[July 04, 2009]

Idaho trendy T-shirt vendor PalmerCash moves into storefront retail: PalmerCash began as an online store and set record growth in the state last year

Jul 04, 2009 (The Idaho Statesman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It's something that has plagued many people over the years: where to buy that T-shirt showing a teapot with legs chasing a similarly styled teacup.

PalmerCash solves that problem.

Last year, Inc. Magazine included the then online-only store on its list of the nation's 5,000 fastest-growing private companies. PalmerCash.com clocked in at No. 513, the highest-ranked Idaho company, beating companies like B & B Builders, Bodybuilding.com and Pita Pit.

Now the company is entering the storefront-retail market. The company opened its first store June 27 at 807 Idaho St. in Downtown Boise. "We're all from Boise, so it made a lot of sense to have our first store here," said Jay Hampton, vice president of marketing.

Owner Ben Hart founded the company in 2002 in his house with money from a second mortgage and credit cards. "It seemed like everyone was wearing thrift-store T-shirts, and I saw the market," Hart said.

With 20 shirts he designed, Hart launched a Web site. Within five months, the business had grown enough to need a warehouse. By 2007, PalmerCash was racking up $4.2 million in revenue and growing 616.2 percent a year.

PalmerCash declines to disclose its latest sales figures. The company has 16 employees.

The name, PalmerCash, Hart says, is his alter ego -- "my superhero name if I were a superhero." As the face of the company on its Web site, PalmerCash brags of a less-than-legal, yet enterprising start as a businessman; and of his extensive travels, a Web site born of a second mortgage and credit-card debt, and a love for skiing.

"There are parts of PalmerCash's story that match my own -- mostly about the second mortgage," Hart said.

In reality, Hart got his start day trading while a student at the University of Idaho. "While everyone went to class, I was up at 6:30 trading stocks," he said. He later dropped out.

After a year and a half in business, Hart began selling other brands of T-shirts in addition to his own. The company has added a wholesale division that sells to stores like Urban Outfitters. PalmerCash now claims one-fourth of its sales from Japan, Australia, Russia, Africa and Europe.

The company looks worldwide for artists whose work fits with its style. PalmerCash licenses their work to reproduce on shirts, Hampton said.

Customer Simon McConnell, 26, of Ireland, said he was looking for vintage-style T-shirts after seeing the style in some films. He came across PalmerCash during an Internet search.

"I've ordered three shirts so far and have gotten them in two weeks, which is pretty good considering I'm from Ireland," he said in an online interview in response to a Statesman query of "fans" on PalmerCash's Facebook site. "People love my shirts. They think they're hilarious." McConnell fits the company's target market of 18-to-35-year-olds.

The recession has affected PalmerCash, "but we've positioned ourself really well to be OK," Hampton said.

PalmerCash has teamed up with Movember.com, a nonprofit moustache growing event in November that raises money and awareness for men's health issues, to design T-shirts and donate the profits, Hampton said.

After the success of the Web site and the opening of the flagship store, Hart is ready for the next challenge. He plans to expand into other apparel and hopes to widen his brand's recognition, especially on the East Coast and in Europe.

"I'm really competitive, so I'm on to the next thing," he said.

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