COMPANY NAME: State Forty Eight LLC YEAR FOUNDED: 2013 WHAT IT IS: A clothing company for men, women and children offering items where “Arizona passion meets Arizona fashion.” INFO: www.statefortyeight.com What inspired you to found this? We are Arizona born and raised and we share a passion for this great state. From Arizona sports teams to the beautiful outdoors and the diverse culture, there is a lot to be proud of and we wanted to give people a stylish way to showcase that local pride. What was the most difficult challenge you faced? Balancing State Forty Eight with our full-time jobs. It limited what we could do and we sacrificed a lot of our free time to work on the company— but we’ve come a long way, and between the three of us, we have done a great job growing the business.
PHOTO BY JENNICA MAES, AMAES PHOTOGRAPHY
What was the biggest lesson you learned? Realizing that being a business owner doesn’t always mean you are right or that your ideas are the best ones. Listen to people who have been there before you, and most of all, listen to your customers. That’s key. What do you hope is the future of the company? We would like for State Forty Eight to become the apparel line of Arizona. We aim to be a household name within the community while still appealing to tourists. Down the road, we hope to create even more options for our customers and make the clothing more physically accessible in other parts of the state. It’s only up from here.
Nich olas Polando, 27 Stephen Polando, 30, Michael Spangenberg, 30 UPTOWN |
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| NOVEMBER 2015