Andre Ricks brand RAWiMPACT Lifestyle Brand is quickly becoming demand in the sports and entertainment industry. When he started the RAWiMPACT Brand it was literally from scratch. Andre’s favorite quote about this particular journey is “I only have a dollar and a dream.”. This resulted in Andre not being able to take no for an answer. He acquired a retail space in downtown Kalamazoo, MI for a little bit of nothing, where he put his blood sweat and tears into. By having faith, Mr. Ricks partnered with Mitchell & Ness Brand and The RAWiMPACT Store became an authorized retailer.
From its inception, in 2011 Mitchell & Ness hat sales flourished while everything else in the store was minuscule. This conveyed to Andre that he needed an alluring brand name and logo. One day Andre and his cousin were talking on the phone and came up with the name RAWiMPACT, at first the name did not stick on him but it was something about it that he couldn’t let go of, so he chose to stick with it. Hat sales continued to climb and Andre kept reinvesting the money back into his business. He then took the next step in his business by investing and creating the RAWiMPACT brand logo. He paid an artist at his alma mater Western Michigan University to design the logo for him and he then placed that logo on all of his shirts. The symbol was a ferocious shark and was the perfect complement to the brand name RAWiMPACT.
Shirt sales skyrocketed while hat sales descended. The demand for RAWiMPACT shirts soon took over the college market. It didn’t stop there because interest in the shirts soon permeated to professional sports markets as well. One day while sitting court-side at a Detroit Pistons game one of the players praised Andre Ricks shirt and wanted to know where he could purchase it. This then had a ripple effect and led to professional athletes all over the world wanting to endorse RAWiMPACT.
According to Ricks, “Coming from the inner city this type of thing doesn’t happen often. I thank GOD for keeping me focused and having my back rather I’m right or wrong.” Today Andre Ricks continues his success with RAWiMPACT and has a myriad of business endeavors including RAWiMPACT Sports Facility, United Impact Inc non-profit organization, and many more. “John Witherspoon AKA Pops photographed holding up the RAWiMPACT Shirt before his performance in Denver Colorado.”
