By Dave Dyer

Staff Writer

Local Ink founder Mark Ohlson of Scarborough said the idea for his clothing line began with a conversation with his sister.

“The idea behind the Local Ink was about making people feel good and confident in what they are wearing,” he said. “Originally, I took the concept from listening to music, which made me feel better and I wanted to pass that same feeling off to other people. So I asked my sister for advice and she said, ‘You should make bras.’ She said wearing the right bra makes women feel better and gives them confidence. I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I asked around and other women agreed that wearing the right bra makes them feel better. I obviously didn’t have that same connection with bras, so I asked myself, ‘What makes me feel good?’ I realized I had the same kind of connection with my shirts. If I had 20 copies of the same shirt, I would wear that shirt every day.”

Ohlson, 29, decided to create the Local Ink Web site, selling “cotton armor,” or what he refers to as the “power tie version” of a T-shirt. He said he wanted three aspects of the shirts to stand out; the look, the fit and the relationship each individual has with their clothing. To create a unique look, Ohlson found artists who wanted to design clothes, including interior designer Tessa O’Brien and graphic artist Theodore Bettcher. Both Maine artists contributed designs to the current line of Local Ink. Ohlson said he hopes to add different artists for each spring and fall clothing line.

“It’s really a way to promote artists,” he said. “There’s a saying that some of the best art in the world is in basements when it belongs in a museum and some of the worst is in museums when it should be in a basement. All art should be shared with the world and this is a way to sell the artist, not just the clothes. A big chunk of the money from each sale goes to the artist. We pick out the material and give them a deadline, but they have the freedom to design what they want and they can truly say when the clothing comes out, ‘These are my clothes.’ Portland really has a great community for the arts.”

Ohlson said he also wants people who buy Local Ink clothes to have a relationship with their clothing, so he came up with the idea of including a personalized letter from the company with each piece of clothing, along with a photo and biography of the artist who designed it. To give customers the feeling of exclusivity, each piece of designed clothing is one out of 100 and each shirt is numbered, Ohlson said.

“It’s not unlike baseball cards,” Ohlson said. “[Baseball cards are] really just a piece of cardboard. What makes it valuable is the fact there are a limited amount of that certain card. That’s the exact thing we do and want people to know, that their clothing is one of only a certain amount. You can’t just get it anywhere.”

Ohlson, who grew up in Montpelier, Vt., wasn’t sure of his future plans when he attended the University of Vermont, opting for foreign language and snow boarding as his two primary focuses. He graduated from college in 2001.

“I got a double major in French and Spanish, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but whatever business I would get into, I’d have that much more to offer,” he said. “I snowboarded professionally for a short while, I started competitively snowboarding in high school and started a team up at the University of Vermont. I was picked up by Rossignol out of school, but when I was out in France competing, I blew out my ACL [Anterior Cruciate Ligament].”

Ohlson said a friend talked him into moving to Portland six years ago. He fell in love with the city, and said it was the “biggest congregation of small town people” he has ever seen. Ohlson has spent the past six years as a restaurant manager at various establishments including Bull Feeney’s in Portland and the Frog and Turtle in Westbrook, where he bartends on weekends. 

Ohlson, who now lives in Scarborough, began planning for Local Ink three years ago and launched the Web site in November. He said artists have already chosen to design clothes for the spring collection and he plans to use artists from different areas, such as San Francisco, for the fall collection.

“A friend of mine said, ‘You should write a mission statement,’ and what we came up with was, ‘Making people feel better through art and apparel.’ That’s what we are committed to each time. For every piece of clothing that is put on the site, there has to be a decision of, ‘Will someone who wears this feel better about themselves?’ I assume and hope that people will be excited with the clothes they buy. It’s the greatest thing I have ever been a part of,” he said.

The Local Ink Web site currently has a nine-piece line, featuring five women’s pieces and four men’s pieces. It also has a “House Design” line, which is clothing designed by Local Ink and not contributing artists. 

Local Ink clothing can be purchased at www.local-ink.com.