Impresssions - March 2017 - 41

ROCK CITY OUTFITTERSD AT A GLANCE
C OMPAN Y NAME: Rock City Outfitters
ADDRESS:406 Edgewood Dr., Maumelle, AR 72113
FOUN DED: 2008
N O. OF EMPLOYEES: 4 full-time, 3 part-time
DECORATIN G METHODS OFFERED: Screen printing
C OMPAN Y WEBSITE: rockcityoutfitters.com

Natural State-themed apparel has been a
major catalyst for the company's growth.
"We focus on producing clever shirts
that showcase communities around the
state and what makes them different or
unique," Ritchie says."Our fans love to be
involved and we get a lot of the ideas from
the residents in those communities. A lot
of our shirts don't mean anything or make
any sense to anyone outside of those areas."
He also says the company encourages
such input and interaction."We have fans
email us all the time to let us know that
we don't have a shirt about their specific
town and then they throw out ideas to
us," Ritchie says. "We listen to them and
ask for feedback. I believe that this has
enabled us to build a very loyal fan base
that really feels connected to the company
and, therefore, is more inclined to spread
the word about us."
Another factor in Rock City Outfitters'
increased sales has been Google Analytics
technology, which enabled the co-founders
to analyze website traffic and react accordingly. Bundled with appropriately tailored
social-media campaigns and advertising
based on the analyses, as well as customer demographic and purchasing-pattern
information, Ritchie and Jones fully
leveraged the resulting opportunities to
build profitability.
Strictly Screen Printing
Make no mistake about it: In the multiprocess world that decorated apparel has
become, Rock City Outfitters still considers screen printing its go-to method.
Because its line of vintage-style tees are
sold through its website, as well as at retail

stores and events, screen printing makes
the most sense as the decoration process
of choice, Ritchie says.
But this doesn't come without its challenges. Ritchie recalls discovering sizing
inconsistencies in a particularT-shirt brand
the company used in the majority of its line.
"These shirts also reacted differently
when going through the dryer, and we
started to find more and more holes in
them straight out of the box," he says.
"This was definitely a challenge that we
had to work through and ultimately left
us with a lot of product that we didn't
feel comfortable selling or putting our
brand on."
After the early days of outsourcing printing, production was brought in house when
the company purchased a Ryonet Silver
two-station/four-color manual press and
RyoCure dryer.As wholesale and online
orders proliferated, Rock City Outfitters
purchased a six-color/eight-station Anatol
Volt automatic press.
The latter investment likely is an indication of how much sales skyrocketed
due to another development: increased
custom orders. According to Ritchie,
Rock City Outfitters traditionally
focused on printing shirts for its own
T-shirt line and never advertised customorder fulfillment.
"Those jobs just started coming in
from customers that purchased our line,
liked the quality, look and feel, and
requested that we do the same for their
company, youth group or organization,"
he says. "An increase in custom orders
has been great because it makes our
business much less seasonal, since
our own line of shirts sees a boost in

spring and holiday seasons."
Marketing & Customer Service
Ask Ritchie about Rock City Outfitters'
marketing strategy and you'll be surprised
that his initial response doesn't include terms
such as"metrics,""media buy"or "advertising
campaign." Rather, he keeps it simple: It's all
about the apparel.
"The great thing about apparel is that it
is a walking billboard," he says."Our designs
are very specific to the city or area where
we are selling them, so they usually start a
conversation.Word of mouth is still a very
valuable marketing tool for us."
That's not to say that the company doesn't
recognize the value of other marketing tools.
Various social-media outlets - Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat - all
are used to showcase designs to current and
prospective customers and followers.The
power of these platforms also is intertwined
with customer service, something Ritchie
says can be beneficial to good decorators or
detrimental to bad ones.
"We have noticed that if you really 'wow'
someone with how you treat them, they
will tell their story on social media," he says.
"On the flip side,they will also do this if they
are treated badly."
Going forward,Ritchie says the company
has received requests to expand into other markets, but he and Jones will maintain
their present focus: producing ArkansasinspiredT-shirts that showcase the different
communities that make the state unique.
"We have a very fluid company that can
respond quickly to what is going on in the
world," he says,"So we will just see where
that takes us." 
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Impresssions - March 2017

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