Red River Brick: Products and EPD coverage snapshot
Red River Brick sits inside General Shale’s brand network and serves the South Central U.S. with a broad brick portfolio. If you sell or spec masonry in Texas or Oklahoma, you’ve likely run into them. Here’s the quick read on what they make and how their environmental disclosures stack up, so sales teams and specifiers can move fast without playing detective.
Who is Red River Brick
Red River Brick is the General Shale brand created after the Meridian Brick acquisition to cover six Texas plants and two in Oklahoma. The brand markets more than 60 residential colors across eight collections, plus architectural lines, positioning it as a regional leader in face brick supply (PR Newswire, 2021) (General Shale brand network, 2021). You can find the brand story on their site’s About page (Red River Brick, 2023).
What they sell
Core offer is clay face brick for residential and commercial work. The network also shows thin brick and clay pavers in selected channels, often co‑listed with sister brands for distribution coverage. Depending on plant, formats span modular to utility with smooth, wirecut, tumbled, and specialty textures.
Rough scale of the catalog
Across colors, sizes, and textures, the total SKU count lands in the hundreds. Product categories are a handful, not sprawling: face brick as the anchor, with thin brick and pavers where the market calls for it. That concentrated range helps reps cover most wall and site needs without juggling exotic sub‑categories.
EPDs today
The brick sector relies on an industry‑average EPD from the Brick Industry Association. A new 2025 edition expands scope to cradle‑to‑grave and covers clay brick, thin brick, structural clay tile, and clay pavers, useful across commercial submittals and public work that asks for verified disclosures (BIA Industry‑Average EPD, 2025) (BIA release, 2025). Earlier, the 2020 industry‑wide EPD covered cradle‑to‑gate impacts and reached its validity date in October 2025 (Brick Industry Association EPD, 2020).
How well is Red River Brick covered
Given the brand’s tie‑in to General Shale, which was a named participant in the prior industry‑wide EPD, Red River Brick’s typical face brick is effectively covered at the industry‑average level for many projects that accept IA EPDs (BIA Industry‑Wide EPD, 2020). On their Resources page you’ll find the EPD link alongside request forms for LEED information and test reports, which signals the documentation is set up for fast submittals (Red River Brick Resources, 2023).
Where the gaps show up
Two common asks push beyond industry‑average coverage. First, some owners and LEED v5‑focused teams prefer product‑specific EPDs tied to a plant or product family. Second, project carbon targets increasingly want current documents. Most EPDs carry a five‑year validity clock, so keeping declarations fresh matters for spec acceptance in 2026 and beyond (International EPD System FAQ, 2025).
A likely best‑seller that could use a specific EPD
Modular face brick blends from high‑volume Texas plants are probable best‑sellers. Today they appear to lean on the industry‑average EPD. Acme Brick, Glen‑Gery, Belden, Pine Hall, and other rivals also point project teams to the same industry‑average brick EPD rather than product‑specific ones, which means whoever ships first with credible product‑specifics earns a clearer advantage on tight decarbonization briefs (Acme Brick EPD resources, 2025) (Acme EPD page, 2025). That is low‑hanging fruit for sales enablement.
Who they go up against
In Texas and Oklahoma, expect Acme Brick on nearly every bid list, with Glen‑Gery, Cherokee Brick, Belden Brick, Pine Hall Brick, and select architectural lines from Endicott showing up through distributors. On education and healthcare, owners often pre‑screen submittals for transparency artifacts before they even read the aesthetic brief, so clean EPD and test packets reduce back‑and‑forth and keep specifers moving.
Smart path to close the EPD gap
If the goal is to win preference on LEED v5‑oriented work, prioritize product‑specific EPDs for the top‑moving modular and utility sizes from one or two flagship plants. Pick the PCR many competitors cite to make comparisons straightforward, then expand to thin brick and pavers if those lines drive meaningful revenue. Keep the five‑year renewal cadence on a shared calendar and make data pulls painless with a white‑glove partner who handles plant analytics and auditor questions. The time saved on submittals and fewer substitutions tends to pay back quickly.
One click for sustainability
For teams packaging submittals, bookmark Red River Brick’s resources page and General Shale’s sustainability hub for quick access to the latest collateral and policies (Red River Brick Resources, 2023) (General Shale Sustainability, 2025).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Red River Brick publish its own product-specific EPDs?
We did not find public product‑specific EPDs for individual Red River Brick SKUs. Their resources page links to the Brick Industry Association’s industry‑average EPD, which many projects accept for disclosure.
How long will an EPD stay valid once published?
Most program operators set a five‑year validity window for EPDs. Teams should track renewal dates and update earlier if results change materially (International EPD System FAQ, 2025).
Which Red River products should get first EPD priority?
Start with the highest‑volume modular face brick from key Texas and Oklahoma plants. If thin brick or pavers drive sizable sales, add family EPDs for those next.
Do competitors already have product-specific brick EPDs?
Most large U.S. brick brands currently reference the industry‑average EPD rather than product‑specific versions. This is an opportunity for any brand that moves first with plant‑tied disclosures (Acme EPD page, 2025).
About the Author
Walker Ryan is a climate-tech entrepreneur focused on driving industrial decarbonization through better data. As the founder and CEO of Parq, he helps manufacturers generate high-quality, third-party–verified carbon disclosures at scale—accelerating a traditionally slow and expensive process. Before starting Parq, Walker led over $200 million in sustainability-focused investments as VP of Strategy & Growth at ReStream Solutions, following earlier experience in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. He brings a rare mix of capital markets expertise and hands-on sustainability knowledge to tackling the infrastructure of industrial emissions.
