Mount Olympus Awards, LLC is a leading American retailer of custom letterman jackets, varsity letters, chenille patches, and letterman jacket awards. Our products have appeared in major magazines, in movies, on television, and more. We are renowned for our status as one the fastest delivering custom letterman jacket providers in the nation, offering competitive prices thanks to our volume purchases with a few, select vendors. This means that we can often offer deals below traditional wholesale or factory-direct prices, much like a buying cooperative or purchasing group.
We sell custom varsity jackets and varsity letters to individuals through this site, Mount Olympus Awards, and to teams, schools, and other institutions through our wholesale-only site at MOA Team Supply. For more information on our overall company, please visit our official corporate blog.
We believe that happy staff members lead to satisfied customers. That's why our founders invested in a new state-of-the-art customer service center complete with top-of-the-line Mac Pro systems, mahogany desks, wireless access capabilities, gourmet coffee, and much more. By providing an environment that causes our employees to "tap dance to work", in the words of Warren Buffett, we've experienced tremendous progress in our customer service initiatives. This has allowed us to grow exponentially, capturing an enormous share of the North American and global letterman jacket and custom award gift markets.
Like so many great businesses, Mount Olympus Awards began as an idea in a college dorm room many years ago. Our two founders, Joshua and Aaron, were searching for a way to create a first class business that served the needs of customers and could operate from virtually anywhere thanks to an integrated, low-cost business model that efficiently linked suppliers and customers. Using their knowledge of web programming and graphic design from their day jobs as webmasters at one of the world's largest Internet sites, they coded their first pages over Christmas break during a trip home to Missouri from the east coast. Today, the company has blossomed into one of the world's largest ecommerce providers of custom letterman jackets, cheerleading sweaters, chenille letters, varsity awards, corporate apparel, embroidered caps, hats, and bags. Later, we launched our Kennon Home Accessories division, selling everything from diamond watches to cashmere scarves.
When we first opened our doors, we focused on custom letterman jackets, varsity letters, and other athletic awards. As we grew larger, we expanded into embroidered corporate apparel and team uniforms. Our ultimate goal it to become the largest provider of custom apparel, gifts, and merchandise in the world - whether you need a set of embroidered dress shirts for your brokerage firm, personalized baby blankets for a baby shower, greek t-shirts for your fraternity or sorority, or custom designed letterman jackets for your sports team, we are going to be the one to sell it at a great value through one of our companies, such as Mount Olympus Awards, MOA Team Supply, Just Baby Gifts, Wonderful Wedding Favors, or Kennon Home Accessories.
Our business is built on the notions of fairness, honesty, and attention to cost control espoused by our intellectual heroes; men and women like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Tom Murphy, Rose Blumkin, Don Keough, John D. Rockefeller, and Sam Walton. We've been so successful because we stick to three simple propositions:
1. The process of ordering custom merchandise should not be complicated or expensive. We have designed our entire business around the idea that individual customers should be able to design their dream product from the comfort of their home or office. That's why most of our products have no minimums - unlike a traditional sporting goods store, if you need a single chenille letter, we can accommodate your order. We are one of the first companies that allow you to build your complete letterman jacket, design your custom chenilles, and have the finished product delivered to your door ready-to-wear, one item at a time! Whether you need a single patch or several dozen for an athletic team, it couldn't be easier. On the other hand, most of our products feature built-in quantity discounts that are automatically applied when items are added to your cart. Additionally, our custom art department can match virtually any design you have created - in the past, we have literally replicated lettermen jackets that have been destroyed in fires and designed from scratch using a pen and colored pencils!
Furthermore, at Mount Olympus Awards, we believe that happy customers are loyal customers. By keeping our costs low through a combination of innovative product mix, excellent relationships with our suppliers, and substantial purchasing power, we can pass savings of over 40 percent off retail list price onto you! Our business model requires virtually no fixed costs to operate, providing us with the opportunity to give you a better price each and every time.
2. Our customers should not have to wait for long periods of time to receive their custom orders. That's why we constantly strive to provide delivery up to 3x faster than Industry standards. Thanks to our excellent, longstanding relationship with our suppliers, we are often able to provide delivery up to three times faster than the industry average. Traditionally, for example, a letterman jacket with custom chenilles can take more than 6 to 8 weeks to deliver. We strive, however, to ship our letterman jackets in 2 to 3 weeks, depending upon the complexity of your order. (For more information, read our terms and conditions). In some cases, we are able to accommodate our customers when they are facing a deadline, such as a radio station in need of thousands of custom embroidered caps for a marketing event less than a week away or a television production studio in Canada in need of a jacket within 24 hours.
3. Quality is Paramount. We are very selective about the products we offer on our site. We understand that you work hard for your money and, despite the fact that there is a market for cheaper, less durable goods, we refuse to participate. A perfect example is with our custom letterman jackets. Many sites online often bait potential customers with "leather" jackets that are $89 or less. In this particular field, we believe that most people are purchasing a jacket to last a lifetime as a symbol of their accomplishment during their high school and / or college years. With inferior craftsmanship, materials, and construction, these mass market jackets would simply not pass muster. That's why we only use name brand, time tested suppliers that have specialized in the construction of professional varsity jackets and demand the absolute best raw materials. We understand that we are only as good as our last sale; and we want you to be so happy with our quality and service that you come back time and time again.
Our customers literally span the globe - from right here at home in the United States to Belgium, France, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Germany, and more. In addition to our unique product base, the integration of our ecommerce platform with UPS allows us to avoid many of the customs snags that trip up other companies, making us the retailer of choice for businesses, schools, and individuals in Europe, Asia, and South America.
The company is incorporated as a Missouri Limited Liability Company. We are not owned by any letterman jacket or chenille company, and our business model is to approach a few select vendors in the sporting goods industry that sell products manufactured in the United States, commit a large percentage of our volume to them so we can take advantage of dealer rebates, volume discounts, and other special incentives, and pass those savings on to our customers.
The company's shares are privately held, with a controlling interest owned by renowned value investor, Joshua Kennon, the Chairman and CEO of Kennon Green Enterprises, LLC. Mr. Kennon is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Investing, 3rd Edition, and the long-time guide to the Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times.
Although Joshua is now well known for his ownership of other businesses and investing operations, he actually grew up in the sporting goods industry in two respects:
1. When he was only 12 years old, his parents put everything on the line and started a company known as Chenille Appeal, which grew into one of the nation's most successful wholesale-only manufacturers of embroidery and chenille products. The original investment capital he earned, which served as the foundation of his ultimate holding company, came from running the embroidery machines and using the money to purchase stocks and bonds. To this day, Joshua's parents continue to own and operate their factory from near Kansas City, Missouri and only sell American products made in the United States by American workers. 2.) Joshua's extended family had founded and owned Ed's Sporting Goods, one of the largest sporting goods stores in Northwest Missouri. Beginning from a single location, the store grew into a seven-figure retailer and wholesaler of everything from team uniforms and athletic shoes to letterman jackets and sports equipment, such as field goals and scoreboards.
This background in the sporting goods and letterman jacket industry, combined with his knowledge of finance, allowed Joshua and his business partner, Aaron Green, to grow Mount Olympus Awards into one of the most recognized and successful online retailers of custom letterman jackets in the United States in only a few short years. As one of their first companies, it still serves as the crown jewel in their collection, with daily sales reports sent to global headquarters, where they oversee a family of businesses ranging from proprietary trading and capital markets to digital content publishing. They have made the commitment to make whatever investments are necessary to provide the best customer service experience, working with you to create the varsity jacket of your dreams.
As our company continues to grow and evolve, we will never forget our dedication to our low-cost business model and relentless focus on customer satisfaction. Despite the size and scope of our operations, we believe we have only scratched the surface of what is possible.
Not only are we always adding new products, suppliers, and services, we are constantly seeking new distribution methods. Recently, our Kennon Home Accessories division opened a flagship retail store north of Kansas City in St. Joseph, Missouri as another way to connect with our customers.
