Badger Sportswear, a maker of athletic apparel and team uniforms, purchased Garb Athletics, a boutique manufacturer of custom-tailored sports uniforms.
Garb Athletics was recently named to Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies list for 2017. This acquisition, when coupled with Badger’s previously announced acquisition of Alleson Athletic, bolsters Badger’s team uniform offering with premium-crafted, fully customized apparel.
Using Garb’s proprietary digital technology, team dealers and coaches can quickly and easily design a truly custom uniform with unlimited decoration options, including tackle twill, embroidery and sublimation, all for one set price. The customized garments are manufactured at Garb’s facility in the Philippines, individually vacuum-sealed in branded packaging and delivered to dealers in less than four weeks.
“The Garb acquisition is entirely consistent with our stated mission to provide all athletes and fans with superior performance apparel at accessible prices,” said John Anton, CEO of Badger Sportswear. “By leveraging our broad dealer network, coupled with Garb’s best-in-class digital technology, we will make it easier for every high school and middle school team in the country to design truly custom, affordable hand-crafted uniforms.” This is possible thanks to Garb’s pre-populated school logo database, which contains nearly every school in the U.S.
Garb Athletics was founded in 2006 by Steve Rosenbeck, who saw an opportunity to service the custom segment of the team uniform market with a premium tailored product that could be designed easily, priced simply and manufactured and delivered quickly. Building on relationships previously developed in the Philippines, he set up a nimble sewing and fabrication operation. To save time and drive sales for authorized team dealers, he partnered with Joseph Snow, a highly experienced software developer, and originally part of the development team for EA Sports’ Madden Football, to create Garb’s proprietary, user-friendly online platform.
Garb is headquartered in Salt Lake City with a 275-employee manufacturing plant in the Philippines, where all of its uniforms are produced.
“I am so proud of the team and what we have built together at Garb Athletics,” said Steve Rosenbeck, CEO of Garb Athletic. “But it is time to scale our model, and we look forward to working with Badger to grow our customer base while continuing to deliver premium-crafted, custom uniforms at prices all customers can afford.”
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Established in 1971, Badger Sportswear is a privately held company located in Statesville, NC.
Photo courtesy Garb
