News

LOGO MAKERS BECOME ALL THE RAGE COLLEGE FRIENDS JOIN HANDS TO CREATE SMALL
EMPIRE BUILT ON IMAGES.

04/23/1996
DAILY CAMERA

Byline: Camera Staff Writer

If the producers of "Friends" ever want to give the show a
business slant, they should consider filming a segment in the offices
of Boulder’s Rage Sportswear & Design Ltd.

Rage is a 7-year-old homegrown design company specializing in custom-designed
merchandise and corporate identity logos. Projects range from the minimum
of 36 pieces for family reunions and small events to orders for more than
50,000 items.

Rage has an ownership stake in a production facility in Boulder and also
subcontracts work to other companies. In 1995, total Rage sales revenues
were about $1.4 million, with projected 1996 sales hovering near the $2
million mark.

The Rage portfolio includes an eclectic mix of clients, about 80 percent
of whom are in Colorado: Evian Spring Water, Schwinn, Hewlett-Packard
Co., id Software (creators of "Doom’) soccer’s 1994 World Cup, the
1996 Boulder Creek Festival, breweries, assorted radio stations and rock
bands such as Boulder’s Zuba and the East Coast band Wanderlust.

Like the characters on "Friends," members of Rage’s staff,
headed by company president and co-founder Jon Colby, 31, are believers
in networking.

"We’re young and we’re comfortable working with each oth er,"
says Colby, who grew up on Long Island, N.Y. and graduated from the University
of Colorado in 1988 with a degree in finance.

"I’ve never run an ad," he says. "Our guidelines for hiring
or for possible future expansion are based on the idea that "somebody
knows somebody, etc.’ What we do best are relating to and listening to
clients."

Katie Jensen, purchasing agent for Louisville’s Kryptonics Inc., says
she selected Rage to supply the company’s imprinted apparel because of
its appealing pricing and service.

"I interviewed several companies and I liked what I saw in them,"
Jensen says. "I look for service and how well we’ll get along. Even
at their age, they tend to really put forth the effort. They don’t forget
about you. I can get what I really need and they’re always available if
I need to talk to them."

Colby’s ersatz entry into the design realm began in 1986 when he and
a friend began bringing samples of sweats and T-shirts, imprinted with
a CU logo, to school, selling them to fellow students. They quickly discovered
that using the logo without a license was illegal.

Colby then approached the CU rugby team and was officially hired to supply
the sweatsuits for the players.

"I couldn’t believe it," he says. "We were hand-cutting
the artwork with an Exacto knife. We started doing merchandise for more
CU club sports."

After Colby’s original partner left the state, he joined forces with
another CU grad, Eric Tema, from Hawaii. The pair, who were picking up
business from CU fraternities and sororities, changed the name of their
enterprise from Boulder Sweat Co. to Rage Sportswear, because, Colby says,
"we raged."

A break came in 1988 when a girlfriend of Tema’s arranged for the duo
to show samples of their work at Denver’s Schenkein Ad vertising, Marketing
and Public Relations, which had the Vail Valley account.

"We were so inexperienced," Colby recalls. "We didn’t
even know what to wear. But they liked that we didn’t hype them, that
we seemed to have confidence. They gave us a logo and said they wanted
500 pieces, each, of summer T-shirts, mugs, Frisbees and baseball caps."

Faced with a two-week deadline, no credit and no experience with any
of the Vail Valley items other than T-shirts, the partners returned to
their office, located in Tema’s bedroom, where they attacked the trade
magazines for information.

"We had to pay COD or upfront for merchandise, so we took out cash
advances on our credit cards and student loans," says Colby who was
tending bar at the former Elephant Bar. "We tried to get a small
loan from a bank in downtown Boulder, but the banker literally laughed
at us. I didn’t own anything."

Around 1990, a California company finally extended credit to Rage. Colby
used this leverage to open more accounts.

Since then, he says, "We’ve never had a bad year, never a year in
which we didn’t do much better than the previous year. I haven’t seen
competitors doing it the way we are – this isn’t like Coke and Pepsi.
Our competitors come and go."

Shannon Booth, technical editor for The Press, a magazine for the textile
industry, says Colby produces "really good quality work" in
a situation in which he approves, but cannot always oversee, the actual
printing, which is often subcontracted.

"To give you an idea of the size of the imprinted sportswear, custom
apparel industry," Booth says, "the baseball strike resulted
in a loss of between $600 million and $800 million in everything, including
lost wages as well as printed garments."

Colby says the company is evolving into a full-service design company
that is more involved with corporate identities.

Rage manager and designer Ty Tantum, who came on board in 1991, says
Rage will eventually go online using the World Wide Web to attract clients.

Colby is considering expanding the operation, possibly to Southern California,
where he has a friend who is considering joining the business.

"The whole thing is a surprise," he says. "I think it’s
all because I surround myself with good people."