PPB June 2018

Ky l e Gi bson K yle Gibson, president of KG Specialties, LLC, grew up on a farm in Sandy, Oregon, alongside his four older siblings—three brothers and one sister. His family raised cows, chickens and pigs, tended a huge garden and spent lots of time outdoors building tree forts, riding dirt bikes and camping out. He followed his father into the commercial printing business and aspired to becoming a commercial real estate broker. But you know what they say about the best laid plans. In 1992, Gibson received a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis and was told that he would have to find a new career that would allow him to be off his feet most of the day. Gibson had been printing t-shirts as a hobby and thought he might be able to make a living at that. After doing some research, he started off as a contract screen printer and later added embroidery services. From its beginnings as a one- man operation, the business now employs 10 full-time employees. What motivated you to start your own distributorship? We were a contract decorator for several top distributors in the Portland area for many years, and one day in 2002 we got an opportunity to work directly with USA Swimming for their branded apparel. We made a profit of $9 per piece selling direct, but we realized if we had done the job as a contract order, we would only have made 95 cents for every shirt. That was all it took. The next thing we did was join Northwest Promotional Marketing Association (NWPMA) so we could learn more about the industry. The year after that, we joined PPAI and attended Expo. What were some of the obstacles you had to overcome when first starting out? Financing the business was our biggest obstacle. We used our credit cards and retirement savings until, after a few years, we finally qualified for a line of credit. Another challenge was managing the conflicting needs of my work and my family. My daughters were very young, and my wife was working full-time to supplement our income. I was working all hours of the day— sometimes for 18 hours at a time. I would drive the girls to school, meet with clients, print various projects, pick the girls up, make dinner, put them to bed and then work some more. One of the best things I did Kyle Gibson makes overcoming adversity look easy. by Terry Ramsay Rolling With The Punches 94 | JUNE 2018 | CONNECT