How do you get lifted? Russell Martin, designer, entrepreneur, and regular dude, wants to know. Getting lifted has been the running theme at IMAG3, Russell’s independent clothing company that has progressed from hand-cut stencil-made shirts to high-quality professionally-screen printed apparel. What does getting lifted mean? In essence, it’s all about progression and rising above your current state, which Russell has managed to do with each step in the IMAG3 journey.
He came from Springvale, Maine to Burlington, Vermont to attend Champlain College for its upside curriculum, which allows students to work on their major requirements while doing the core nonsense. During his first semester he got his first taste of clothing design when Russell and fellow students had to develop a website for an environmentally friendly product. The group came up with the idea for outerwear made from recyclable material.
“From there I transitioned into a couple of other design classes where I started mocking up ideas for the first Get Lifted tee,” said Russell. “At this point IMAG3 wasn’t anything yet.”
The first designs were made with birthday money, which allowed Russell to buy a couple dozen blank shirts and a one color press that he used to make the first batch of shirts in his apartment—a messy process that left a black ring around his bathtub.
“We would just chill in my apartment, cut stencils and make shirts.”
But as the get lifted motto suggests, Russell continued to build his brand, tweaking and improving old designs as he went. Eventually Russell had to give it a name, and logically it made sense to title it after the nickname, Image, that his friends had given him as a result of his annual process of getting new ski-apparel.
“It’s funny because I would buy most of my stuff on this website Steep and Cheap, so it was all really cheap gear.”
It began as Image Threads, but once Russell realized the company’s purpose, it was modified to IMAG3 (Image-Three), which represents the 3-pronged audience the company aims to reach: Riding, Music, and Threads.
While the threads category is broad in the sense that it’s for anyone who wears clothing (sorry nudists), it is a reflection of IMAG3’s mission statement that is all about unity and focusing on the progressive culture of the younger generations. And the IMAG3 objective came as a result of Russell’s observation of the shift in the relationship between snowboarders and freestyle skiers.
“I noticed this change in the way snowboarders and skiers were acting towards each other. That old rivalry was gone, and it’s now all about just laying down sick tricks and enjoying each other’s style. So what I’m trying to do is not just appeal to snowboarders or freestyle skiers, but to all forms of riding be it on wheels or on snow.”
Russell is hard at work developing the Fall 09 line in addition to organizing and participating in events that will get the IMAG3 name and brand out there. Whether it’s sponsoring competitions like the Battle for Burlington, a college versus college snowboarding and freestyle skiing competition, or working on a non-profit event such as Slam for Sudan, a 3-point and slam dunk contest that helps support Sudanese refugees living in Vermont, Russell is taking a hands-on approach to not just shaping his brand, but leaving a mark on the culture it caters to.
As of now, the main distributors of IMAG3 are UndergroundHipHop.com and BrandNewClothing.com, a clothing collective that supports, promotes, and distributes multiple different brands of clothing. The Burlington-based BrandNew, which is powered by Catalyst Design, has facilitated the rapid growth of IMAG3 as Russell occasionally would put in 18 hour days as an intern just so he could print his own stuff on site. It’s that kind of hard work and dedication that has allowed Russell and IMAG3 to continue to get lifted.
How do you get lifted? Send your answers to Russell at russell@imag3vt.com