Caption: The Red Portland Chenille Crewneck chenille collection, features simple but loud designs on cozy garments. The fabric pops off the clothes, adding dimension to your style.
In moving back to Portland in 2012, Marcus Harvey started a freelance apparel design business where companies from all over the country began asking for apparel that had “Made in Portland” on the tags.
“As Instagram was just beginning to grow I started @portland as a way to build community and share in my love for the city through photography and these companies who were wanting to attach themselves to Portland,” explains Harvey. “Starting from 0 followers in 2013, I’ve grown it to 340,000 followers with people using my #portlandnw 460,000 times over the past five years.
On Black Friday of 2014, Harvey, using his background in apparel design and branding, launched Portland Gear with two t-shirts, two photos on the @Portland page and a website I built the night before. The first day it did $5,000 in sales and he never looked back. Since then, Portland Gear has seen its products all over the world and have shipped a piece of Portland to every state and 60 countries.
“Over the past 5 years we’ve been fortunate to do awesome local collaborations with the Trail Blazers, Timbers, Thorns, OHSU, US Women’s National team, Water ave Coffee, Breakside brewing, University of Portland and many more,” Harvey said. “I want to create products that people actually enjoy wearing and sharing, and build a community around the city and its amazing people.”
