WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK

Required Team Gear was established in 2009 to fill what at the time was a void in the team sports category: A seamless, hassle-free way for coaches to order uniforms and team gear. Until RTG, many coaches kept track of orders, requesting and receiving payments, receiving and organizing shipments, etc., themselves.

In his frequent dealings with coaches, RTG’s founder, Patrick Kratch, noticed the same complaints being expressed over and over again – dealing with team uniform orders was time-consuming, confusing, and frustrating. Patrick worked with a programmer to create a software program to streamline the team gear and uniform fulfillment process.

RTG THEN

RTG began as a software business that created online team stores depicting uniform items coaches required players to purchase. Team members and parents received a unique access code allowing them to log in and purchase those items. RTG outsourced decoration of these items and arranged for custom bagging/tagging/and kitting of each individual’s order. These “player packs” were shipped to the coach for easy distribution to players.

Over time, Patrick became knowledgeable about screen printing, embroidery, and the apparel decorating industry as a whole. Serving as the middle-man between customers and the third-party decorator, RTG fielded all inquiries, questions, and complaints from end users (coaches, players, and parents ordering gear.) Patrick noticed that complaints about screen print and embroidery quality, inaccuracy, and delays became increasingly common as more customers turned to RTG’s software to order their gear.

RTG NOW

Patrick shared customers’ frustrations, and that’s what prompted him to launch what is today’s RTG. Instead of outsourcing screen print, embroidery, and other embellishment, he decided to bring all operations in-house. Today’s RTG began with one embroidery machine, one screen-print machine, five employees, and a largely empty 50,000-square-foot warehouse (in a former Target store). Today, RTG employs more than 70. Within our space is:

• A 10-person graphic arts department, which can help customers create custom artwork

• Four automatic screen-print and six manual screen-print machines able to handle jobs of all sizes and degrees of complexity

• 89 embroidery heads

• Six digital-fusion machines used to apply designs, names, and numbers to garments

• Two industrial laser to create and cut tackle twill and etch metal items

• Two sublimation machines

WE CONSIDER EVERY CUSTOMER A VIP.

RTG is the decorator teams, businesses, schools, and organizations of all kinds turn to when other decorators say,”It can’t be done.” Or, “We don’t want to do it.”

AN UNDERDOG STORY

When No. 16 University of Maryland-Baltimore County shocked the nation by upsetting No. 1 University of Virginia during the 2018 NCAA March Madness tournament, RTG received a Friday night phone call from Under Armour. UMBC would face its next opponent 2 days later and needed warm-up jerseys for the nationally televised game. RTG called in its crew, screen printed the apparel, and flew an employee to Charlotte to deliver the gear in person.

GAME TIME

On a Friday afternoon, we fulfilled a rush order for screen print softball tournament jerseys for the K-12 Casady School in Oklahoma City. That night, one of our account managers drove 200 miles to hand deliver the jerseys so the team would have them for a Saturday morning game. 

It’s not unusual for one of our account reps to drive rush orders to clients in and near Texas! Whoever you are, whatever you do, when you trust RTG you are in capable hands.

RTG was created to make it easy for coaches and their players to order gear. Today we make it easy for coaches, business owners and managers, event promoters, nonprofit leaders, and individuals to source product, develop brand identity, and order high-quality custom apparel and accessories. Our process is seamless, simple, and turnkey.

1. Customers talk to one of our account managers and explain, in general terms, what they need. RTG will provide apparel or accessory suggestions and pricing until customers have identified the perfect products for their needs.
2. Customers supply the artwork they’d like to use. If they don’t have artwork, RTG will create it.
3. RTG creates an online store showing mock-ups of the items with the desired artwork and pricing.
4. Customers use a unique access code to log on and order what they need, whenever they need it.
5. RTG creates and ships items to arrive by the specified deadline.

CONTACT US TO DISCUSS YOUR PROJECT!