Keep Portland Geared

Portland Gear is a fashion company that has been embraced by the community of Portland. Our own Spencer Wu recently sat down with store manager Zack Dean.

Portland Gear, comprised of a team of six local creatives, has been the premier local fashion brand for this city since its inception in 2014. After a number of Portland inspired pieces and productive collaborations over its four year tenure, PG has become the unofficial insignia for the city of Portland. We discussed its growth, networking, and overall meaning to PDX with Store Manager Zack Dean.

"It all started with a little booth at the Saturday Market. Then we had the van, and now the brick and mortar store. It was based a lot off of social media and we wanted to create a community brand that represents Portland [without being a] tacky touristy shop. Our stuff is simplistic and minimalistic and can complement an outfit. When people come from out of town, it’s cool [for them] to buy stuff that Portlanders actually wear. We wanted to create items and products that were cool enough for that."

Home Town Love

The business came to fruition when owner Marcus Harvey realized the intersection of his passion for art and marketing and his deep seeded love for the city. He is currently responsible for brand development and manages the social media accounts (@portlandgear, @portland) to engage with nearly 400,000 followers.

"“Marcus is the original guy and he created the logo. He started sporting this cap with the letter P on it — it was just a P hat, not even our official logo or anything. He acquired the Instagram page @portland and made it a cool home point for the city of Portland. Along with that, he worked with a clothing designer and they would network and get clients like Wes Matthews and outfit people like him before games. That’s where the relationships spurted from. With the Instagram background and the P cap, it kind of all fell into place. It started as an online thing with the P cap and the Rise tee and we got a ton of sales the first day.”"

Working with the Pros

Sprouting from its initial collaborations, Portland Gear has branched out to connect with Portland natives by working with fellow athletes, namely those on the Trail Blazers.

"We don’t have a license with the Blazers yet but we do provide a good amount of products for the team shop. We work on collaborations with Rip City Clothing. We’re good friends with a of of guys on the team and we can host free signings because the guys are cool about it. We want the guys repping the gear because I think they should be proud to represent where they’re living."

A variety of Blazers sport Portland Gear products and have even done direct collaborations with them in the past, namely former Blazer Pat Connaughton’s With Us program.

"Meyers Leonard wears our stuff every day. CJ [McCollum] also wears our gear and once he posted a picture of him and his fiancé wearing the Sherpa jacket and they instantly sold out on our website. Any influential athlete or artist from the greater Portland area — Portugal. The Man, Ndamukong Suh, and others — has worn our stuff. Pat’s With Us program helped underprivileged kids get access to basketball programs and personal development. It’s phenomenal. We’ve had two signings in the last two years. Two years ago, we had Pat, Meyers, and Noah [Vonleh]. Last year, we had Zach [Collins], Meyers, and Pat. Meyers and Pat were the main contacts and pretty much wanted fans to come in and meet their favorite players. That’s [due in large part to] Marcus’ networking and those guys being nice guys who want to that kind of thing."

Cause an Effect

Aside from work with the Trail Blazers, Portland Gear has spearheaded initiatives like Pride Month with the Gay Beards and Doernbecher Hospital’s Hero Hats initiative, to name a few. They also work with Baseballism to generate media attention for Portland Diamond Project’s MLB to PDX movement.

"We definitely have a lot of movements going on. Our brand and Baseballism are the ones creating the buzz about starting a baseball team in Portland so we created all the designs and decals to be sent out. There’s a lot of baseball history but we never had that true MLB team. It’s time to expand to another market of sports. For Pride, we work with the Gay Beards. They are two really good friends who we do fundraisers with for the LGBTQ community. Portland is a safe haven and we want to make sure everyone has a place in our shop. I feel like we are an example of our community and we have a big platform. We are able to do a lot more and we are a beacon of change."

Inspiring the Youth

With all these programs set in place to connect with the Portland community, it is apparent that this brand has impacted local youth. This is most apparent for aspiring entrepreneurs in high school or college who participate in Brand Camp. This is a free program that connects students with local businesses to focus on branding along with the opportunity to work with local professional teams in the Portland metro.

"I think it’s vital for the Blazers to tap into their network and continue to develop a strong brand. In Brand Camp, they talk to their core consumers. When you can learn from your customers, that is such a big thing. The students get to meet the front office and tour the locker room, which is really cool and an important aspect."

As of now, Portland Gear’s clubhouse is used as the official Portland Timbers merchandise retailer while the store in Providence Park is under renovation.

"We have a license with the Thorns and we can use their logo. We host the Timbers team store since they needed a spot to sell merchandise while the stadium is being reconstructed. We had space and we’ve been friends with them for a while and it’s just the perfect location — right across the street,” Dean said."

Looking Ahead

After this year, Portland Gear looks to expand their reach even further by experimenting with different concentrations in store direction and branding.

"We’re at an interesting point. Our brand is doing well and we have resources to do things. Along with that, building better relationships with influencers and others brands in the area is very important to develop our product line past a hat and t-shirt brand. We have a lot going on and we want to make sure everything’s efficient. We’re happy with where we are at right now but we want to build a bigger location for a community hang out spot. Maybe there’s a bigger workshop space that would be the expansion piece."