Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus Robinson.
Marcus, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Growing up in Miami, fashion has always been apart of my lifestyle. My dad was a blind, disabled military vet who was strict on education and didn’t care much for material things at all. After divorcing my father, my mom took on a single parent role raising me and my two older brothers. While working 9-5 my mom struggled to make ends meet, providing for three boys was tough, so I didn’t know anything about shopping in the mall or retail stores. I remember shopping for Polo shirts in Marshalls, buying my jackets from Burlington’s coat factory at the good will local to at the LOCAL GoodWill. My sense of style, creating an outfit out of nothing always stuck with me, I eventually graduated from shopping at Ross to shopping in the mall in my later high school days. I still couldn’t afford much of anything so I developed this thing for printing my own shirts n the middle of the mall. Fast forward to 2018 this ideal to make a shirt that read “GANG” in crayon colors came over me. The shirt I got made that day in Pembroke lakes mall internalized to be my greatest vision ever brought to life and the start of my first T-shirt logo collection which also, turned into an overnight clothing brand. I remember wearing my custom shirt everywhere almost every day, which gained a lot of attention.
To my surprise, many people began to inquire about where I got my shirt from. It didn’t take long before I realized that I could capitalize on this one unique shirt that never went unnoticed no matter where I went. Subsequently, I made a Facebook post letting everyone know that I will be making a limited amount of these t-shirts in bulk and that they will be on sale soon. The reaction and support I got was mind blowing I found myself with more than enough inquiries and preorders that I could handle. In addition, I didn’t have no clue as to what I was doing or what I got myself into. My notiriety grew overnight literaly, I wasn’t prepared for what was in store for me but I decided to roll with the punches and here I am today 1 of the hottest rising local brands in Miami today.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A wise man once told me, “a rode without struggle isn’t a rode worth taken”. I believe everyone who is on this journey of success experience some affliction one way or another. The main adversity I faced on my road to success was starting from scratch. I started my business without the proper tools or basic knowledge for success, which in turn caused me to take a lot of losses. I didn’t know what an LLC was, I wasn’t familiar with how to report or pay taxes, I didn’t have any knowledge of the fashion industry such as fabrics, manufacturers, set up fees etc. I also took losses when it came to the quality of work I was receiving from printing companies but, it never discouraged me because I was prepared to take losses. I had this mindset of I came in this game with nothing so I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I believe the struggles and losses were all necessary to my growth and learnings process everything I went through were lessons sort of like growing pains. Running a business by yourself is like the toughest things you could ever do balancing everything from revenue, budgets, marketing, production, sales and inventory is all done by me with no team.
Please tell us about your work.
Port Art is more than a logo and threads put together to create a fad. Port Art is the uniform for the streets while simultaneously representing the current state of Miami’s inner city development expressed through seasonal items and fashion. The Gang design acronym is great at noticing greatness and was made to merge all street cultures and local urban communities through one common dominator, which is fashion. We’re black owned and TAKE PRIDE IN not only representing the minority community but unifying it as well. The ultimate goal is to recreate history while building legacies to help shape the generations to come. It’s a culture, a way of life and a symbolic representation of Miami that tells a story not only my story but our story.
We also, on four key components which is; offering classic affordable quality street apparel, creating a dialogue through fashion and content, setting trends what I like to call fashion forecasting, last but not least merging the gap between fashion and street wear.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc
Success to me is a journey, not a destination. I believe that with time the industry Im in will keep evolving forcing me to superceded my last endeavors. There will always be new goals to meet, new rules to break and new ideas to bring to life. In order to succeed, I believe you have to stay consistent, creative and relevant. I want to be the one to break the generational curse in my family while making them proud. Also, contributing to the culture by influencing it and pushing it forward. Other than that, I’m still in search of success myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.portartmiami.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Instagram.com/Portart_miami
- Facebook: Facebook.com/Portartmiami
- Twitter: Twitter.com/portartmiami
- Other: Cash.app/$portart
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