding to Fans
The feature describes how customer responses influenced which apparel Conine continued to offer, rather than treating her initial product plan as fixed.
Conine also describes posting on social media when her schedule permits instead of organizing her work around recommended posting times. She attributes much of the brand’s reach to fans sharing designs with other hockey fans. That attribution reflects her observations; the story does not establish a measured marketing outcome.
Moderating the Community
Conine limits comments to followers, avoids posts intended to provoke arguments and removes hateful comments without engaging with them.
The account presents moderation as a recurring operating responsibility alongside checking orders, maintaining the website and answering messages. These practices reflect her stated goal of keeping the community welcoming, rather than a verified assessment of community outcomes.
About Printful
Printful is an ecommerce platform and on-demand production partner that provides custom product production, fulfillment services, ecommerce integrations and design tools. Its services include t-shirt printing using methods such as direct-to-garment (DTG printing), and its product range includes custom socks.
Media Contact
Contact Person: Maria Kennedy
Company Name: Printful
Email: maria.onzain@printful.com
Website: https://www.printful.com/