Hello
My name is Robert, born in Texas and raised in both, Tea, South Dakota and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I've met a lot of people and seen life from all kinds of perspectives. I think this gives me a unique look on what an apparel brand CAN be.
I’ve spent decades trying to wear my own T-shirts, but I’m not 14 anymore.
RobUrTee is my grownup approach to the problem — the outlet for every apparel idea I’ve ever had.
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Welcome to the show, read my story below. ðŸ¤
My Story
RobUrTee isn’t just a t-shirt company — it’s a 15-year comeback story disguised as a clothing brand.
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It started back in college when I launched a brand called KTFK. There was no business license, no funding, and definitely no plan — just a broke kid with a Facebook page and a lightbox full of emulsion trying to screen print shirts in his kitchen. I made exactly one screen. It said "KTFK." It worked, technically. And that was enough to get the bug.
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Life happened. I dropped out of college, moved back home to South Dakota, and went back to my first-ever job: Pizza Ranch. Eventually I worked my way up, but the itch to create never left. I partnered with a coworker and we tried again under a new name, HKo. This time, I had a multi-screen manual press, a heat dryer, and $300 worth of the cheapest blank tees I could scrounge up. But I couldn’t get a screen to expose properly. HKo never printed a single shirt.
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Instead, I pivoted to music. For about four years, I poured myself into producing beats as BEatsbyBOB, and once again found myself needing merch. After four failed screens, I finally printed a passable logo on a shirt — using a TV tray, cardboard, and tape. It worked. I sold 15 shirts.
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Then I turned 30. Still full of ideas but tired of getting stuck on execution, I tried something new. I started a licensed LLC called Capture Compass and began flying drones for real estate photography. I was finally doing business like an adult… until another opportunity came up — one I couldn’t turn down. I hit pause again.
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Now, years later, I’m still that same kid with ideas and ambition — but this time I’m building with tools that work. RobUrTee is the first of many ventures under my new umbrella LLC. I’m not screen printing shirts in my basement anymore. I’ve partnered with a print-on-demand service that can bring any of my ideas to life and put them on over 430 different products — from tees and hoodies to jackets, joggers, and more.
Design floor to the back of a shipping truck, in under 24 hours. No emulsion required.
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RobUrTee is my creative outlet, but it’s also for anyone who’s ever had an idea and didn’t know where to start. Whether you’re a small business, school, or community group — I want to help you wear your vision. For now we are selling apparel, but we hope to scale and be able to bring your ideas to life as well. Whether you are the team captain for a summer volley ball league, or an organizer for a local event, we want to help!
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Thanks for being here.
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– Robert, Founder of RobUrTee
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p.s I’m left handed and my sweatshirt wrist embroidery is purple because it goes with both dark and light fabric colors… I also happen to kinda dig the color purple. Someone’s gonna ask the question, hope you find the answer.
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