Palmer Dean has found cyber-success with his new T-shirt design: Chris Arrant
Sometimes it’s the simplest idea that catches. It’s hard to tell what will hit the internet and take off, but East Dallas neighbor Palmer Dean seems to have stumbled onto the cyber jackpot with his new T-shirt brand, OutlineTheSky. “It’s growing pretty rapidly,” Dean says. “It’s starting to take up more time than my full-time job.” In March, Dean conceptualized the design idea and sketched it out on his iPad. It wasn’t complicated, just an outline of the Dallas skyline, complete with notable buildings such as the giant globe of Reunion Tower, the sharp structure of Fountain Place, the rooftop spires of the Renaissance Tower, and the grand layers of Bank of America Plaza. “I was originally going to color it in, but I decided to leave it blank against the background,” he explains. With help from designers and a lot of social media networking, Dean was in business. He started on Shopify, an e-commerce website that allows businesses to create online stores, and he sold out of 75 percent of his shirts within the first day. Investors approached him about the project, so he worked with a designer to revamp the store on Shopify, which he launched on April 12. It all happened really fast, Dean says, but he has big plans for the future of the business. He’s already identified 25 U.S. cities for which he wants to create his signature OutlineTheSky designs. Eventually, he’d even like to go international “because Cairo is awesome,” he explains. “And you’ve got London and Paris.” But for now, he has to tackle Texas, which he’s doing largely through social media. His website features designs for Dallas and Austin, as well as Los Angeles and New York City.
