Local company has right fit for MTSU

BY MELINDA HUDGINS • MHUDGINS@DNJ.COM • DECEMBER 17, 2008

MTSU fans can now shop locally for Blue Raider apparel that is made locally.

It doesn't get much better than that.

The university has partnered with Ideas Tees, a local screen printing company located at 910 Ridgley Road in Murfreesboro, to manufacture Blue Raider T-shirts. It is the first new licensee approved through The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), an IMG Co. that began representing the licensing rights of MTSU in July.

"It is very important for the university to have local licensees like Ideas Tees that can react to 'hot markets' and other consumer needs in a timely manner," said Ryan Prowell, director of university services for CLC in a press release. "Local licensee can help fill a void with national licensees who might need more lead time to produce MTSU product."

Ideas Tees' owner John Brockwell feels confident his company can fulfill the need.

"It gives us an opportunity to talk to the customers that are buying and to see what they're wanting in order to provide really unique merchandise for them," he explained.

Chris Massaro, director of athletics for MTSU, agreed.

"It's important to be local because they know what the community wants, and what we want and what the consumer wants," he said. "And we'll be able to move a lot quicker (to meet demand)."

Ideas Tees also has an in-house artist who is an MTSU graphics graduate, Brockwell added.

"By us getting the first license, it means that the merchandise we sell is not something that is standard," he explained. "Everything we make would be unique."

While the company has been working with MTSU for many years, it has always been on an internal level — shirts for the university's recreation center and athletic teams. Never before has Brockwell and his staff been able to manufacture MTSU apparel for resale.

The agreement also allows Ideas Tees to produce embroidered items, which provides additional opportunities for apparel-seeking fans.

"If someone is looking for a 4X polo shirt," Brockwell explained, "we could get that for them."

All designs must be approved first by the licensing company and then by the university's athletic department to ensure all standards and guidelines are met.

Better yet, a percentage of all the items produced and sold is paid back to MTSU.

Blue Raider fans can also visit the company's Web site www.mtsutees.com, which is devoted exclusively to Middle Tennessee merchandise — game day T-shirts, tailgate tents, car magnets and hats.

Currently there are about 30 different items available, but Brockwell said by next fall he's hoping to triple that amount — some of which will be produced under the Ideas Tees trademark, while others are purchased from other companies.

"We're just looking for different things that we can add on there," Brockwell said.

Football fans looking for MTSU merchandise were able to purchase them at home games this year.

"We thought for the number of fans we saw, it was tremendously successful," Brockwell said. "We're just trying to do all we can do to promote Middle and help their program."

And, he added, "We have no plans to add Tennessee."

Cara Nail demonstrates screen-printing at Ideas Tees, a locally owned company that specializes in screen-printing and embroidery of apparel for MTSU and local high schools.

(DNJ photo by Elisa White)