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

Learn more at www.requiredteamgear.com