Applegate teen expands his own clothing line from home

A fashionable clothing company "made in Applegate?" That's what 18-year-old Colter Bergh has going for the past two years.Spindustry is the name of Bergh's clothing company that he started as a Colfax High School senior. For his senior project, he learned how to design and print clothing. That's when he also started making - and selling - the Spindustry shirts. Bergh has been working on the company since then, between attending Sierra College and working at a restaurant, to promote his brand of "art on a shirt" locally.What sets Spindustry shirts and sweatshirts apart, Bergh said, is the originality of their graphic designs. Many of the shirts incorporate wild colors or different placement of the design on the shirt.While Bergh has always drawn, his art interest peaked substantially in high school when he started Spindustry clothing."I usually just sit down at my computer and they (the designs) just kind of come to me," Bergh said. "I also take pictures of things, and that will inspire a shirt. I like using the photography side of it."Jason Howes, owner of The Rider's Union board shop in Colfax, likes Bergh's designs but adds it's hard for a clothing company such as Spindustry to make it."I think he has some nice designs. He's an up-and-coming manufacturer, but it's hard to get a company like that going," Howes said. "It would help if he had some pro riders to wear his clothes." Currently, Spindustry has a complete men's and women's line that includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, and fitted shirts for women. From the beginning, the clothes have sold on the Internet. Now ready to expand, Bergh is creating a catalogue so that he can start selling some of his goods in local board shops and stores. All his work is done almost solely out of the upstairs of his Colfax-area house where he individually prints each piece of clothing with his in-house clothing press. He bought the printing press off the Internet on E-bay, along with most of his clothing-making materials.Despite his current humble beginnings of a one-man company, Bergh is hoping to soon expand his company in the near future. "I'm planning on doing it until it's widely known all over the place," he said.Bergh doesn't want to limit his brand of clothing to a certain style or kind of person."They (the shirts) are sold with board shop clothing, but I don't really want to classify it. It's more like art on a shirt," he explained.Most of all, Bergh says he just loves making designing the shirts and then painting them. "I like coming up with new designs, because I don't really consider it work," Bergh said.Luke Ramseth is a junior at Colfax High School. He interned at the Colfax Record for the last several weeks.