In 1976, the business
operated in downtown St. Louis
at an AMVET Hall with a bowling
alley.
Carl Stratman, Ron’s
son, remembers the first run of
shirts was done in the bar and
tavern part of the building and
the bowling alley was lined with
60’ long shelving. There was
a trailer that the hall used as a
cooler and they used to store
all the screens for transferring
the designs to the shirts. For
the shipping department, they
built an awning onto the building
for UPS to pick up the boxes. As the
business began to outgrow that building
and the other buildings on the property,
they brought in a few semi trailers and
worked out of those for a few years. By
1986 it was time to move the business
from downtown and out of the flood plain.
Then in 1994, the business expanded to
Wentzville, MO. By 1997, the facilities
were consolidated to the Wentzville
location within the building addition.
Then in 2008 the Wentzville building was
expanded again to 305,000 square feet
(7 acres) under one roof. Also at this
same time, the adjacent office building
was purchased and is now the main
office. Finally everything related to the
business, was in one location.
They have 3 major competitors in the
H-D licensee business and RK Stratman
is the biggest supplier.
Since the
beginning, the marketing strategy was
the USA and 85% of the business sales
are here with 15% overseas. To achieve
global status, there are key international
representatives working hard to
make the RK Stratman name known
everywhere and this market continues
to grow. It is good to see an American
business shipping products overseas.
With the building expansions mentioned
above, this growth doesn’t affect the
customer service of the clients here in
the USA. As a matter of fact, there is
a growing number of the clients that
only purchase shirts from RK Stratman
because they trust their product. At
the time of the interview, Martha, Ron’s
wife, was conducting meetings halfway
around the world. I’m sure she has
some great stories on that trip.
With over 250 people working
2 shifts, the art department
creates some of the finest
designs and the production
facility typically creates 85,000
shirts per week.
“a good
reputation with
people is very
important”
connected to his customers with phone
calls and traveling to meetings. He
has always been a “hands on” part of
the company. Although he says he
doesn’t do much, his desk is covered
with paperwork… He admits there are
about 20 computers in the main office,
but he doesn’t know how to turn on any
of them. Money is not important to Ron,
but making sure that RK Stratman is a
successful business and continues to
have . Also important is a Harley to ride
and good dinners. Ron continues to
dedicate his time to find the best quality
product and machinery to make sure
they are above the rest. As you can
see, RK Stratman is a family business.
Ron’s kids and grandkids are working
there, but no great grandkids yet…
There are no loafers in the family. The
family members have worked in every
part of the company to ensure the
company’s future will run smoothly for
generations to come. The family as well
as the entire staff are all hard workers
and take on a lot of responsibilities.
Ron’s accomplishments over
the years are extensive. Recent
mile markers were in 2012, he
was inducted into the Hall of
Fame at the Sturgis Motorcycle
Museum. His artwork designs
for the Sturgis Rally are the
most recognized images of the
rally. I guess riding the buffalo bike
down Main Street in 1991, caught a
lot of attention. Also in 2012, he was
inducted into the Hanes Beefy-T T-shirt
Hall of Fame. One accomplishment
that is on his “bucket list”, is at age 80,
he wants to ride to Fairbanks, Alaska
and back. He has rode to Anchorage in
the past, but he wants to push it a little
further next time around.
Ron’s granddaughter, Katie, visited
us during the interview. She loves
hearing the old stories of the racing
days. Katie’s dad was also a racer and
she remembers those days very well,
especially getting her own trailer to sell
novelty items. Ron would make sure
someone would take over her trailer so
she could watch the final races.
In closing, I was overwhelmed
with how personable everyone at the
facility was with me. Perhaps that
was because Ron was giving me the
nickel tour. The huge building houses
the sales, warehouse, production and
shipping departments and if you have
never seen one building cover 7 acres,
it is incredible. Ron made me feel like
family while I was there and I certainly
want to do a another article about his
collection of motorcycles. We will wait
for warmer weather for that project… I
want to thank Ron and the staff for the
time they took to speak with me.
Ron is a father of seven, a grandfather
of twelve, and a great-grandfather of
four. He still comes to work and keeps
www.thunderroadscolorado.com
October 2014
Thunder Roads Magazine® Colorado 11