Meet Keith Kelly | Outdoor Enthusiast and Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Keith Kelly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Keith, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The inspiration behind Blackstock Clothing was to contribute in a small way to supporting and bringing back American made high end apparel to the outdoor space. Over the past 20 years or so it became increasingly obvious that the original intent of off-shoring apparel production and keeping prices lower for consumers, had morphed into a sort of Arms race for more and more expensive apparel despite the lower input costs.

So as an outdoor enthusiast we simply started to notice that the price of our imported goods was going up every year and yet the quality was decreasing at an alarming rate. The consolidation of retailers was also driving this trend at a rapid pace and in some cases putting consumers into the position of a single source of retail. Either chose the “house brand” or the single large producer they were picking for us.

So quite simply we set out to see if we could do better, provide an alternative for smaller retailers and make stuff we wanted to use. We choose the highest grade fabrics for both our outerwear and soft goods and test all our products for months even years in the field before we sell them to the public.

What should our readers know about your business?
Blackstock Clothing and the apparel business as a whole is not an easy business. It is a capital intensive and labor intensive industry. Trying to start a domestic apparel business with the supply shocks of a global pandemic have made it even harder. As a smaller purchaser of domestic fabrics and components, many times over the past few years, our needs have been pushed aside as our regular suppliers were forced to chose between our relatively small needs and the needs of supplying much larger accounts.

Labor constraints only compounded the problems as the lead times for our fabrics grew even longer then they had in the past. That meant we went into the Fall selling seasons with understocked or out of stock items for many of our most popular products. We had decided at the beginning to not cut corners on our fabric selection and after a couple of years of products testing of waterproof , windproof and breathable softshell materials we were not going to substitute with lower end fabrics. The same occurred with our woven goods. Our T-shirts collections are made of a proprietary cotton-like cotton synthetic fabric, yet its antimicrobial, highly odor resistant and contains UV fighting characteristics. These fabrics are not easily substituted by cheaper or off label fabrics, so we decided to wait it out.

The end result was we had to balance production of certain items such as Jackets against introducing new products like our hunting pants. The good news is that we getting ahead of supply constraints and growth with a healthy supply of fabrics on hand, therefore we feel better about coordinating our full hunting line up for the first time in a while.

Blackstock clothing is the complete opposite of “fast fashion”. Our products are made to last a long time. They are not designed to be obsolete in a season or two. Each piece of our gear is fully tested to be used by our target market of hunting enthusiasts. Even our camouflage patterns are unique to US. We decided to go this route in order to not mistake our products with any other manufacturer. The easiest way to know someone is wearing our gear is the pattern.

We have also made the decision that we will not license our pattern unless the product is Made in the USA. It’s one more way to work and protect like minded small businesses.

Being based in the Southeast with long hunting seasons and highly variable weather, we set out to make our products adaptable to the seasons. That being said, the amount of our product being used all over the country is testament to our believe that our materials can be used across the various conditions and temperatures the average hunter is going to encounter.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m not really sure we are the best for pointing folks in the right direction regarding city activities. Quite frankly we work in metro areas and spend our time getting outdoors. It’s just what we do.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to thank all of the other supportive small business owners we have met thanks to starting Blackstock Clothing. Small craft companies like Tekton Game Calls who make excellent small batch duck calls from his shop in John’s Island and always was quick to introduce around other outdoor enthusiasts. We would also like to thank Jon and Aften Turner of Charlotte NC, who have spread the word via social media about our products.

Website: https://blackstockclothing.com/

Instagram: @blackstockclothing

Twitter: @blackstockcamo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Blackstockclothing/