Trading and circulating stickers has become a sport unto its own in grassroots soccer. Any soccer club aspiring to promote itself at a fairly inexpensive rate will go get 50 or 100 three-inch stickers printed and swap them with fellow clubs or even potential new fans. Chief among the companies working with these lower league soccer teams has been Stickermule. In keeping with our latest goal to research and promote businesses on the periphery of what we love, and basically to find out more about a company even we use regularly, we reached out to Stickermule to get stuck-into their penchant for producing promotional products.

When were you founded and what was the original vision of the company? Has that mission changed since then?

Sticker Mule was founded in 2010. Our founders created Sticker Mule to be the best place to work and shop. That means making ordering fast, simple and fun while creating a stable, low stress and enjoyable place for talented people to work.

The name is Stickermule... not Polybagmule, Charmsmule, or Coastersmule - when did Stickermule start adding new products? What's the thinking behind the diversity?

Great question! Sticker Mule was born out of frustration. No one treated customers or employees as good as we felt was possible. We wanted to do better and set out to build the best way to shop and work. Mules are known for their work ethic which was the inspiration behind the name.

Originally, we planned on launching a different site for each product line, but thanks to our customers the Sticker Mule brand got so strong that we decided to introduce all of the products through Sticker Mule. The diversity of products is based on customer feedback. I don't recall the exact date, but introducing products like magnets, buttons, labels, and packaging options were excellent compliments to our existing lines.

Stickermule CEO Anthony Constantino in the sprawling warehouse (photo: The Daily Gazette News)

I recently added some mule sauce to my omelet and it kicks! However, unlike all the other products, this doesn't fall in the same category - what's the story behind it?

Truth be told, we never set out to be in the hot sauce business. Our CEO, Anthony Constantino does a lot of creative community events in his hometown of Amsterdam, NY. A few years ago, he decided to host "Free Burger Day" for the city and gave away 10,000 free burgers! The team was experimenting with creating different sauces, most of which were mayonnaise-based when someone suggested creating a hot sauce. From there, Mule Sauce was born!

You regularly offer amazing deals and have quickly become a major part of startup businesses' marketing and promotion plans; at what point did you realize how many grassroots soccer clubs make stickers through you and that Stickermule has become an integral part of them telling their business story?

One of our favorite things to do is to walk through the factory and see what's printing. It's a unique experience and made us realize how diverse our customer base is. It was probably 3 or 4 years ago that I noticed more soccer-related orders coming through .

Stickermule offers an incredibly diverse range of stickers, labels, coasters, buttons and more

Now you're doing even more, can you explain how Stickermule is helping during these uncertain times? What services are you offering to help fight the coronavirus?

We retooled our business to focus on essential services support during the COVID-19 crisis. We have removed all non-essential products from our site for the time being and focus on labels and packaging for food, beverage, medical, pharmacy, cleaning, and sanitizing industries. We're also working on more products (masks/hand sanitizer) we can make to help.

What's next for Stickermule? Any new products you want to allude to? If people have ideas for new products, how do they let you know?

We have a roadmap full of promising products. We recently launched Redraw which allows users to upgrade any image to a high resolution, vector graphic for $29! We're always open to new ideas and suggestions! You can recommend and vote for improvements here.

All in the family – the warehouse which homes Stickermule was converted from Noteworthy Industries, the family business founded in 1954. (Photo: The Daily Gazette News)

- Joshua Duder