T-shirt biz goes X-large

Since Friday, Zak King has been up on his feet and hard at work stamping shirts, from sun up until long past sunset.

He expects to do this for the next week and a half.

The quick success of King Clothing, his T-shirt printing business, is a mixed blessing. But in economic times as difficult as these, the Marysville native is all smiles.

The biggest order he's received in his three years on C Street — 5,000 shirts — was finalized late last week.

A package of new Dr. Scholls Gel Inserts waits on his desk. Stacks of boxes surround the desk; in each one, stacks of white T-shirts wait for a logo.

"I have to load a T-shirt onto this palette 10,000 times," says King, 26, demonstrating the process of applying three colors to one shirt. "It's crazy when you think about it."

He does think about it.

"It's gonna suck," he says, considering the enormity of the task ahead. Then he shrugs. "I'll put on my iPod and drink beer," he says, laughing.

Sales at King Clothing during the first couple months of 2008 were up 90 percent over the same time a year earlier, King says.

Sales in January and February of this year showed an 84 percent increase over that high mark.

And now the Marysville High School graduate, who lives in an apartment upstairs from his Chinatown shop, has embarked on a new venture.

A recently printed catalogue features his own line of "streetwear" — T-shirts and hoodies with skaterish logos — designed by a New York graphics wiz.

Photos for the catalogue all were shot in Marysville, and King used his friends as models.

"Keep it in the 'Ville," is his motto.

His official business logo features dragon heads, in honor of Marysville's Chinatown.

But the idea for his business came about thousands of miles away.

King attended the University of Alaska where Home Depot, his employer at the time, paid his tuition. After earning his associates degree in business, he went to work at a big T-shirt printing enterprise in Anchorage.

He paid close attention, and started making plans.

Then he returned to the Mid-Valley and started printing shirts in the East 'ville — his mother's garage, to be precise.

His plan now is to keep bidding on contracts that take work away from bigger shops in Chico and Sacramento, and to market his new clothing line at skate shops in those cities.

And he will continue catering to local schools that have been his most consistent customer, he says.

His dog, Juno, skitters past him on his way to chasing a toy on the other side of the shop.

It's a relaxed place on most days, he says, and that's the way he likes it.

"In life, you've got to know what you're good at," he says, grinning.

"Someone has to put Marysville on the map," he says. "And maybe it'll be me."

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712 or at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com