Building a clothing empire is possible with a dream and hard work.
Zac Sheaffer of Zamage Clothing has been a longstanding clothing store of inner-city Lancaster, PA with an online presence and a warehouse to stock all of its merchandise. But it wasn’t always like that. Zac Sheaffer built Zamage Clothing from the ground up. While working up to the age of 15 at places like McDonald’s, Zac managed to save up enough to open up a 500 sq. foot business, paying close to $1,000 a month in rent. He sold white t-shirts, cell phone accessories and DVDs, even driving to Philadelphia once a week to pick up merchandise.
With the persistently optimistic attitude that doesn’t accept no for an answer, Zac managed to sign a partnership with New Era Cap Co. The space was then filled with instantly recognizable products like New Era MLB, NBA, NFL, & NHL, helping to make Zamage a more prominent and noticeable business.
Working out of that little space for four years, Zamage Clothing quickly became a go-to shop for locals of the inner-city. Using his financial sense, Zac managed to create such a large cash flow into the shop that by the end of four years, and before hitting the age of 25, Zac was ready to take his business to a new venue. He opened up a 5,000 square foot store for Zamage Clothing. With the new space, Zac was able to fill it up with more recognizable brands, such as Rocawear, Miskeen, Enyce, Akademiks, Timberland, and Converse.
The clincher? This was in 2008, just as the recession was coming underway. Zac says he was prepared for Zamage Clothing to grow even bigger, but with the recession, those hopes were put on hold. Instead, not losing it all and continuing to put out the best for their customers took the forefront. Zac says he knew he had to keep on pushing forward for the company, and especially his employees who were counting on him. He did this with proper management, and through effective marketing. This included handing out freebies in high traffic areas with the Zamage branding; the “golden ticket” strategy, along with radio and website advertisements.
Over a four year period, Zamage Clothing managed to be the newest (big) kid on the block, sticking around through the financial crisis and becoming a stable business within the inner-city. It was then that Zamage Clothing strengthened it’s online presence by collaborating with bigger IG accounts and launching their online store. Zac says totally changed Zamage and pushed them into the well known store they are today. And it’s not just a store: Zamage has its own brand as well, the ZCL brand. That, coupled with celebs like DJ Envy and Lio Rush posting images of them wearing Zamage merchandise and the nearly 400-thousand strong IG account, Zac has made his little 500-sq. foot space into a company that has a presence - and that they deserve it.
For more info on Zamage Clothing, check out their Instagram.
