![]() Coveted by designers, customers, and competitors all over the world. Roach used this money and notoriety to build one the most influential graphics business in the apparel industry. In 1978 roach had grown to 20 Million plus dollars in gross sales and had a customer list of thousands of T-shirt shops all over the world. These shops were high margin apparel stores with cool built in.įrom 1970-1980 these stores were on fire and so was Roach. A just in time manufacturing process that allowed a T-shirt shop to offer hundreds of designs and a good selection of apparel styles and colors. Thousands of T-shirt shops started up in the 70’s because of what Roach and their competitors had begun in the late 60’s. Roth’s mistakes opened the doors for Roach. He mae some questionable deals with the likes of the Hells Angels and was alienating his principle backers (Revel Models). ![]() Roth struggled with his business due to the fact that he was spread thin between custom cars, apparel, and car show appearances. These were the guys that did the rock concert posters, album covers, counter culture comics like ZAP, and the T-shirts that help define the 60’s and 70’s graphically. His friends included artist like Robert Crumb, Robert Williams, Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, David Mann, and others. He came from the art underground in California. He designed some of Roth’s cars and did most of the artwork that was turned into T-shirts.Įd Newton was critical to the early success of Roach. Ed was the principle artist at Roth Studios. John Baird and Stan Peterson took over the company and recruited renowned artist Ed Newton. The company was starting to roll.īetween 19 Roach grew and took on new ownership. Stan moved from San Diego in 1966 and took over art and production. The transfer made just in time production possible for the mail order T-shirt business. They could carry a large graphics library and low inventory. The iron on transfer was a new technology and was just what the young Roach Studios needed to out-compete the other companies. ![]() He was getting into a new process, the iron on transfer, at the same time. Stan had been air brushing shirts and doing silk screen work. They needed help to grow the business and recruited Stan Peterson from California. Roach could be seen in the back of Hot Rod and Car Craft Magazine. Just like their hero’s from Cali, Ed Roth, Stanley Mouse, & Von Dutch, they set out to make money and have adventure working the drag races, car shows, and state fairs of the USA.Īfter a couple of years in the trenches, the Roush brothers ventured into the mail order business and started competing with the west coast vendors like Rat Fink. In those days, airbrush painting shirts was the most accessible way to start. The fire was started and Dennis and Russ began to get into the T-shirt business. The fact that you could get a T-shirt with one of those images was even better. The images coming from the west coast that appeared in Hot Rod Magazine and Zap comics were exciting and fresh. The brothers Roush were big fans of the California car scene. In 1962 Russ & Dennis Roush started what would become one of the largest and most influential apparel graphics companies of the 60’s and 70’s. RoAcH Studios: Short History of the king of the “Iron On” T-shirt
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