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![\"Dorian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4389383_web1_hd-graphics.jpg\")
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Dorian Preston photo<\/p>\n
Samantha Wiebe, art director at HD Graphics, holds a Mammoth rock band tour T-shirt at the company\u2019s headquarters in \u00cele-des-Ch\u00eanes. <\/p>\n
Mammoth isn\u2019t the only internationally touring rock act on HD\u2019s client roster. The company also screenprints merchandise for Alter Bridge, Tremonti, Myles Kennedy and Sevendust \u2014 acts associated with Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti and his manager, Tim Tournier, who HD founder Derek Eastveld counts as friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the bands that I do stuff for are bands that I\u2019ve been a fan of,\u201d said Eastveld, adding he\u2019s gotten to know many of the musicians the company works with. \u201cThey\u2019re all kind of connected through that Alter Bridge family, so when you get together with them, it is just like a big family.\u201d<\/p>\n
HD once produced merchandise for the bands\u2019 U.S. tours, too, which meant filling a large order in time for the first few concert dates and then filling supplemental orders as the tours rolled on.<\/p>\n
Tight turnaround times and occasional difficulty with exporting products south of the border ultimately made that arrangement unfeasible for the local company, which counts 12 staff members.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how HD Graphics landed in the position it\u2019s in now. It\u2019s easier for the company to focus on merchandise for Canadian dates, and it\u2019s advantageous for the bands, who don\u2019t have to bring items from the U.S. when they cross into Canada. The arrangement saves the musicians an 18 per cent to 20 per cent duty they would otherwise fork over for each garment, Eastveld said.<\/p>\n
An initial order for the start of a tour by a band such as Mammoth is between 2,000 and 3,000 items, Eastveld added, which the company can print in three to five days. \u201cIt\u2019s not a crazy amount of work but it\u2019s a nice-size order, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old\u2019s company has also produced merchandise for artists on local music label Birthday Cake Records, including blues rockers the Bros. Landreth. But most of HD\u2019s business comes from developing and printing a wide range of products, from logos and labels for agricultural manufacturers such as Meridian and Brandt, to signs for real estate companies.<\/p>\n
Eastveld entered the printing business in his early 20s, working at a small Winnipeg company in between tours with Threadline, the Christian rock band he played guitar for at the time.<\/p>\n
He started HD in the summer of 2006, thinking he would run the company for a few years and then move on to other pursuits. <\/p>\n
When he met his five-year revenue target just eight months after opening HD\u2019s doors, Eastveld realized he had a knack for business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt snowballed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt grew so much faster than I thought it was going to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eastveld formed a relationship with Tremonti after HD began printing merchandise for Fret12, a Chicago-based guitar supply company where the Creed member is a shareholder.<\/p>\n
Merchandise is a core revenue stream for touring musicians, according to AtVenu, a U.S. company that offers a live event commerce platform. Data collected by AtVenu shows that in 2025, musicians using the platform made US$10.24 in merch sales per person in attendance at their concerts. That was a three per cent increase over the previous year.<\/p>\n
In addition to HD, Eastveld is the co-founder of Revv Amplification, a 12-year-old business near Winnipeg that manufactures guitar amplifiers and effects pedals.<\/p>\n
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Revv has been riding a major wave of sales since March, when California-based session guitarist Tim Pierce published a 12-minute video on his YouTube channel praising the company\u2019s Dynamis D40 amplifier.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time the video was a week old, we had sold (more than) half-a-million dollars worth of amps. That has never happened with any product of ours from a single video from any influencer, ever,\u201d Eastveld said, adding Revv did not ask \u2014 nor did they pay \u2014 Pierce to make the video.<\/p>\n
HD Graphics will mark 20 years in business this summer \u2014 something Eastveld never anticipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of surreal,\u201d he said. \u201cI definitely did not think of myself as entrepreneurial (when I started).\u201d<\/p>\n
aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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