About Us

In 1986, Lois Van Wyk and her mother, Dorothy Ter Louw, started a business of creating unique appliqué sweatshirts for colleges throughout the Midwest and also the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Indianola, Iowa. Appliqué is the use of fabric in the form of words or pictures (think mascots or balloons) that is sewn to the garment.

In 1999, after much success of the business, Casual Rags moved into its current location to better serve its increasing customer base. Over the years, Casual Rags has focused on business embroidery and apparel.

In 2013, Lois’ daughter, Stacie Baker, starting working at Casual Rags as another mother/daughter team. They enjoyed working together and growing the business.

In January 2016, Lois retired and Stacie bought the business. Lois still helps out at the shop, which Stacie really appreciates and enjoys!

We want to help you and your business with your decorated apparel. We are also a family/woman/mom-owned business that thinks afternoons and days off with the family are a great idea!

Over the past few years, these are just some of the great organizations we have supported: