Few online retailers can provide an entire Instagram-ready look for men. Zamage is a clothing brand that saw this gap in the market and launched as a small retail store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2004. From there, it has had a meteoric rise to fame, becoming the perfect place online to find the trendiest looks for men.
Zamage was founded by entrepreneur Zachary Sheaffer. It started humbly as a retail store that sold t-shirts and accessories, focusing solely on men’s fashion. Zamage’s clothing line led with perennially trending styles like hip hop and street. In 2008, Zamage was ready to expand and the store relocated to a 500 square feet location – it was a move that brought Zamage more customers and attention as they became the go-to store in Lancaster for trending looks for men. With the new location, came new brands and labels, as Zamage began stocking big brand names like Timberland and Rocawear. Despite the recession that descended in 2008, Zamage managed to rise above it and reach a new level, retailing online. The transition to online was a smooth one; the store offered worldwide shipping and rose to greater prominence, becoming an online style setter. It was within the arena of online styling that the Zamage brand truly flourished. The Zamage Instagram page is a colorfully curated ode to street style. They share bold outfits, combining tie-dyed tank tops with ripped jeans and neon-colored balaclavas. Nowadays, Zamage is a leading store in the United States for stocking up on trending styles for men. Of the evolution that Zamage has undergone from a small store in Pennsylvania to a popular online retailer, founder Sheaffer says, “I don’t believe in small ideas; when I started the business, I knew that I wanted to scale upward. I’ve always held myself to high standards, so Zamage will continue to provide trending styles with fast two-day shipping worldwide.”
The journey that Zamage has undergone is notable as it’s a retailer that was created before the recession of 2008, and instead of shutting its doors when the recession hit four years after the store was founded, it expanded. Sheaffer opened the store when he was twenty years old, entering his twenties as a business owner and an ambitious entrepreneur. Sheaffer maintains that determination and belief in the demand for what Zamage could provide its customers are what helped transform his business from a small store to a leading online brand. Elaborating on this, Sheaffer says, “I never had a plan B, I believed that there was a gap in the market for a place online that could provide comfortable but stylish hip-hop and street styles for men.”
Men’s fashion has come a long way and evolved from being just relegated to a small section in a women’s clothing store, with the help of trendsetting and visionary brands like Zamage that dare to believe in it.
