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The new vintage clothing boutique Shirtzenpantz can attribute quite a bit of its success to a rock.
When twin brothers Ethan and Owen Gail opened the original location of Shirtzenpantz in Hillsdale in March, they also started a stunt: Owen would kick a 2-pound rock until it became a sphere. They named him Christosphere.
About 150 days in, Christosphere has whittled down to half a pound and is, yes, quite spherical at this point. He’s tumbled down Council Crest and across the St. Johns Bridge, among other picturesque Portland locations.
If all of this sounds like the domain of very online 20-somethings, that is correct.
Almost a quarter of a million people follow Shirtzenpantz on Instagram, in part to check on Christosphere. People have come from Australia and Minnesota to see the rock, and a prominent YouTuber once came in and pretended to steal it, Ethan Gail, 23, says.
“The rock has a very passionate fan base.”
Christosphere is the mascot, of sorts, of the expanding Shirtzenpantz retail presence in Portland, with a new second location that opened Aug. 30, this one in St. Johns.
Poems about the rock are taped to the wall behind the cash register, including this solid haiku: “I love Christosphere/Rolling down my Instagram/You are my purpose.” (Customers who bring in original poems get a discount of 10% to 40%, depending on the quality of the writing.)
On a recent weekday afternoon, a group of three tourists from Washington state came to town, largely to go to Shirtzenpantz. They had spent the previous day at the Hillsdale store and got to meet Christosphere—Anthony Gargano, 22, actually got to kick the rock, he brags—and on this day they checked out the new North Portland digs.
Johana Macklin, 25, came for the novelty of the rock but ended up spending hours in the store because she liked the clothes and the prices, $5 to $24 for most everything. She got a jacket, shirt and base layers in nice brands for her job in Olympic National Park, plus an $8 cashmere scarf. The group met Owen Gail at the store and he served them ice cream, nectarines and fresh-baked cookies; it was Tasty Treat Tuesday.
“It was the best thing we’ve done in Portland,” Macklin says.
The Gail twins clearly know their way around social media, but they also are savvy in secondhand clothing sales. They grew up in Wilsonville and as soon as they could drive, they’d come to the Goodwill bins in Portland and pick clothes they could sell on Poshmark. There’s actually one more Gail brother, Miles, who is still in college, but Ethan brags that his little brother has sold 36,000 items on the site.
“The Gail brothers can move some product on Poshmark,” he says.
While treasures from the bins still make their way to the racks at Shirtzenpantz, the Gail twins are hoping to fill the stores more and more with clothes they buy for cash from customers.
Spotted at the St. Johns store: Damian Lillard’s Adidas Dame 7 Visionary basketball shoes for $18. Quirky, broken-in graphic tees organized by color and size, such as one featuring “the periodic table of superheroes” ($10). A professorial-style brown corduroy blazer ($28). And, what Ethan calls “the gem of Shirtzenpantz,” an entire rack of Levi’s, all priced at $20 a pop.
Don’t miss the salmon conservation-themed art installation in the back of the store, accessible only by passing through a backless armoire. The Gails’ 87-year-old grandmother Juanita Hall put together the room, which features her original quilts, salmon paintings, and dim aquatic lighting and music, fulfilling her lifetime goal of having a solo art installation.
In addition to the main North Lombard storefront, there’s a second property out back that sells housewares, books and “clothing heaven,” a bargain basement of $5 finds with sky-themed tapestries hung all around. Ethan gleefully reads aloud a scathing online review of clothing heaven, which calls the room musty and creepy. Both accusations check out.
Next up, Ethan is doing a stunt where he manufactures the world’s largest pants and then lives in them—as a tent—in the backyard of the St. Johns store for several days. Also, shoppers are encouraged to vote on the next Christosphere—four options are on display in the store. The front-runner is a 20-pound behemoth; Ethan is considering buying steel-toed boots for the mission. I ask why he does all this stuff.
“It gets people in the door, for sure,” he says.
A customer who just bought a pickleball paddle and voted for the 20-pound rock has another answer: “Keep Portland weird!”
SHOP: Shirtzenpantz, 7400 N Lombard St., 6343 SW Capitol Highway, 503-855-9926, shirtzenpantz.com. 11 am–8 pm daily.
