I started Counter Culture Store in 2000 after returning home from Costa Rica in my mid twenties. The first location I opened was in Deep Ellum, which is an Arts and Live Music district in downtown Dallas. I started the retail concept form the ground up developing a business plan, a floor plan, branding strategy and overall concept design. I learned the formula from Jim Buckley who I met while living in Costa Rica. Sean Leonard, a friend from Huntington Beach, CA, created the original Counter Culture Store logo with the two C’s and the stars.
The privately owned company had a distinctive ambiance that set it apart from other boutiques in the area. With its Tropical meets Urban influence, the store had a fashionable charisma, welcoming customers to something different than a typical chain store. From stocking the hardest to find vintage attire, and re-constructed eco friendly lines, to organizing it by style and color, the selection and arrangement at Counter Culture was a step above similar retailers.
In 2005 I expanded the Retail Brand and opened a second location in Dallas Texas at an Urban Shopping and Living Center in Mockingbird Station. At this time I joined up with a friend and artist Sean Leonard and retail manager and wife Lyndsey Coburn, who assisted in giving the brand and concept a professional and polished look. The second store was a first of its kind featuring not only recycled vintage clothing but up and coming ecological and action sport brands carried under the same roof. We also included a large open wall where we held monthly art shows displaying art work from the areas up and coming artists and designers.
Later In October 2007, exactly seven years after I opened my first store, we sold the Counter Culture brand including an online store, social marketing campaign, employment manuals, office software and the second brick and motor location. I then relocated to San Diego California and focused my attention on the Wholesale Company and changing the way Vintage Clothing would be supplied in the future.
Dust Factory is a company I started after I opened my first Retail store in 2003. I originally purchased into a company called The Clothing Warehouse Wholesale, but within a year of heading the sales division for the company I purchased the remaining shares and changed the name to Dust Factory. Dust Factory is a lifestyle brand where the mission is to reintroduce used vintage garments as stylish pieces for today’s urban market. To accomplish this we have branches in retail, wholesale and online markets. We also design under the label and have an entire t-shirt collection called df originals.
Dust Factory Umbrella
WEBSITES
dustfactoryvintage.com
http://dfvintage.com
Factory Vintage is the second retail store concept I developed after selling the Counter Culture brand and relocating to San Diego, California full time in 2008. It is a location with both a retail showroom and wholesale warehouse. I borrowed many of the techniques I learned while opening and operating Counter Culture Store’s and added some new style that would allow room for wholesale distribution. The entire retail showroom was developed by using recycled lumber and supplies.
Check out Video on San Diego Living
The store features a premier collection of online clothing as well as one of a kind Particle Reconstruction pieces. The back of the location has wholesale facility and workspace to create and manage distribution of wholesale accounts. The retail location has a in store seamstress to customize garments, art shows with local artists, and an internship program for local fashion students teaching them about business design of recycled fashion.
More Information at factoryvintage.com
Check out the Website factoryvintage.com for more information
Particle Reconstruction is a clothing line I developed in 2003 with a team I put together to find a use for vintage items that would normally be disregarded as trash. Particle Reconstruction line combines vintage materials from the past with the creative style of the present. Each piece is formed from recycled clothing which has been deconstructed and refitted together to create a unique and original garment. Every article is cut from a standardized pattern, while simultaneously allowing natural style and wear variation through fabrication, further ensuring that each piece is a one of a kind.
The collection, born from the creative minds of artists, designers and vintage enthusiasts alike, captures the artistic and timeless inspiration derived from vintage clothing and utilizes innovative and enthusiastic designs with a high fashion style and vintage appeal.
We are on currently on our seventh collection. Here are some pieces from the past.
LINESHEETS from the past
ADS From the past
WEBSITE
SHOWROOM
vintagewholesale.com is another website that I built form scratch using HTML nearly 5 years ago. Today the website is operated as it’s own division under the Dust Factory umbrella. The site focuses on attracting wholesale buyers that are looking for something different than what Dust Factory offers. vintagewholesale.com is for the buyer that insists on purchasing product by the pound and not per piece, geared towards large bulk buyers. This site is currently ranked on the first page of Google and Yahoo, right under dustfactoryvintage.com using key word searches relating to the products and services that we offer.
INTRO PAGE
INSIDE CONTENT PAGE
Apparel Brands, Companies•
on February 16th, 2009•
The Kelp Bed is a project that I started with Jerry Tucker and Brad Kingsley in San Clemente California. Jerry Tucker is a web designer with his company JMT Web Designs and Brad Kingsley is a sales Representative for Different Action Sport Brands and Surfboards Distributors. I occasionally team up with these guys on different projects so The Kelp Bed was a natural fit in the progression of our teamwork. The Kelp Bed is an outlet for overstock surfboards and accessories in Orange County, Southern California area.
I along with Jerry tucker developed the logo and website elements.
Logo Elements
