“We drive fan and community engagement through custom apparel, equipment and facilities, branding and licensing, as well as digital communications,” including marketing and creation of marketing content, said Ben Cosgrove of HDLNS.
“Sports is kind of our vehicle,” he said of the company that began as a streetwear brand in 2013 and has evolved into a custom sports brand, making things such as sports- or company-branded apparel, furniture.
The under-construction Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill and planned synergies with that company are one reason for the relocation to Hamilton, Cosgrove said.
The company now has 12 employees and is hiring. He expects to have a staff of 25-30 within three years.
“Second is the revitalization of Hamilton,” he said. “My kids go to Hamilton Badin High School. My wife’s family is from the Hamilton area, and when you look at what the city development office is doing with respect to attracting new business there, it made sense.”
Cosgrove said he also likes the proximity to Hamilton’s Marcum Park and retail shops downtown and along Main Street.
When HDLNS started, “a lot of our design principles were retro and vintage, and so the ability to kind-of revitalize a retro-vintage (Ohio Casualty) printing facility in Hamilton was a no-brainer for us.”
The company will occupy the street level of 131 N. Third St., across the street from the main Ohio Casualty building, and plans to open there May 17. While HDLNS does printing, such as silk-screening, it will not be using former Ohio Casualty presses.
When it opens, the shop will have a place where the public can walk in, see sample products, create uniforms, mugs or other products with company designers, and see people creating products in the back.
In January, if not sooner, Jesi Templeton plans to move her Sweet T’s Deserts into 1,115 square feet of the street-level at the main Third + Dayton complex.
The owner, Los Angeles-based IRG (Industrial Realty Group LLC), recently opened another floor of apartments in that building — 28 of them, on the eighth, and top level.
IRG plans to carve a storefront out of the building, with large storefront windows that face Third Street for the bakery and other shops.
Templeton, a Hamilton High School Class of 2010 graduate, has been operating her bakery on and off for for about 10 years out of her home in Hamilton’s New London neighborhood. About three years ago, she obtained a home-bakery license. She creates custom cakes, cookies and other goods for birthdays, weddings, showers and other events.
In the meantime, her company can be found at Facebook.com/SweetTsHamilton or contacted via email at templetonjesi@yahoo.com. She also can be found at Hamilton Flea and other events.
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