We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Al Ragin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Al, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
When a customer contacts us for custom apparel or promotional merchandise a due date is usually attached. Some are within our standard processing time frame but there are times when orders must be expedited. There was an instance where a woman requested a t-shirt vendor on social media and our company ARMS Atlanta Apparel was suggested by several of her followers. She operated ran a nonprofit organization catering to battered woman. They were having an event and printed merchandise was needed. Something didn’t work out with the original vendor, and we were asked to produce printed shirts in a short amount of time with a limited budget. Since this was for a worthy cause, we obliged, and the owner and attendees were extremely satisfied with the shirts we produced. Their satisfaction turned into an amazing testimonial about our company and the service they received on their radio show. This was to our surprise because we had no idea that they even had a radio show. Over the last 8 years we have compiled so many great stories from our customers and business associates simply by doing business the right way. Sharing the stories with my team behind the scenes really makes doing what we do worth all that goes into to it. See radio show: https://youtu.be/tQwwPEzAKlE
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Al Ragin, and I am the owner of Al Ragin Management Services Atlanta dba ARMS Atlanta located in Atlanta, Georgia. ARMS Atlanta is the parent company for multiple divisions which include but not limited to ARMS Home Improvement, ARMS Consulting and ARMS Atlanta Apparel which is the division that brought us to your attention. The apparel division is a full service screen-print, embroidery and promotional merchandise company. We specialize in apparel branding for just about every occasion or need. Business branding is our priority offering all 3 phases of our business model providing companies with a polished and professional appearance for in their respective industries. What makes ARMS Atlanta Apparel different from other companies is the idea of going to 1 company to satisfy 3 service needs. An example of what we call the “trifecta” would be 1 of our construction company customers. Their needs consist of printed t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, hats, safety vests, jackets etc. for their construction workers that are physically do the building out in the elements. Their executive office and staff require apparel with their logo embroidered on polos, oxfords, vests, jackets, hats etc. Last but not least we provide their sales team with our promotional goods that includes custom tumblers, lanyards, pens, banners etc. These items provide a uniform and professional appearance for any organization.
Small business, government, schools K-12 and corporate branding is a large part of our business model however, we also service many family reunions, campaigns, church congregations and group events. This model allows us to be involved in many events and special occasions across the country. Having a satisfied customer base is the catalyst to our success and growth because they then refer our services to their contacts.
One of our campaign clients said, “ARMS Atlanta Apparel is a small business doing BIG business”! We love the sound of that. I have been in a room with diverse groups to realize we have a professional relationship with several in the group. Its moments like this when a conversation arises about their ventures or special events to find that ARMS Atlanta Apparel was behind the scenes. Leaving a group knowing that we made an impact or had an influence on the success of their individual ventures is very satisfying.
Do we get the recognition we deserve publicly? I guess that is based on who you ask. As the owner I will say I challenge anyone to find a company that is as multifaceted, consistent and dedicated to quality and on time service than us. If those characteristics as a minority owned company in a predominately corporate conglomerate run industry are worthy, then yes, we deserve more recognition like this interview is offering. I will take responsibility for not asking for the limelight, but like this interview it was established organically, and I prefer the recognition to be bestowed this way. From the owner’s box overlooking the field the view is different than a player on the field. I have the responsibility of retaining our client list that includes but not limited to T- Mobile, Home Depot, DHL, Shaquille O’Neal Basketball Camp, Georgia State University, State of South Carolina Corrections, Public Works Dep’t, Morehouse School of Medicine, Stacey Abrams Gubernatorial campaign, Jon Ossoff Senate campaign, numerous local campaigns, K-12 public and private schools, celebrities, radio personalities, small businesses, government and more. This is while taking on new clients daily and determining their needs. So, the average day is about facilitating the logistics required to make all of these moving parts work cohesively. Recognition for our work will continue to come when the time is right.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Pivoting is something I have had to do my entire adult life; therefore, I embrace change vs fear it. 2020 for many was life changing and a pivotal moment for careers, personal growth, family and the list goes on. For me it was mid-February and I’m in the shower & I’m listening to the news. The topic was the effects of Covid on society. I sat down literally weak because only until that very moment I realized the colossal impact this would have on my business. Until then it was just news, so I was thinking about preparing personally for my family’s needs. You know ample masks, bathroom tissue, paper towel, sanitizer etc. for my family and my 83-year-old dad in another state. As I sat there to hear about all of the school and business closures which are the cornerstones to our business model. I immediately became concerned. Without group gatherings there is less need or no need for our services!!! Oh shit!!! So, I gathered myself and later that day I had a conversation with my children’s Godmother in NY. She is a very powerful, low key and accomplished woman with a resume and contact list that extends from NYC to overseas. We spoke of the current state of things in NY not knowing she would be one of the 1st people we knew to catch Covid. Prior to that she mentioned the idea of doing custom masks. Everything she says is literal gold if you know Candace so you must listen with an attentive ear at all times but this time I kind of took it like a grain of salt. She was the 1st person to see that the mask would later become a fashion accessory. Prior to that conversation I vented my concerns with my best friend, rock and source for sound advice aka my wife Tiffany. Now here is the thing with my wife. She has witnessed us get through so many challenges over the years that now when a challenge arises, she believes I will overcome it regardless of the circumstances surrounding the situation. I adore the confidence she has in me, but this was a global pandemic, and I was not prepared, nor fiscally whole to shut down for an undetermined period of time that could exceed a year. So, I’m bugging out internally! She is concerned but yet reserved and not flustered. My thought process was how do I change what I do to meet the demands of what is coming our way? Now understand Italy just shut down, China was on lock down and every other country including ours were on notice. Allow me to digress because while trying to figure out pivoting my business I have two daughters. My oldest is a senior in H.S. & the other is a freshman. This was a major adjustment for both of them receiving their virtually vs their very active in person H.S. routine they were accustomed to. We also had to deal with 2 unexpected deaths that were pretty much undetermined because at that time we didn’t have enough information as to Covid. I mention this so you understand the gravity of all that was happening as we navigate professionally and personally. So back to diversifying my business to accommodate the current conditions.
After several conversations with different contacts, I came across one of my clients that mentioned their spouse was working with an overseas distributor of different types of hospital goods. I told them I would be interested in hearing more. Long story short I temporarily shut down the ARMS Atlanta Apparel retail webstore to focus on working with my contact, overseas distributors, hospitals and city municipalities in the distribution of bulk surgical & N-95 masks. Overnight this venture took off with no brakes! I had a lot of questions and reservations because we were talking major units with sourcing out of Malaysia, Mexico & Honduras therefore, countless pitfalls & risks I don’t normally take. I am a calculated risk taker, but this was blind folded walking on a cliff type risk. I have never done business with this group before therefore I wasn’t aware of their business savvy or lack thereof. In business you can’t just look at the pot of gold at the end. You must have a plan and set a plan of action with a step-by-step process to reach the “gold” or goals whichever is your mission. In this situation my end game was “gold” because this would be a short term plan my investment. I pooled my contacts in different industries from healthcare, government & education to get confirmed purchase orders. To give you an idea our investor group, you can’t gain access to the venture if you couldn’t come in with the potential of a minimum of 250k units. For this reason, I had mixed feelings and was on eggshells with all of the uncertainties of dealing with multiple overseas distributors. The language barrier and the daily changes to the terms of our agreements was unsettling as well. In order for me to legitimately continue this venture without losing anymore sleep & appetite I came up with the idea of setting up a 3rd party escrow account. This was the solution that gave us some type of protection vs wiring funds to some oversees account and just hoping for the best. The more comfortable the members of the group were prior to establishing the escrow account, the more uncomfortable I became because I don’t operate well blindfolded on faith.
During this time, it was my 1st interaction using zoom. I only wish I realized the investment opportunity. On the zoom I would be asked “how does that sound Al”? Now this question to me would be in regard to the pseudo process, logistics, port compliance and all that is required to get masks from overseas to a US port then on a truck headed to our customers. My reply to be frank “it sounds like a person on a tight rope with no net underneath with a Malaysian guy on the other end yelling to trust me in Malay, but I don’t understand Malay on the tight rope”!! That’s what it sounds like… Though my comments may have been colorful and straight Brooklyn, but facts remained that my concerns were valid and required feasible solutions. Fast forwarding we were able to do some business but not on the scale initially anticipated. It allowed me to establish some new business relationships and earn money on my investment. Surprisingly this pivot allowed me to become more familiar with the mask accessory & we went on to customize thousands of cotton washable masks for our customer base. Something I did not foresee but the aches and pains of figuring out the overseas bulk distribution gave me the knowledge needed to transition to masks for wholesale and retail sales in our webstore @ https://armsatlanta.com/apps/webstore. Feel free to visit and purchase an original designed premium garment.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
My 1st t-shirt printed was in 1995 for the 1st Million Man March on DC. This will be forever one of the more memorable moments of my life. At the time I was 26 living in Columbia, Maryland working in mortgage lending full time. I graduated from Morgan State University in 1992 with a degree in Business Management. As this monumental event was approaching a college friend and I had an idea to have t-shirts printed. We found a printer came up with an original design to be sold at the MMM. We found out after printing the shirts that the host of the event would not allow for any outside merchandise to be sold unless it was purchased through them. We also learned that a group of young adults with duffle bags of t-shirts for sale with no physical location to vend would pose its own set of challenges. Despite these hurdles we went out to DC to take in the experience and sell our merchandise. We arrive to find major vendors from all over the country with pallets of boxes filled with t-shirts. The good thing was they all had the same merchandise sold by the promoter, therefore over saturated leaving us a small window of opportunity. We navigated through the crowd and sold shirts at every possible opportunity without getting our unofficial t-shirts confiscated. During this time, we are also taking pictures and I recall being interviewed by BET as we are literally selling shirts and answering questions at the same time. We went on to sell most of our inventory whereas other vendors took major losses. After this memorable time, I went back to my young career in finance. While learning all of the many different facets of lending I recall the feeling I still had from our successful sales at the MMM.
Approximately 2 years later I meet some guys that work with an amazing urban t-shirt brand out of DC called Rugged Wear. I started purchasing them for my own personal use. As I wore them, I realized that the tees were getting attention and compliments. I then decided to start buying wholesale from them & reselling in NY where I’m from. The t-shirts were selling because it was new to my people back home just 4.5 hours away and I was the only one they knew to get them. Now it is the summer of 1997 and I now have my friends from Brooklyn and a few other places teamed up with me selling these tees. The guys at Rugged Wear in DC loved it because I was buying bulk regularly, so they showed me love on the pricing. This was my side hustle that I had no idea would influence what I do today. I move from Maryland down to Atlanta in 1998. My best friend more like brother moved a year or so before and at that time I was wasn’t interested in moving that far south. Months pass and I start visiting Atlanta & my eyes were opened wide at the weather, pool parties, the culture, the nightlife, the food, the nightlife, the housing, the nightlife, the gas prices, and again the nightlife!! It didn’t hurt having a few friends with excess cash flow. If it was happening, we were there! Needless to say, I started visiting every 3 weeks, then every 2 weeks then I just said it’s time to go. I can’t do anymore in Maryland that I haven’t done already. I will just have to catch flights to NY to see my family. I enjoyed my time in Maryland with great memories there were new memories to make in Atlanta. This was the post 96 Olympic timeline, so Atlanta was now recognized globally and also the emergence of southern rap & the film industry. All of this serves as a purpose to my business today as the owner of ARMS Atlanta Apparel.
This move was unforeseen and motivated by nothing than more a young 28-year-old with no kids, great friends, a supportive family with no restraints and Atlanta lifestyle on his mind! I arrived with no real plan, but I had a bank account, my 2-bedroom apt packed in a U-Haul & my 4 door Acura Legend. In my mind I figured I will figure the rest out as I go. Upon arriving in Atlanta my friends from Brooklyn had a 2-bedroom apt but I knew people down there, so we hung out but had a few options as to sleeping arrangements. I didn’t have to sleep on my living room furniture we unloaded at their place unless it was 1 of those 5 am night or mornings. After a few weeks of that we found a 3-bedroom house to move in and my closest friend advises me that he had an issue at his job. I was good so financially, so he was good! After several earning potential conversations, we decided to sell the Rugged Wear gear in Atlanta. We opened up a retail shop downtown and income started coming in from that. At times we would receive shirts that had imperfections or simply not what we ordered so it prompted us to start printing our own merch vs buying wholesale. We found a young man from Chicago working under his dad at a graphic design company that had incredible talent but no direction. The art part is now somewhat in place with some hairs, but we can work through those like his 2 sets up twins, baby mom issues, insufficient pay by his dad, bouts of depression & then some. At 28 I’m like “oh that’s it we can get through that laundry list of issue’s”…
Now to learn the print business but until then we will contract thru some local printers to get new designs in the store and phase out Rugged Wear while learning the business. Here is where I 1st learned about screen printing and the use of the different mesh count screens, the flashing process, different techniques for different fabrics, the different squeegees & when to use them, the various solvents and emulsions required, heat settings etc. Extensive knowledge and continuous education in this industry helps to reduce the chances of significant loses at a very fast pace. That was literally how learned the print business. Only until this interview did I even realize that this was probably the most unconventional and unorthodox ways of breaking into an industry but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I didn’t see this as a hurdle because I didn’t know any other way of gaining the knowledge required to print. I have always had a love for art & creating. As a member of the scenic design crew in H.S. we recognition in the NY Post & Daily News for our plays. The credit was for both amazing set designs and great acting performances alike. These memories play an essential part of what I do today.
As I recall sitting countless hours in the midtown office that belonged to our artists dad. Side by side we took my vision utilizing Trell’s skill set to come up with our portfolio of original designs. I had reasonable skills freehand with the pencil since Jr. H.S. but I was unfamiliar with transferring the art to software. This process has evolved immensely over the years. Through the time spent with various artists I learned how to use design software, but they all differ in their own right from Coral Draw, Photos hop, Ai, Silhouette and more. I figured if I could hire the right people then I don’t have to learn everything. WRONG!! I found out the opposite and no matter how much you compensate people and provide a good work environment there will come a day when you have to step in and do their job because it’s your name and money on the line.
Reliable people with specific trade skills are hard to come by. Through trial and error, I have managed to establish good relationships with some of the best in print and embroidery that really know their crafts. Utilizing and encouraging those that work along with me to produce quality products for many to enjoy is fore filling. Prior to entering back into this industry, I have worked in corporate America in several capacities. On the sales level it has allowed me to hone my skills in communication and the confidence to capture an audience to present a product. As a Sales Manager, Branch Manager, and District Manager in Banking and Finance it has allowed me to understand how to lead a team, build moral, establish goals, facilitate a plan to achieve goals. Finally, as a Sr. Executive I learned how to run an operation simply by the numbers. In this position I didn’t physically see the day-to-day operations but grasping a firm understanding by charting progress and implementing comprehensive action plans designed for organizational success. These tools have given me direction, a blueprint and an organizational structure to build on while adding elements from my upbringing, culture and mission to assist and serve others. This holds true by our volunteer contributions and our outreach service with underserved and underfunded schools that we provide our services to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://armsatlanta.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/armsatlanta?igshid=ZDc4ODBmNjlmNQ==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arms.atlanta?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARMS_Atlanta?t=H7dzVrd115JbS1dwb99dNQ&s=09
Image Credits
Arms Atlanta Professor Daddy O Chubb Rock Michael K. Williams RIP Bone Crusher Mike Guy Boxing