by Natasa Kvesic |
Lately, startup companies have popped up in big cities all over the nation, and their owners have changed the way concrete jungles define community. One of them, Marcus Harvey, the founder of Portland Gear, came to UP Tuesday to share his story.
Marcus Harvey loves Portland.
He loves it so much that nine months ago he started a company called Portland Gear. His company shipped to over 12 different countries. It sells not only the original Portland shirt, but have branched out to phone cases, pint glasses, bottle openers and hats. Harvey even bought a classic VW Westfalia van custom designed to fit his brand, and drives it around Portland so people can purchase Portland Gear wherever and whenever.
During his presentation in St. Mary’s, Harvey shared his “Basics of Branding,” told how he started his company and gave advice on working in the business world.
“His presentation was amazing! He’s a super personable and down-to-earth guy who is passionate about what he does,” said freshman business major Ali Cable. “He definitely made me feel like pursuing business and marketing was the right choice.”
Harvey attended the University of Oregon from 2008-2012. He knew he wanted to do business, but something just wasn’t clicking.
“The first two years I took intro to business type of classes and I was getting C’s in them. I just couldn’t pass these business classes,” Harvey said.
But around that time, Harvey was introduced to a digital arts class. That’s where he found his niche. Unlike most students who were doing presentations on abstract pieces, Harvey was presenting new fliers and T-shirt designs he made for his fraternity.
He took this newfound love home with him. One day while shopping, Harvey’s mom suggested that he start making his own clothes since he wasn’t satisfied with what he was seeing. So he did.
“I started a T-shirt company. I started selling shirts out of my dorm and was remaking all of my fraternity’s shirts,” Harvey said. “We definitely had the coolest stuff on campus. Soon, other people wanted to rush because they just wanted one of the shirts.”
As demand for shirts grew on campus, Harvey sensed that he could make a profit by sending his work to a local screen printer. By senior year, he was having the shirts printed for free and collecting 30 percent of the profit. He got an internship with the main screen printing business in Eugene, where he worked with companies like Dutch Bros. and Nike.
When Harvey graduated that year, he planned to follow this career path. He landed a job at another screen printing company but things didn’t end well. After three months of working there, he was fired.
“That was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Harvey said. “I realized that I didn’t want anybody being responsible for my success. So I packed up everything, cut all my ties in Eugene and came to Portland.”
But in Portland, he realized something was missing. In Eugene, he had lived with his fraternity, and he missed the community.
He started a group called Creative 35 with the slogan ‘35 Design Specific Entrepreneurs, Under the Age of 35.’
There, Harvey met Wookie Fields, who became his business partner for a new company. Fields was good at pattern design and making apparel, while Harvey was good at business and selling apparel.
“We were doing custom projects, we were working with brands and we were working with athletes. We ended up doing some things for Wesley Matthews,” said Harvey. “We would drive up to his house before one of the Trail Blazers’ road trips and we would size him and bring a rack of clothes.”
As their business grew, a parkour brand from London contacted Harvey and Fields. They wanted hoodies and sweats with tags that said the clothes were “Made in Portland.”
“A London, 18-year-old’s apparel brand, saying: ‘We want our products to say made in Portland.’ I was like, ‘Ok, that’s kind of cool,’” Harvey said. “I didn’t quite realize it yet, I thought it seemed cool, I mean I love Portland!”
After this request for “Made In Portland” apparel, Harvey decided to make an Instagram account by the name of @portlandnw. There he would showcase pictures of Portland and also promote the brand from London because all of their clothing was made in Portland. He wanted to have the @portland username, but it was already taken by a dad on the east coast.
“He...would post photos of his daughter and get like five likes on each post. So I started commenting on his posts like ‘Hey man, love your username, let me know if you want to get rid of it’ or if he would want some money to change it,” said Harvey. “After going back and forth for a while, I finally got him to do it.”
After getting the @portland username, Harvey started growing the page and making it all about the people of Portland. He also started the hashtag #portlandnw to keep up with what people posted about Portland. The account gained popularity and people started demanding clothes that specifically pertained to Portland. Harvey got a team of people specializing in each of the different elements needed for an apparel business and got to work.
On Black Friday of 2014, Harvey officially launched the Portland Gear brand by putting two shirt designs on the online store and the Instagram page. In that one night, he sold 200 shirts to four countries and 10 states. Today the @portland account has over 146,000 followers and Harvey has a strong following on his @portlandnw snapchat as well.
As for the future, Harvey has some big plans.
“I want to have a store in about six months. My birthday is April 28, so having my name signed on that lease by the end of the month would be ideal. That has been a life goal, I definitely like the retail side,” Harvey said. “But it would be different than your usual store experience. We would have first Thursday parties and it would just be a fun place for people to come in. It would be the full Portland experience.”
Natasa Kvesic is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at kvesic19@up.edu.
https://instagram.com/p/8jqRvLTfhJ/?taken-by=portland
5 Basics of Branding from Marcus Harvey:
- Be the first. Constantly curate.
- Find people who love why you do what you do.
- Go all in, no fall back.
- Create in-person experiences.
- Be the person your brand is.
