“Launching with sports makes sense… there’s a lot of different demographics there that are really passionate about their hobbies and their interests,” said Smith.
For now, KGS Artwear is an online-only retailer, selling items from the company website, www.KGSartwear.com, with the help of half a dozen volunteer employees. As the company grows, Smith said, he hopes to begin hiring paid employees and to get his products into retail stores.
No matter what the future holds for this young apparel company, Smith said it’s important to not forget about KGS Artwear’s local roots.
“We have artists, apparel specialists and fitness people from the Portland-Vancouver metro area and it’s a great place to have a business,” he said.
When asked about the challenge of launching a new business while trying to operate Arborsmith Tree Care, Smith laughed and offered the following bit of advice:
“I get my butt handed to me regularly,” he said. “It’s seriously 24/7. I dream about it, I wake up and right notes about it… You really have to have a passion for it. You’ve got to take that one step that other people just aren’t willing to take to make something like this happen.”
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