The three friends who came together to create their own business all had different backgrounds that helped them make it a success.

Paul Friemel, TJ Mapes and Matt Ingleby all are alumni of Iowa State who created RIPT Apparel, a graphic T-shirt company company. 

“We figured out the three of us had skills that worked well together,” Ingleby said.

Friemel said that it took about 6 months to get things rolling. Now RIPT Apparel, based out of Chicago, is a huge success.

Currently, Ingleby serves as the CEO of RIPT. He said he mainly handles human resources, planning analysis, accounting and finance.

“Our customer base is people who like pop culture products,” Ingleby said about the typical RIPT customer.

All three owners agreed that their main target market is people who are heavily interested in pop culture, video games, comics, TV shows and movies.

Friemel said he is mainly in charge of the art department at RIPT. He explained that the typical demographic is men between the ages of 18 to 35. But their products also appeal to women.

The overall aesthetic of RIPT Apparel is that their products are high quality, cool and reasonably priced.