Forest by dictionary definition means a dense collection of trees, but for Moreno Valley's Garrett Campbell it means a collection of artists. He is building his collection by surrounding himself with fellow artists and friends who help him by inspiring and creating designs for his clothing company, The Forest Lab.
Campbell, in a Forest Lab t-shirt, stands surrounded by shirts ready to be distributed
Established in 2005 with business partner and good friend, Troy Meacham, this clothing company can trace its roots back to Canyon Springs High School's Academy of Creative Technologies. There Garrett learned skills of graphic design which he would apply to the making of his popular screen printed T-shirts.
While in high school he experimented with altering designs but it was after returning home to Moreno Valley from a two year religious mission in Florida that he designed stencils to spray paint on to shirts. These shirts were meant for his personal wardrobe but ended up selling them to friends who wanted unique shirts. After selling the first shirt for $20 Campbell realized he could make money doing something he loved.
When the ideas of a clothing company were still little seeds, Campbell moved to Provo, Utah and roomed with Troy, who creates successful businesses and sells them. It was there that Troy proposed a business venture to Campbell saying that if he was serious about selling his shirts, he would help.
New motivation inspired Garrett to do the sneakerhead (collector of original and unique sneakers) unthinkable; he gathered the majority of his most valuable sneakers and sold them to invest in his new company. To start The Forest Lab he sold shoes so exclusive and collectable that he waited hours in line to purchase. As he worked by day as a traveling vitamin supplement salesmen, he began to produce more shirts that were selling largely by word of mouth and by poster the company put up wherever they saw room.
To take Forest Lab to another level, he approached local clothing stores about carrying his brand. After making quite an impression on the manager of Blindside, a skate and snow board shop in Utah, 15 designs were placed for sale inside the store .The first month 50 Forest Lab shirts were bought from Blindside, more than any other brand the store carried. In addition to selling in certain stores, customers can visit theforestlab.com to purchase shirts and hear of upcoming shirt releases.
Currently under the loose title of "sponsorship", TFL supports local wake, skate, and snow boarders and certain bands by outfitting them in their shirts. By flowing free shirts, they are walking advertisements that can generate more business and reach more people.
Inspirations for the shirts come from all sorts of avenues. His love of sneakers made a mark on his interest in clothing, "If you like shoes, you also like other parts of clothing". Ideas can come from movies like the Edward Scissorhands, books from their childhood like Where the Wild Things Are, art such as a Jack Vettriano paintings and love for the Los Angeles Lakers. His love of underground and original hip hop and artistic graffiti continue to be creatively inspiring.
He is inspired by and respects the work of John Earle, the founder of the popular and creative brand Johnny Cupcakes. "I am definitely inspired by Johnny Cupcakes; I have respect for what he does...it's not easy to start a brand." As Johnny sees in "cupcake vision", Garrett sees in"Forest Lab" vision, where he is able to see the potential of everyday images to become great designs.
Currently Forest Lab has in the neighborhood of 40 different designs and Garrett has black sketchbooks and pages on his iPhone filled with ideas for shirts that will one day be produced. Plans for future merchandise include hats, sweatshirts, stickers and possible sneakers. Within five years, the companies ultimate goal, aside from supporting themselves and future families, is to own their own store. Just like their designs, the store ideas are creative, unique and individually The Forest Lab.
What began as a hobby has turned into a successful company in the making, on that our community can look up to and be proud of.
