RTI Brands : Recent News

RTI featured on Gomediazine.com

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

RTI’s Corey Bramlett provided a plethora insight into tomorrow’s apparel printing industry.

FashionLab sponsors Pool Tradeshow at MAGIC in Las Vegas

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

FashionLab was a sponsor of the 2009 Pool Tradeshow. Pool Tradeshow is widely recognized as the top show in the country for art and design driven clothing brands.

FashionLab commemorated the sponsorship by hosting “The FashionLab Interactive Lounge”, which was a nightclub-style lounge right on the main hall connecting MAGIC and Pool. The lounge featured contemporary lounge furniture, plasma TV’s playing a looping hype video showcasing the best of the FashionLab offerings, and a Nintendo Wii station.

A “Win a Wii” contest was also presented by FashionLab.

Congratulations to the winner; David Scalese of Deter Clothing. www.deterclothing.com

Merch Machine hires new brand manager Corey Crowder

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

“Corey (Crowder) has been a customer of Raw Talent for years. Once the position opened up and we began to talk, it seemed to be a natural and perfect fit”, says Cody Murray, CEO of RTI Brands. “Corey’s perfectly blended understanding of the music industry from an artists’ perspective and years of experience dealing with Raw Talent for merchandise makes him a welcome addition to “The Talented” and the perfect resource for touring music artists looking to take their merchandise program to the next level”, continues Murray.

To find out more about Corey Crowder and his work as an artist, please visit www.coreycrowder.net.

To contact Corey directly, feel free to email corey.crowder@merchmachine.net

RTI Brands now printing with non-phthalate and non-PVC inks

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Recent legislation will now require all garments printed for children 12 and under to be printed with non-phthalate and non-PVC inks. Chances are this legislation will span across all demographics within a few years.

QuantumOne from Wilflex is an exciting addition to the MX family of color mixing systems, combining cutting edge technology with the changing trends in our market place. QuantumOne is non-phthalate, non-PVC, acrylic-based screen printing ink, specially formulated by Wilflex with the same high quality performance and print application standards that you would expect from standard MX series inks.

SCAD T-Shirt design winner announced

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The winning design for the first 2009 Savannah College of Art and Design T-Shirt contest has been select. Congratulations to the winning designer.

The RTI Brands-sponsored event was officiated through a donation to SCAD of a run of the winning design printed on American Apparel shirts. SCAD will be selling the winning shirts at the store located on its Atlanta, GA campus.

RTI Brands recognized by Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

RTI Brands was recently recognized by Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue at the latest One Georgia conference on 12/1/08. RTI Brands was showcased as part of Georgia’s Entrepreneurial Initiative. We presented the board with custom One Georgia shirts as well. When we presented this shirt to the Governor he said, “You could’ve came up with something wilder than that.” (We made sure to let him know we toned it down just for him!)

RTI Brands Owner and CEO Cody Murray was also recognized at the event. Governor Purdue described RTI Brands as “a quality apparel manufacturing company specializing in cool t-shirts and funky designs”.

RTI Brands partners with SCAD

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0400

RTI Brands has partnered with SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), one of the nations leading art and design schools, to host a T-Shirt design contest. The winner will be selected after the due date, November 6th.

RTI Brands has agreed to donate a run of tees to the school which will be sold in the campus store.

Murray is GA’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

GAINESVILLE – Cody Murray, President & CEO of Raw Talent Inc., has been selected the 2008 Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Georgia by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Murray also received the SBA Regional Award in the same category.

Murray will receive his statewide award from Terri Denison, SBA Georgia District Director, at an Atlanta luncheon on May 22 that is hosted by the Georgia Lenders Quality Circle. He was nominated for his award by the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Athens.

Murray and co-owner Corey Bramblett, chief financial officer, started their company in June 2002 in a bedroom with only a computer and telephone. “At that time Cody would make 100 sales calls a day and continues to work tirelessly to achieve his goals,” said Carol McDonell, Area Director of the SBDC in her nomination letter. “He is a self-made entrepreneur who already has a proven, successful business track record at the young age of 25!”

Raw Talent Inc. has grown to 35 full-time employees at its plant in Bethlehem, Ga., and is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the apparel design and printing industry. The company operates one of the largest screen printing operations in Georgia and recently added 7,400 square feet of factory space to meet increased production requirements. Some of its larger customers for specialty t-shirts and other apparel include Anheuser-Busch, Yamaha, Planet Hollywood and Warner Brothers Records. Many of the company’s clients are in the music industry.

In 2006 the company obtained a $145,000 SBA 7(a) Loan from Community Bank & Trust in Gainesville. The loan, guaranteed by the SBA, was used to purchase an eight-color, automatic printing machine along with other packaging equipment for special order t-shirts and other apparel. With the new equipment from its SBA loan, the company is producing 95 percent of all pieces in-house, with revenues reaching more than $2.8 million in 2007.

With its recent success, Raw Talent Inc. is set to receive a “Pacesetter” Award in April from the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the fastest growing companies in metro Atlanta.

A native of nearby Athens, Ga., Murray spent a short period of his early life living in New York City, but his primary upbringing was in Winder, Ga. Murray was an only child who remembers his childhood with fondness. However, a series of unfortunate events forced his family to lose everything and he was later orphaned as a teenager.

Entrepreneurship seems to run in his family. Murray is the son of the late Steve Murray who, at one time, was a successful executive in the apparel industry in Winder. Murray confirms that much of his character traits come from his father.

Murray got his start in the apparel industry while still a teenager. “Sales and marketing is my natural forte and I was very successful,” Murray said. “After I finished high school at 17, I carried five different sales lines of apparel, from girls’ pajamas to young men’s wear…then I caught wind of this branded goods industry.” The rest is recent history.

SBA Names Murray Entrepreneur of the Year

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Cody Murray, president and CEO of Raw Talent Inc., was recognized as the 2008 Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Georgia by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Murray also received the SBA regional award in the same category.

Murray received his award May 22 at a luncheon hosted by the Georgia Lenders Quality Circle in Atlanta. He was nominated for the award by the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center in Athens.

Murray and co-owner Corey Bramblett, who is the chief financial officer, started Raw Talent in June 2002 in a bedroom with only a computer and telephone. Raw Talent has grown to 35 full-time employees at its plant in Bethlehem.

Raw Talent received a “Pacesetter” Award in April from the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the fastest growing companies in metro Atlanta.

Rising Stars

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Cody Murray has established “becoming legendary” as his personal ambition.