Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcia Smith. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Marcia Smith is the founder of HGC Apparel, a brand filled with items that will help send a message of empowerment, self-love, and community awareness. In the early 2000s, there was a scarcity of meaningful apparel that once dominated black culture. Clothing was beginning to lack value, substance, and most importantly pride. This passion for activism, alongside vibrant colorways, and daring statements, challenges the social constructs of society and show the world your voice. While creating a brand of such momentous impact, Smith found herself in the military stationed abroad while trying to maintain her creation. Despite a challenging situation, Marcia did not stop until she could witness the business grow from a hobby into a dream.
While cultivating that dream, Marcia married and had a beautiful son, which led her into entrepreneurship. After finishing her seven years with the Army in 2018, Smith started working full-time to grow HGC Apparel after moving back to the States for the first time in almost a decade. The company is more than just a brand, it’s a movement that many can join to support and invest back into the black community. HGC Apparel’s place is in the community.
Through strategic partnerships, sponsorships, and causes, the values we share are at the forefront of our purpose.
We still “Fight The Power,” but this generation is taking over the revolution!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When it comes to being a pioneer in the entrepreneurship world, there is no such thing as a smooth easy road. At times the journey can become overwhelming with jammed pack obstacles and tumultuous challenges that make business an unforgettable experience. It’s a craft you won’t know unless you try it and everyone’s encounter is different. Just like with life, in business, you have to get used to operating at a standard level of affairs. With this endeavor, you have to make immense personal and lifestyle changes to set yourself up for success. As I become transparent about my challenges, team building has been a tough hurdle to overcome because it’s hard to build a genuine team in a business filled with people who support the development of your vision. Finding key people to take on your mission as their own is the very essence that brings tremendous success.
Having an “Each One Teach One” mindset allows me to provide opportunities for young leaders and spread impeccable knowledge for the betterment of our community. Being that HGC Apparel is an e-commerce brand, keeping the attention of the people has been a barrier for us and we are currently maintaining personnel to ensure our team keeps supplying a quality product to consumers. Looking at this obstacle as a pivot allows us to excel and think outside the box when given unique circumstances. Overall, recognizing where their problem lies is half the battle, and once you understand how you can prevent minor issues, the marathon will get easier.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
HGC Apparel is a fashion line that was created in 2008 by Marcia Smith. Our mission is to create an interactive experience that empowers the community through Black love, family, and education affirming that through strong relationships, communal involvement, and knowledge, we are unstoppable. Since Black love is rarely depicted in the media, we make it a safe space to promote and uplift our people and the love we share. All love is amazing and we encourage all aspects of happiness and relationships.
By showcasing the vast array of positive relationships, from professional to college experiences, we in turn, create stronger bonds and a family-like environment to combat these visuals. Our desire to be close to others like ourselves is one of the many reasons why this platform exists. This apparel sends a message that draws attention to our history as well as our inherent royalty, which noticeably sparks an interest in educational tools and resources. We pride ourselves on building these connections.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
We want to discuss the exclusive partnerships we have going on right now in the Houston area. One of them is with the BLCK Market in Pearl Land, Texas, where we originally partnered with a black business to offer exclusive garments to their customers. In the near future, we plan to launch exclusive pop-up activations to bring more presence to the Houston area since it has a large black market. Our brand has a lot of support there and we want to reciprocate that energy right back by pouring back into the community and connecting with our supporters. This is why we wanted to make sure Voyage Houston knew the specific ways we can interact and come closer after this article so we can continue to maintain a bond with Houston. Our design team intends to make sure we incorporate specific things that our Texas supporters like so that we can place them in the BLCK Market. We also have a partnership with an organization called The JCS Project, which is a community organization. We used our nonprofit organization HGC Academy, to donate clothing, resources, and supplies to combat food scarcity for college students attending HBCUs.
A lot of young students aren’t working, they either rely on their parents or scholarships in these types of situations. There are times when students can’t make it to the cafeteria to go get food. So we wanted to provide small meal boxes packed with food essentials: Kool-Aid Jammers, Cereal, Granola Bars, and other snacks. This is a cause dear to our hearts and we wanted the resources to be an emergency stash for students so they’re not worried about their next meal at school. Partnering with an organization like The JCS Project was important to us because we wanted to be more hands-on with the college students in the Houston area. We have currently worked with several universities such as Texas Southern University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, Dillard University, and Spelman College. Previously we donated 400 beanies to the students of the locations and we would love to get more support, so we can get more boxes out to these students. Food scarcity is a major issue in school, so we just want to raise awareness about this cause and make sure students know resources are available.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HGCAPPAREL.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/hgcapparel?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HGCAPPAREL/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hgc-apparel/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hgcapparel?s=21&t=9P5NT5lHjaUnp7qpBo07UQ
