Our History

It all started in 1964 when Cleat Cockrell founded Cockrell Printing and Office Supplies in Fort Worth. Quickly realizing that peddling office supplies was not the path to fortune, Cleat decided to solely focus on printing. Over the next twenty years, Cleat guided the company from a short-run, small format commercial printing company into a printing establishment focused on growth and fiscal responsibility.

In 1985, Cleat’s son, John Cockrell took over the reins and worked to quickly develop a reputation as a printing company dedicated to quality and advancing technology. Over the next fifteen years, Cockrell Printing grew into one of the largest commercial printing companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, known for many “firsts”, such as:

  • 1986: the first full-size 6-color press in Fort Worth
  • 1997: first 6-color press with UV coating in D/FW
  • 1998: first 8-color perfector press with coating in the U.S.
  • 1999: first direct-to-plate prepress in Fort Worth
  • 2000: first time in three years without a first
  • 2006: first 12-color perfecting press in Fort Worth, one of only 2 in the U.S.

While Cockrell Printing experienced rapid growth, another movement was also developing. In 2003, John Cockrell’s son, John Cockrell Jr., founded enovation group, a company dedicated to advancing print through digital solutions. Over the next six years, enovation group worked to develop solutions that helped companies streamline marketing efforts, put a personal touch to printed communications and leverage technology and the internet.

In 2009, Cockrell Printing and enovation group combined to form Cockrell Enovation, a company focused on creating opportunity and growth through print and technology. Now all under one roof, the capabilities for marketing providers are limitless as Cockrell Enovation works on a daily basis to create advanced communications that increase response rates, reduce workloads, organize chaos and generate results.

2010 brought another exciting year for Cockrell Enovation as it acquired Polka Dot Design, a retail website dedicated to offering consumers one of the nation’s largest selections of stationery designs from birth announcements, photo cards, personalized stationery and party invitations.