Palmer Gambler: Owner and Designer of Stoic Native Clothing

Palmer Gambler runs Stoic Clothing Company. He is a Navajo Graphic Designer. He started Stoic Clothing Company in 2010.  His dad always told him that it was important to run your own business, which stuck with him from a young age. He grew up on the Navajo Reservation and took many different paths that led him to where he is today. He studied architecture at Utah Valley University and that led him to flipping houses. This fell when the stock market crashed in 2009 and he worked manual labor jobs in construction before opening stoic to support himself and his family. He had been studying animation and graphic design at Salt Lake Community College and was always drawn to art. Around 2010 he wanted to make something that preserved his culture of the Navajo Nation but keep it modern and stylish for the younger generation and to bring forth something he hadn't seen others really do. This idea was to make a Native clothing company with new stylish style shirts and merch. He wanted to make his designs and see them come to life as wearable art and let others share that culture through the next generations. 

Stoic shows light on the culture and the Navajo nation in a positive way. 

If you visit his work at www.stoicnative.com you will find his artwork and designs incorporated into clothing, including Hats, stickers, hoodies, shirts, etc. preserving the Indigenous culture and traditions while adding a modern style and look! 

We were lucky enough to get to interview the Owner / Designer of Stoic Clothing 

Hello, today we will be interviewing Palmer Gambler. He is the owner of the Navajo Native clothing company Stoic Clothing. Thank you for your time and for sharing your story with us.

Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today? When I was younger, my dad always told his children that it was important to him that we own our own business.  It was a teaching that he had based on his own unsuccessful desire to become a business owner himself.  But his teachings made a huge impression upon me.  And it would lead me to try several times to build a successful business with both failure and success.  But growth and patience is something that I value and learned as I build my businesses.

 When I started going to college, I studied construction and architecture.  As I studied in college, I found that I always had this drive to be on my own.  I honestly don't know where it came from.  I think it's a feeling that has always been there.  This feeling that I can create and build a business.  And I saw other business owners who were Native American.  This was very inspiring to me.  They were running small businesses and I felt that I could do it as well.  Because of this feeling, I decided I would try to start a business while I was going to college.  I found that I could do it.  I was young.  I had the work ethic.  But sometimes building a business requires more than a strong work ethic.

Has it been a smooth road so far? I started a business remodeling homes for home flippers.  And according to my own idea of success I felt that I was on my way up.  I got married to my lovely wife.  We got pregnant early on in our marriage.  But I was in for a rude awakening.  I found that I didn't build a good foundation for my business.  Because when the housing market crashed, I lost my business.  My family suffered due to my own financial decisions.  And I had to start from the bottom.

I often let people know that you don't need school to be successful.  But what you don't learn will often manifest itself when you begin to build your life.  And so, I started again.  I worked labor jobs for little pay so that I could support my family.  I enlisted again into school.  But this time I studied Animation and Graphic Design.  And as I did, I found that I still have a strong desire to start a business.  So, this brought me to the idea of Stoic Native.

Tell us more about your clothing. While I was going to school around the start of the 2010 decade, I started thinking about how I could use my skills that I was learning to start another business.  As someone who loved art and graphic design, I did notice that there was little Native American clothing with a professional graphic design.  Many of the kids and young adults of the day were wearing clothes that had a very graphic style.  Something simple yet artistic.  So, I wanted to design Native American apparel that wasn't specific to any particular tribe, but something that all indigenous people could wear.  So, through my education in digital art programs, I slowly began designing graphic tees.  I would sell them at Pow Wows as a vendor.  Then I learned to build a website.  I learned more in regards to business.  So, I slowly started to build my brand.  I wanted to build something that would last.  Patience would help my growth.

Thank you for sharing that with our viewers. How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?

As I look to the future, I am often worried if I can keep myself relevant with the designs that I create.  I see many young Native Americans finally taking some initiative to create Native American content through the social media platforms that are available to us.  And it is awesome!  There are so many types of content through YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.  And many of them are bringing awareness to our Native American Communities.  And I hope that through the work of so many we can begin to reclaim our identities as Native Americans to provide ourselves with content that we can be proud to share.

So as Stoic Native continues to grow, I hope that I can leave all Native peoples with a product that they are proud to wear.  Something that can allow them to show their pride as Natives.  And I hope to be a success story by showing Natives that we can build business because I have done it.  And I hope that others learn and try to own their own businesses.  I hope for the Native American success.

How can we find your work? Contact Info: If you have any questions, please contact me, Palmer Gambler, through my website at www.stoicnative.com.  You can also follow Stoic Native on Facebook and Instagram @stoicnative.

Blog by Marshall Purvis