Photo by DAVID W. SMITH/Daily NewsA worker walks by spools of colorful thread Friday at BlueCotton.

BlueCotton.com recently moved next door to an expanded production studio and office space – a much larger space than it had nearly five years ago when the Bowling Green business opened on Vanderbilt Court.

With sales at around $2.5 million at the end of 2007, the move follows a change in strategy for the business that was one of the early pioneers of placing group orders via the Internet – BlueCotton is opening its T-shirt production business beyond its Greek affiliations, opening a separate site, www.greekt-shirts.com, for that segment.

The company is poised for 50 percent to 100 percent growth for 2008, according to Brad Wayland, vice president of print production and Web development.

With simplicity in mind, the relaunch of www.bluecotton.com in June gave users increased functionality. It is compatible with common keyboard functions and includes Adobe flash tutorials. The simple approach to the Web site’s design is better for business, according to creative director Angie Norrod, who’s been with the company since it began.

The idea is to provide customers, who may not have access to professional design software, the keys to getting exactly what they want, Norrod said, adding there are more than 160 garments available through its site.

“We are constantly changing and adding items to keep the choices fresh for our customers. Some garments are offered in over 50 color options, so this gives the customer almost endless possibilities,” Norrod said in an e-mail.

Technology blog gizmodo.com, which boasts 5 million users a month, rang BlueCotton’s praises 12 hours after BlueCotton launched its site. That, and being selected as Adobe’s Site of the Day in July, pushed the company’s growth from an average of 12 orders a day to more than 50 a day.

“These two events have pushed our company to grow at unbelievable rates,” Wayland said.

Wayland said the site is popular because it puts T-shirt setup in the hands of the consumer, bypassing expensive setup fees (they charge less than $25), and offering free shipping on orders.

“You can even buy one shirt or a million,” he said.

Monitoring employee satisfaction and taking in nearly four times as many orders as in the past has the company managing growth, which has been a challenge, Wayland said. Staying aware of core values – “the customer is everything” and “a commitment to employees” – helps answer the hard questions, Wayland said.

Now at 50 employees, the company added 20 in the past six months.

“We’re getting used to growing,” Wayland said.