T-Shirt fest: Nati Evolvement

Colin Groth and Michael Palmer at Fountain Square with some of the shirts and hats they make as Nati Evolvement Clothing Company. (Credit: David Sorcher | Metromix)

Since 2005, Nati Evolvement (www.getnati.com) has sought to represent the positive changes in Cincinnati through its clothing line.

"I had just moved back from New York, and there were some neighborhood style shops in New York that inspired me. And I saw a lack of that sort of thing when I came back (to Cincinnati) as well as a need for the perception and to give people something to cling to and something to associate with when it came to thinking of Cincinnati and thinking of specifically Downtown," Nati Evolvement founder Michael Palmer says.

"It's nice to actually start to see a lot of things happening (Downtown) again and see some of that pick up," he says.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Palmer and his partners Colin Groth and Adam Bowen are devoted to the city.

"It's approachable," Palmer says of the Queen City, "and if you want to be involved in the community and be part of Cincinnati, it's right there at your fingertips."

Palmer has sold apparel online as well as at Park + Vine in Over-the-Rhine and Denim in Oakley. The line includes hats, sweat shirts and T-shirts - the latter of which brings him to the T-shirt Fest on Fountain Square.

"It's a big part of the company, having a chance to hold a little attention on Fountain Square is right up our alley as far as being involved, talking to people, getting out there and just representing the best of Cincinnati," Palmer says of the event.

Helping them represent the best of the city this summer is hip-hop dancer Tyler Nelson from MTV's "Taking the Stage."

"He's been wearing our stuff, and we're going to be doing some things with him around town all summer before he goes back to school," Palmer says. "We're just going to try to get him out around town and get people to meet him and see him do his thing, because it's pretty impressive."

Palmer sheds some light on his favorite Nati Evolvement pieces, the blog and a big announcement coming for fall.

Are all of your products Cincinnati related?
Pretty much everything has something to do with, at the very least it's a creative way of saying Nati or something. ... We have a "Find the Soul in Your City" shirt that we reprinted for this summer that people really liked and voted on online to bring back. Stuff that has messaging that directs you toward the city and toward what's going on down there.

What's your favorite item to wear?
My favorite thing was we did a "Pigs Fly" hoodie that just came out not too long ago. I just think the design is fun and bright and poppy.

What's your most popular design with customers?
The hats. People just love the original, the very first Nati hat that we made. We've continued to do different variations and different colors of it over the years, and we actually didn't have it for a while. ... We had to bring that one back for sure. It's unbelievable how many of these hats we sell.

How often do you create new designs?
It's probably more seasonally; every couple of months we'll come out with a new batch of a couple things and that'll usually last like a month or two. ... We do everything exclusively so everything's limited to like 100 at the most, and then we may do a reissue like we did where we let people vote (on our blog), but it's a different color or things are slightly changed as such that everything remains a little bit unique.

Why did you decide to have people vote and bring back old favorites?
We've always tried to encourage interaction with our Web site. We have a blog that we're trying to continually update and make it a place for people to be able to come and see what's going on around town, interact with it, send pictures of yourself wearing Nati gear and we can put that stuff up; and local music we've had on in the past and trying to get other people in other creative outlets and just people in the city talking and interacting with the site a bit and trying to make it a little bit of a portal and a place that people can come to seek out information and become part of that community.

Can you tell me anything about your project coming in the fall?
The clothing thing has spiraled into more of a small design company. We've been doing a lot of work with local businesses and somehow have gotten a bit of a niche with restaurants. We've done stuff with Lavomatic in the past, Gateway Quarter; we helped the guys with the Rookwood in Mount Adams a while back. I can't go into much detail, but it's a new project that we've been doing the branding and the design for a new startup that's going to be in the Gateway Quarter (that is scheduled to open in the fall).