The History behind RAVE Sports
RAVE Sports is the global leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of unique recreational products that produce lasting memories.
St. Paul-based RAVE was founded in September of 1996 by a team of entrepreneurs led by Norm Mears and launched in March of 1997. The founders’ vision was to build a marketing and distribution platform that could quickly take any innovative, alternative play product to the worldwide recreation market.
RAVE began as a commercial supplier with two acquisitions that provided RAVE with its initial products, the Aqua Jump water trampoline and the Sun Kat electric catamaran. RAVE’s innovative products, strong marketing and strategic distribution combined to launch RAVE with intense media interest, celebrity endorsements and quick growth as it shipped its products worldwide.
The interest from consumers who rented these products at commercial locations led the company to launch retail versions of its innovative products.
In fact, RAVE’s innovation has been recognized since the founding of the company. In early 1998, the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association voted the Aqua Jump as a finalist in its “Sports Product of the Year” competition.