March 12, 2026
How Magician Alex Ramon Brings Surprise & Showmanship to His Apparel Decoration Business
Ramon, a working magician, invested in his own screen-printing and embroidery business for his branded merchandise.
Key Takeaways
• Alex Ramon turned a winning moment on Penn & Teller: Fool Us into a branding lesson by showing how surprise creates stronger audience connection.
• By transforming the original sketch of his illusion into merchandise, Ramon demonstrated how storytelling can make decorated apparel more meaningful and memorable.
• Ramon’s in-house screen-printing and embroidery business gives him creative control over his brand while reinforcing his message that bold ideas can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Alex Ramon is part of a small community of magicians. He is one of the few, 13% by his estimation, who have successfully fooled Penn & Teller on their TV show, Fool Us.
Magician Alex Ramon, who also owns his own apparel decoration business, spoke at the ThreadX conference in Sundance, UT.
Ramon performed his trick, which involved his dog MJ balancing on precariously placed objects that seemed to float weightlessly. He pulled it off, the two hosts – seasoned magicians on their own – couldn’t figure it out and Ramon emerged victorious.
But it wasn’t about winning.
“After I performed in Vegas, I was backstage with Penn & Teller, and I said, ‘You know, it was great to win the show and get the trophy and everything, but do you know the best thing that came out of it was?’” he told the audience at the 2026 ThreadX conference. “Penn said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘The T-shirt.’”
Ramon took the original sketch of his trick, with MJ balancing on a collection of flotsam and jetsam, and turned that drawing into a T-shirt. On the back, it says “Fooled by MJ.”
Ramon knows a thing or two about decorated apparel. After years as a working magician, he realized he was selling enough merchandise to justify his own screen-printing and embroidery business for his branded merchandise. At his shop, he prints his tour merchandise, like T-shirts, puffer jackets and corduroy hats, doing as much as five-color print jobs for things like T-shirts.
Looking back at his performance for Penn & Teller, he realized that it worked because he took a classic premise of a balancing act and illusion of weightlessness and added something at the end: a surprise. MJ leapt off the contraption and the whole thing collapsed.
“In most classic suspension illusions, when you remove everything, you have to put it all back exactly where it started,” Ramon said. “But in my version, my dog MJ jumps off the board and everything collapses. That surprised Penn & Teller, and we won a trophy because of it.”
That element of surprise and attention to detail has carried over into his branded merchandise business. As a performer, he considers the branding experience with things like giving VIP guests a special item in branded packaging, which they might not be expecting.
“When you surprise your audience, when you surprise your customer, you create connection,” he said. “And when you connect with them properly, you lock in their loyalty. Take a moment and think about this: What could you do to surprise your customers? That’s how you create magic in your business.”
These weren’t just empty platitudes from someone hired for a conference. Ramon has the decoration and apparel design bona fides.
And bringing his branding operation in-house to his facility in Carson City, NV, has allowed him to be even more involved in the design and execution of his merchandise.
“The cool thing is that I now get to be hands-on and deeply involved in every part of my career,” he said.
He ended his presentation with a story about how a series of down moments in his career ultimately led him to the opportunity of working with Taylor Swift on an illusion during a performance. He used that as a motivator for the audience to think big for their own careers, and find opportunities to surprise their customers with better and more thoughtful promotions and ideas, and that the “big one” might be just around the corner.
“Every morning when you wake up, remember this: The greatest thing you will ever accomplish in your life, you haven’t done yet,” he said. “If you wake up every day believing that, anything is possible. And that’s how you bring magic not just to your business, but to your life and your soul.”