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Oregon District Office
601 SW Second Avenue Suite 950
Portland, OR
97204
United States
Phone:
503-326-2682
Fax:
503-326-2808
See map: Google Maps
Hours of Operation:
Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
High-end Jeans Are Looking Good
Surf Cowboy CEO and founder Jeff Shafer moved his family to Camas, Wash., from Santa Monica, California two years ago. He decided to bring his company’s headquarters with him, citing the region’s deep talent pool for design, its proximity to a major port, and its moderate business costs. Surf Cowboy Inc. is best known for its high-end Agave brand jeans for men.
The move required a new building. The $9.7 million business broke ground last month on a 24,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution facility off exit 14 on Interstate-5 in Ridgefield, Wash. The land and construction cost $3 million, funded in part by a U.S. Small Business Administration loan.
Jake Agave Jean Co. was founded in 2002 as an all-men’s denim brand and hit it big by gaining distribution at more than 500 stores, including boutiques, select Nordstrom stores and Barneys New York.
The jeans retail for between $185 and $225 a pair with celebs like Samuel L. Jackson, Adrien Brody and Bruce Willis wearing the Agave threads. Sales for the line, which targets 25- to 45-year-old-men, more than doubled from $4.6 million in 2006, and the company is on track to earn $12 million in 2008.
“Because of their fit, their unique wash and the quality of the denim, we’ve deemed Agave as one of the best price-value products in the market,” said Simon Chan, men’s senior buyer for Mario’s, a high-end Portland clothier which has carried Agave jeans for years.
Shafer attributes the company’s strong growth to filling a void in the market. Many affluent men don’t think twice about spending $200 on a sports jacket, shades or shoes, and in recent years that thinking has extended to high-end jeans. “In the beginning, the stores I approached were like, ‘no way,’” Shafer said. “It was an acquired taste, and like any acquired taste once you get spoiled you don’t go back”
One year ago, the company ventured into the women’s market, launching a line called Agave Nectar, which recently gained distribution into Bloomingdale’s. Today Agave’s women’s line, which targets 30- to 50-year-old comprises 10 percent of the company’s sales. The company expects to more than double its work force from 10 to 25 within three years, in part because it is bringing in-house its distribution function following the move. Construction at the 2-acre site will be complete by the start of 2009.
Shafer wants to turn the Jake Agave Jean Co. parent company — Surf Cowboy Inc. — into a family of apparel brands. He’s launching a new line of premium jeans called Red Scorpion, which will target a demographic between 15 and 25 years old.
Shafer also co-founded the men’s apparel company BC Ethic Clothing in 1992. The homage to blue-collar apparel took off, and the company was worth $24 million when he sold his stake in 2001.
Despite a tough retail environment, developments in the high-end denim market look good for Shafer’s business. The market for jeans costing more than $75 grew 24 percent in the first quarter of 2008, according to NPD Group, compared to 2 percent for jeans costing less than that. The total jeans market is a $200 billion a year enterprise. The high-end jeans market made up 3 percent of jeans sold in the United States in the first quarter of 2008.
The Queen Bee of Creations
Rebecca Pearcy spent years building her specialty handbag business, Queen Bee Creations. She started her business from the corner of her bedroom while she was in high school. Later she studied at a textile and fabric institute in Philadelphia. Pearcy loves color so much that she uses all the colors of nature in her purses. She started her Queen Bee Creations in Olympia, Washington in 1996 and moved it to Portland in 2002.
For 10 years she did just about everything – from designing bags to producing the items to shipping to bookkeeping. Pearcy worked so many hours to turn her business into a national success that she had no personal life. She was close to giving it up. Luckily, a friend suggested that she talk to a counselor at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Portland Community College and she did.
Some of the most important advice Pearcy heard from counselors was to stop "being the business and instead run the business." Many small business owners try to do it all in hope of saving money.
"It was really encouraging to hear from the counselor that I could run this business and that I needed to hire people and that I should stop worrying about money," said Pearcy. Now, she’s taken SBDC entrepreneurial classes that taught everything from writing a business plan, to hiring employees, to paying business taxes. She also learned from her classmates who talked about their own business challenges and solutions.
The SBDC, located inside the Lloyd Center Mall, is funded by PCC as well as the U.S. Small Business Administration and the state’s Economic and Community Development Department. The mandate: help grow businesses and the economy. The one-on-one counseling is free. "We are all about creating employers," said Tom Lowles, who oversees the local office.
Pearcy loves the image of bees and uses the bee as the logo for her business. Besides color, Pearcy loves fabric. She designs the creations and has 11 employees working in her hive. She is thrilled and amazed that her little bedroom project has turned into a thriving company involving the skills and contributions of so many talented people.
“I had no idea that my business was going to be where it is now,” said Pearcy.
John Clark: "I am proof that SBA’s SBDC programs work."
John Clark started his career working in the fast food industry where he quickly rose to management level. During this time, he became experienced in dealing with the same problems that a small business owner encounters such as, dealing with employees, customer satisfaction and many of the bookkeeping and payroll experiences that are necessary in running a successful business.
He decided to return to school and study accounting and business management at a trade school in downtown Portland. He received a degree in 2 years and moved from the food service industry into an entry level accounting position at Pope and Talbot in downtown through a temp agency.
From there he went to work for Deloitte & Touche through another temp agency. During his accounting assignments, Clark decided that he really did not want to be in the corporate world for the rest of his life. It was at this crossroads that he had an opportunity to go to work for Rose City Stamp in Portland. He set-up their typesetting program on the computer. This was a diversion from his education, but it proved to be a good move for him. After working for Rose City for several years, Pioneer Printing in Vancouver offered him a job running their stamp department. He accepted the challenge and went to work for the second company making rubber stamps.
After four years of working for Pioneer Printing and running into road blocks at every turn when he tried to expand the department, Clark decided that he could do it better on my own. He set up a web page from his home, bought a small stamp making machine and started putting the pieces together for his business. He also wrote a business plan and shopped it around at the local banks. Finally he received a loan for $18,000 from a small bank in Vancouver and was on my way to turning Stamp-Connection into the successful business it is today.
Clark also took advantage of SBA’s partner, the Small Business Development Center at Mt. Hood Community College. He took the small business management track level one to improve business operations. Clark states that he enjoyed his one-on-one sessions with his counselor and mentor, Mr. Sherk. Since enrolling in Sherk’s course, Clark wrote a marketing plan, secured a loan from a bank, developed a way to track and analyze his financial situation of his company, learned key selling techniques, developed new ways to market his business and grew as an entrepreneur.
According to Clark, “I am proof that SBA’s SBDC programs work.”
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