If you’ve ever pulled a squeegee or loaded a shirt onto a manual press, chances are you’ve felt the legacy of Riley Hopkins. His name is etched into thousands of screen printing shops around the world—and not just on the side of a press.
In our recent episode of Let’s Talk Shop, we sat down with Riley to unpack his 50-year journey in the industry—from building presses in a San Francisco warehouse to bouncing back from losing $4.5 million in minutes. This isn’t just the story of a man or a machine—it’s the story of a movement.
Building a Press That Built An Industry
Riley wasn’t a manufacturer when he started. He was a racer and an artist trying to stay afloat. A friend asked him to build a press. He built 12. They were gone in a week—no marketing, no plan, just demand.
That snowballed into over 40,000 presses worldwide. Presses that empowered entrepreneurs, launched small businesses, and built legacies. And Riley didn’t just want to sell machines. He wanted them to last.
“I needed to build a perfect machine or I needed not to do anything.”
That mindset drove every design decision. Strong enough to take abuse. Simple enough to run hard. Durable enough to last decades. That’s why Riley presses are still pumping out prints in shops 30–40 years later.
“I trusted the wrong people. I lost about four and a half million bucks in about 15 minutes.”
He doesn’t sugarcoat it. Years of building, designing, and innovating came crashing down because of a bad business deal. But what followed wasn’t defeat—it was a comeback story.
After nearly eight years of paying off debt and rebuilding, Riley came out the other side “like a rocket ship.” His resilience and belief in what he built kept him in the game, and eventually led to a pivotal partnership with Ryonet.
The Ryonet Era
After years of growing the Riley Hopkins brand, Riley connected with Ryan Moor, founder of Ryonet. It wasn’t just a business move—it was a shared belief that customer success should come first. Education, support, and long-term relationships were baked into every press that left the shop.
That’s Riley’s advice for entrepreneurs. Skip the pitch. Skip the validation. Build something real, and let your work do the talking.
Legacy and What’s Next
At 80 years old, Riley isn’t slowing down. He’s still sketching press concepts on bar napkins and mentoring the next generation of makers. He’s building cars, working with vocational schools, and pushing to keep trades alive in education.
To Riley, this isn’t just a career. It’s dessert. “Even though it’s been difficult at times,” he says, “it’s been like eating dessert for 50 years.”
See more great conversations from Let's Talk Shop