News

All the rage in sportswear, graphic design boosts sales with unlimited services

Boulder County Business Journal

By Barbara J. KellyBusiness Report Correspondent BOULDER — When the
name of your company starts to become cumbersome because you do many things
well, it’s a definite sign that you’re doing something right.

Take, for example, Rage Unlimited. It started life as Rage Sportswear,
then became Rage Sportswear & Design. "To make it Rage Sportswear
& Design & Custom-Designed Merchandise & Promotional Products
& …. would have been just too unwieldy" says Marketing
Manager Ted Church. Thus Rage Unlimited.

The philosophy behind the burgeoning business, which had sales of $2.2
million in 1999 and plans to bring in more than $6 million this year,
is "to do a really good job for existing customers and have the word
spread. Then people come to us," says President Jon Colby.

"We’ll put a logo on just about anything you can put a logo
on," he continues, pointing to the company’s two catalogs.
One is a 300-page-plus compendium of imprintable sportswear; the other,
Colby says, is an idea showcase, a starting place arranged by price of
articles that can be personalized.

Some items, like bags, pen-and-pencil holders and candy, appear in both
the "Under $1" and "Over $25" listings; articulating
Rage’s we-can-do-all-kinds-of-stuff-with-all-kinds-of-stuff creed.

Colby got the idea for Rage as a student at the University of Colorado.
He started to silk-screen T-shirts to make beer money and soon realized
it provided a great opportunity to pay for school. Church joined Colby
when he realized he had more experience than the professor teaching his
finance class. The two of them, in recognition of the value of actual
experience, offer sales, marketing, and finance opportunities to CU students
for credit as well as income. Four of the company’s eight full-time
employees are CU graduates.

Colby says all staff members, including artists, are involved in sales.
"Everybody knows somebody, so everybody gives out business cards.
Ted and I have become real managers over the years, and our three artists
– who are really artists by trade – have developed their natural
talents as our clients demanded more." Colby defines being a real
manager as being able to distinguish between clients who will appreciate
Rage’s efforts and skill and those who will take advantage of those
offerings. He cites an early client for whom Rage made more than 50 logos
in two days. The client then wanted to pay one tenth of the price agreed
upon, saying his nephew could do just as well. This dishonest client subsequently
went out of business.

The other kind, the appreciative clients whose thank-you letters adorn
the 13-year-old company’s Pearl Street offices, are the ones Rage
constantly cultivates. "We keep parlaying what we’ve got,"
Colby says. "Doing a great job on a logo design means they (companies)
are going to come back when they want to grow that out." The city
of Boulder, for example, is a Rage account that Colby says everyone goes
after. "They stay with us because the others never come near offering
the whole package – banners, T-shirts, posters, ads, design work,
etc. – that we do.

"We thoroughly enjoy working with Rage and have for over five years,"
says Jan Ward, a spokeswoman for the city of Boulder. "They’re
very professional as well as accommodating. They fill all our graphics
needs for all events. We have an idea of what we want, then they make
it better than we ever could have imagined." Church says word of
Rage’s capabilities has spread beyond the local area because the
company has concentrated its efforts on where its bread is buttered and
helped clients realize that the vehicle they use to spread their name
sends a message. "We’re getting more and more national clients,
although many of them start out local," Church says. "National
offices become aware, and then by word of mouth, accounts go international."

Even with acquisition of national accounts, Rage is not planning to franchise,
although its founders say it could be possible at some point. With clientele
ranging from mom-and-pop shops to Fortune 500 companies, helping clients
come up with creative ideas by showing them what they can do continues
to be the goal for which Rage strives. "The possibilities are limitless,"
Church says.