CRS Apparel has served sailing enthusiasts for more than two decades, offering custom event, team and club gear. Our team attends more than 125 regattas a year and has worked with over 200 clubs and team across North America.
CRS Apparel has built its reputation by selling quality apparel, including premium brands such as Gill, Helly Hansen, Zhik, Sperry and Stohlquist.
Our small, customer-focused team works directly with clubs and regatta committees to develop customized specialty merchandise that meets their needs.
CRS Apparel works closely with its partner clubs, regatta leadership and teams to develop custom ecommerce sites. We manage inventory and use our broad industry knowledge and experience to market our partners’ brands.
IT STARTED
WITH A BRIDGE
On May 9, 1980, a freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans Florida’s Lower Tampa Bay and connects St. Petersburg to Terra Ceia. Three years later as the new bridge was being built, Cheryl Paulhus-Cannon, former CRSA owner, and David Ramsey, Cheryl’s coworker at a brokerage firm, decided to develop a poster for the dedication of the new bridge. The result was actually two posters, “Skyway to the Sun” and “Skyway to the Stars” by artist Gary Gowans.
The posters were completed before the bridge, however, so Cheryl and David sold posters from screen prints the artist created for the 1987 and 1988 Southern Ocean Racing Conferences instead. With numerous requests to have the artwork printed on T-shirts, Coral Reef Trading Company was born.