Route One Apparel was recognized by Baltimore Business Journal as a top 50 fastest growing company in Baltimore on Thursday, November 4th 2021.  In order to qualify there was a minimum revenue amount, had to be at least three years in business and it was audited by a third party accounting firm, SC&H.  

At the awards ceremony, they announced each of the winners in order of ranking.  After 40 names were called - we started to freak out! The "Top 10" received extra recognition with a beautiful plaque. As the countdown began, our name wasn't being called - was this an accident? Are we even supposed to be here?  Sure enough, spot #1 was at the very end - and OUR BUSINESS WAS CALLED!

Route One Apparel's owner, Ali von Paris, accepted the award on behalf of our whole team. 

Receiving this recognition is bringing out all of the feels for us.  2020 was an extremely challenging year for us.  We all had to step up to the plate and face the fact that our business needed to change the way we operated in order to stay in business. We started hosting our brick-and-mortar partner products on our site for sale when their physical locations were forced to close. When our local screen printers called us in a panic because they lost the majority of their event-focused business, we sprung into action to make pandemic-themed apparel like "Stay Home Hon" and "Warsh Your Hands".  Then, we started noticing that things like our bandanas, surgical caps, and microfiber towels were constantly selling out.  Our customers told us they were making masks.  We contemplated making masks for a while, but decided to move forward when we made sure there was a "give back" aspect to them.  

All in all, we ended up being able to donate over $2 million worth of masks to those on the front lines in our local community - police departments, fire houses, EMS, hospitals, and schools. 

We can assure you 100% that we wouldn't be around today if it wasn't for the immense support we received from our local community.

We are so appreciative of this recognition - and for that, we thank you immensely. 

Looking forward, we are viewing the future of our business very optimistically. As we continue to expand, we are working on a new location on York Road that we intend to have open to the public.  We want to inspire the future generation of small business leaders to step out and create, grow, and thrive. If we can do it, so can you!

So thank you to one and all for playing a role in our success. We couldn't have done it without all of you!