History
Minnesota Athletic Apparel, Inc. was founded in 1991 as a manufacturer of sweatshirt fleece garments selling primarily to retailers and teams. Minnesota Athletic Apparel was awarded a patent on a unique fleece material with knit ribbing and utilized the fabric to market a stocking hat. Along with the hat, unique custom sweatshirts were developed to sell them as a set. A strong network of customers was developed from the introduction of this unique product to the marketplace.
By this time, Kent Larson and Steve Gnoza had gained valuable industry experience working for a headwear supplier and promotional product company and the two decided to make this a full-time venture for themselves. Minnesota Athletic Apparel was then shortened to M.A. Apparel for two reasons. Primarily, it was thought that having the word "Minnesota" in the name may limit the effectiveness of the company since they were already selling to a nationwide market. Secondly, they were no longer pursuing just the "athletic market"! Corporate apparel was becoming a very big part of their business strategy.
M.A. Apparel originated in Minnetonka, Minnesota near Ridgedale Mall. A few years later M.A. Apparel opened a store in Dinkytown on the University of Minnesota campus. With continued growth, within a few years the company combined operations into one larger facility in Hopkins, Minnesota.
In 2004, M.A. Apparel purchased Twin Cities Embroidery, Woodbury, MN. With the acquisition of Twin Cities Embroidery, M.A. Apparel is poised to become even more competitive in the corporate and retail marketplace! M.A. Apparel and Twin Cities Embroidery are currently located in Hopkins and Woodbury.
M.A. Apparel will continue to grow at a pace that allows for customer service perfection and continuity! To our customers and employees, a big "THANK YOU" for allowing M.A. Apparel to be what it is today - a great organization of people working together as one!
