Olney entrepreneur outfits younger athletes

So far as Mike Crawford is aware of, he runs the one Black-owned sporting items retailer in America.

He opened Holla Sporting Items in January on Olney’s North fifth Avenue hall, and he registered with the Jap Minority Provider Council, a gaggle supporting minority-owned companies.

They couldn’t discover one other store like his, Crawford mentioned.

“To my information, to their information, and you may Google it up,” he added. “There’s no Black-owned sporting items retailer.”

A cursory on-line search turns up a Chicago operating store, a sports activities attire retailer in York, Pennsylvania, and loads of athletic apparel manufacturers — no person promoting shoulder pads and baseball gloves, although.

Crawford left his job as a metropolis housing inspector to pursue what had been a long-time aspect gig, making T-shirts and uniforms for youth sports activities groups and leagues.

He leased his storefront, which is simply north of Olney Avenue, in November, and, two months after the grand opening, Philadelphia recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus.

Native athletic leagues had been delivered to a standstill, however Crawford picked up some masks shortly earlier than the pandemic hit whereas visiting a Pakistan-based producer that he partially owns.

“I had the sting and the soar begin on it and introduced masks again with me,” he mentioned. “That stored the doorways open just about the month of March.”

In a 30-day interval, Holla did about $31,000 in masks gross sales, he mentioned, and now the shop carries masks with the emblems of nearly each NFL and NBA group, in addition to logos for sororities and fraternities.

Crawford has been stocking up on neck gaiters as a result of he believes they are going to be most well-liked this winter as individuals look to maintain heat.

He’s a self-described hustler, an entrepreneur who’s all the time in search of the place he can discover his subsequent benefit.

A close-by Modell’s closed after it was looted and the corporate declared chapter, so Crawford went over, spoke to the liquidator and acquired Philadelphia-themed merchandise, together with a rack-full of Carson Wentz jerseys.

Thus far, his largest problem has been making an attempt to persuade main gear suppliers, equivalent to Rawlings, Wilson and Schutt, to promote by his retailer.

A part of the explanation he opened a brick-and-mortar store was as a result of these brand-name firms mentioned they wouldn’t provide him if he didn’t have one, in keeping with Crawford. Many have present contracts with different native sporting items companies, he added.

The journey to opening a bodily retailer began about 10 years in the past, when Crawford purchased a $900 warmth press to make customized shirts.

He deliberate to promote them as a fundraiser to assist his son’s soccer group. Crawford needed the squad outfitted just like the Oregon Geese, a school group identified for his or her flashy jerseys.

Crawford has by no means obtained any formal coaching on attire or clothes design.

“Something that I’ve realized from the T-shirt enterprise has been from YouTube,” he mentioned.

It took off, and he turned generally known as the neighborhood shirt man. Individuals started coming to him for all their customized print jobs.

Sooner or later, Crawford bought a trailer and took it to trace meets and sports activities tournaments, burning messages on arm sleeves, headbands and different objects.

Crawford first traveled to Pakistan just a few years in the past and partnered with a vendor there after making an attempt out completely different materials.

“Being a coach and a mother or father and an individual who performed soccer, I do know what to search for,” he mentioned.

He performed soccer from a younger age, turning into a star at Mastbaum Excessive Faculty who went on to play for Cheyney College of Pennsylvania following a profitable junior school profession at Thaddeus Stevens School.

Crawford additionally labored giving morning sports activities stories on an area radio station and was a coach for his sons’ soccer groups.

He tapped into the relationships he developed from these experiences to construct his consumer base.

Holla provides uniforms to many highschool and youth sports activities groups in Philadelphia, leagues in South Jersey and Delaware, and even a highschool in Fremont, California.

“As soon as individuals noticed the standard of labor and the phrase unfold, then the corporate simply began rising,” Crawford mentioned.

Crawford’s retailer is called after his school nickname. Everybody calls him “Mike Holla.”

He needed to open Holla in Olney as a result of he grew up within the neighborhood. His commute is brief — a two-block stroll.

“That is the place I shopped at as a child,” Crawford mentioned. “Opening the shop up right here was like coming again to the neighborhood and simply serving the neighborhood.”