Equipped with experience gained at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and a love of classic cars, Skip Madara worked several different jobs before he finally connected with a career that was a perfect melding of two of his favorite things. “I loved doing artwork and I did a lot of drawing, but for so many years cars weren't even part of the equation,” shares Skip. “After I graduated and moved to Texas, I started working for Coors in their art department, eventually doing large format prints. From there, I did large signs for apartment complexes.”
Each job moved Skip forward, building valuable skills and experience, including work with large-format printers that proved key for his next career step. “I took my tax refund one year, and went up to Feller's in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and got training to do vehicle wraps,” he says. “I came back and trained all my guys, and we started doing it together.”
Since opening BSG Wraps over twenty years ago, business has exploded and Skip has had the opportunity to do things and meet people beyond what he could have imagined. “We've done stuff for Texas Motor Speedway, Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Toby Keith… pretty much anybody you can think of in the industry,” he shares. “Seven or eight years, we even did an event with Ted Nugent where he grabbed the guitar that I wrapped for him and he tuned it and played it on stage. It was pretty awesome!”
Since taking on their first client, Skip and his team have wrapped everything from food trucks to racecars, boats to guitars. “We once wrapped a monster truck for Five Finger Death Punch,” shares Skip. “We've also wrapped things as small as a skateboard set for Jason Terry from the Mavericks.”
For Skip, it is a simple process that begins with capturing the client’s vision in the artwork and creating a template. “If you can picture putting a 12-inch square on the side of a vehicle, you basically take a picture of that vehicle, bring that picture into your software, and scale that sticker in your software to make a template based on that,” Skip explains. “So no matter if I'm doing a guitar, Jeep, box truck, or a race car…. it doesn't matter what it is, you can always scale to the size you need.”
Once the artwork is created, it is laminated with a UV-safe coating. Then they install it, panel by panel, on the vehicle or item. It is a meticulous process where centimeters matter, but with the shop’s advanced technology and the team’s experience, the turnaround time for most projects is usually three to five days.
During his time in business, Skip has seen how effective wraps are in helping brands get maximum exposure. “What I do is easily the best money spent for advertising,” he explains. “You could spend a bunch of money a month on a billboard, but depending on the highway, you'll never get as many impressions as you will on a van or a box truck that drives around town passing everybody. It's ten times what a billboard would get.”
Skip also believes in giving back and some of his favorite projects are ones he does for charities. “We do a ton of charity work because not only does it make me feel good, but it's always the right thing to do,” says Skip. “We’ve worked with lots of organizations like One Tribe, Tunnel to Towers, and Cook Children's Medical Center. We also done guitars for the Nolan Ryan Foundation.”
Owning his own business has also given Skip the flexibility to be present for his family, especially his kids, and he extends that same family-first mentality when it comes to his employees. “I always wanted to be there for my kids and make sure that whenever there was a baseball game, track meet, or whatever it was, I was there,” he says. “I always tell all my employees that family is first. If your kid has a football game, you better get out of here so you can be there for the football game because that's where I want you to be.”
At the end of the day, Skip loves what he does and enjoys providing a high-quality product to customers. “Delivering a vehicle to a customer is one of my favorites,” he shares. “I love being able to light somebody's world up with something that came out ten times better than they thought it was going to come out. They get super excited, which is a lot of fun.”
BSG Wraps is located at 176 Bearcat Road in Aledo. To connect with Skip at BSG Wraps, visit bsgwraps.com, call 817-507-4704, and follow BSG Wraps on social media.