Carmen Rad, a garment industry veteran of Puerto Rican descent, started C R & A Custom Apparel in 1993 because she was having difficulty getting paid from her previous employer. She also knew she had the necessary capabilities and strong work ethics to start her own business venture. With Carmen’s degree in fashion marketing and design she could not fail.
C R & A started with only 2 employees out of her home. Over the past 16 years the company has grown to nearly 30 employees and into a new 24,000 square foot building. They began producing custom embroidery work and promotional items and have transitioned to primarily a large format digital printing company serving some of the same clients from 1993 as well as large corporations, such as Disney, Coors, and Nike.
C R & A is a full-service large digital print production and visual display company that produces and installs billboards, all indoor and outdoor banners, fleet graphics, vehicle wraps, window, wall and floor graphics, sports and stadium signage, and all types of trade show graphics and exhibit booths.
Carmen’s company has recently manufactured its first environmentally friendly biodegradable banners, using UV inks which are better for the environment and specialized new equipment from HP that does not allow fumes into the atmosphere. The combinations of media, equipment and ink have revolutionized the printing process to be entirely green.
C R & A was funded through a purchase order that was placed for ready made clothing. The item was 11,000 denim shirts sold to a promotional company that needed them for a Warner Brothers event within days. The merchandise was in stock so it was a quick transaction of purchasing and delivering the goods to the client. The client paid for the merchandise in advance because C R & A did not have funds to purchase the goods. Each of the 11,000 shirts was marked up by $4.00.
Simultaneously, another job was in the process of completion for JC Penney stores, where again the merchandise was marked up by a few dollars. JC Penney also paid their invoice on the date of receipt of their merchandise. C R & A had over $95,000 dollars in revenue within its first month of business. The purchasing of goods and reselling continued for a few months until C R & A purchased sewing machines and a warehouse to fill the clients’ needs for custom-made promotional clothing and embroidery items. They were clothing manufactures for eight years until they began to invest in large format digital printing equipment as Carmen saw the emerging needs of the clients in the business market, as well as the decline of apparel industry following 9/11.
C R & A self-funded the company for the first 3 years until it sold the purchase orders to a factoring company who then would take a percentage of the profit. They worked with them for 8 years and then finally found garnered support through interest banks.
Carmen and C R & A’s success is reflected through the diversity of clients they work with, the garnered support they have acquired with financial institutions, and the many awards that have been won over the years with a wide variety of organizations.
They work with major corporations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Dubai. Their clients stay loyal for years, which allows them to form a strong base and continue to grow.
In 2007 C R & A was awarded, "Manufacturer of the Year 2007 by the US Department of Commerce", and “Latina Business of the Year 2007", by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Carmen was also a large part of the Avon walk for breast cancer. She was a member of the Speedo team that raised the second largest dollar amount in the state of California at $98,000.
In 2009 CR&A was awarded, “Rising Star”, by the National Assoicaiotn of Women Busines Owners, “Green Firm” of the year by the SBA and Minority Business Enterprise, “Latina Manufacturer” of the Year by the Latina Business Association, “Supplier of the Year”, for USC and nominated, “Manufacture of the Year” by the LBA.
Carmen furthered her education by graduating from the UCLA’s Anderson School of Management program in 2010 and was later asked to be an Alumni speaker in 2011.
In most recent news, C R & A was featured on Fox News Network in a for their successes as a booming Latino business despite economic hardships.
Carmen also continues to walk for the Los Angeles Avon Walk for Cancer helping to raise money for a cure.