About Ramps & Lamps

Built Old School

Ramps & Lamps didn't start with a marketing plan. Truth is, the idea behind it started a long time before I ever thought about making T-shirts.

I grew up in Memphis in the late '70s and early '80s. I had a paper route and saved my money to buy my first real BMX bike, a Mongoose. Eventually I moved up to a GT. I skateboarded too and spent plenty of time at Jetway, an old concrete, members-only skatepark in Memphis.

It was a different time. Before phones, social media, and screens followed us everywhere, we rode bikes, skated, stayed outside until the streetlights came on, worked for the things we wanted, and figured stuff out as we went.

That's the generation Ramps & Lamps comes from.

After spending all of my adult life working in the electrical trade, I've reached the point where retirement isn't some far-off idea anymore. I wanted to build something of my own,  something I enjoy now and can hopefully carry with me into the next chapter. A lot of the ideas behind these shirts come from things I've actually lived. Even some of the women's designs have roots in my own life and experiences. After 30-plus years of adult life, there's been plenty of material to work with. 

So I went back to the things I know, with my Gen X sense of humor. 

Bikes. Skateboards. Fishing. Blue-collar life. Dad humor. Weekends. Gen X memories. And all the ridiculous little things that still make us laugh.

Some of our designs bring back a memory. Some are an inside joke. And sometimes I just think, that needs to be on a T-shirt.

Not Print-on-Demand. Made by Us.

Ramps & Lamps is a small independent business, not a giant T-shirt operation.

We don't just upload a design and have a print-on-demand company make and ship the shirt without us ever seeing it. We stock our shirts, press the designs ourselves, and pack the orders that go out the door.

That's intentional.

If we're going to put the Ramps & Lamps name on something, we want to actually have our hands on it.

We're not trying to chase every trend or make something for everybody. We're making shirts for people who remember where they came from and still like doing things a little old school.

Good shirts. Good memories. A little attitude.

Ramps & Lamps - Built Old School.