Many people dream of running their own business and of the fame and fortune that can come along with it. Three Southeast Missouri State University students share the dream of running a successful business but don't necessarily care about the fame and fortune.
Dustin and Colton Carter, along with Tyler Price, want to use their clothing business, Killdeer Clothing, to help promote and fund artists of all types, rather than make a profit for themselves.
"We don't want to say we design everything," Colton Carter said. "We want to take these artists and let them put whatever they want on our shirts. He [the artist] has complete creative control, and we'll take it and put it on a shirt, and that's their canvas. The artists aren't promoting us, we're promoting artists."
Killdeer has been in operation for just four months, but the owners have made great strides within a short amount of time. They have sold more than 200 shirts to people from not only southeast Missouri, but also people in Florida, Arkansas and even Paris, France. They also had a booth during the first ever Audiofeed Festival in Champagne-Urbana, Ill.
"It had a decent crowd but probably not as big as it's going to get," Dustin Carter said. "It was really cool to meet all of these people. We sold quite a few shirts and met a lot of cool contacts."
Killdeer has plans to not only sell merchandise at the Audiofeed Festival next year, but also to attempt to sell merchandise at larger music festivals such as Warped Tour and Bonnaroo.
"Music is art," Colton Carter said. "We want to hit every aspect of art that we possibly can, and it can't be looked over. If we can figure out how to put music on a shirt we will."
As of right now, Killdeer is only selling shirts, but they have plans to sell many different items in the future.
"I've been on the phone with manufacturers," Dustin Carter said. "We've been looking into jewelry, hats, jeans and possibly shoes. We want to do it all. We're not just a T-shirt company. When you go to our website it says clothing company."
Since Killdeer began selling merchandise the last two weeks of the spring semester, they weren't able to reach out much on campus. One of their main goals for the upcoming semester is to get their name out to students around Southeast's campus.
"Our goal is to take Cape over in a way. We've barely reached into campus," Dustin Carter said. "I feel like something Cape Girardeau doesn't have is a niche thing that college kids can combine their collective interests in."
As of right now most of the money Killdeer makes is put back into restocking its inventory.
"We all work other jobs," Colton Carter said. "This is by no means making us any money whatsoever. It's a passion."
Killdeer plans to collaborate with two artists that they have been in contact with, one from St. Louis and the other from Paris, France, in the near future. These will be the first artists to be featured on Killdeer's merchandise. Aside from the two artists that they are in contact with, the owners of Killdeer plan to work with some of Southeast's students as well. Dustin Carter has also been contacting various charities in an attempt to potentially form connections with a charity.
"Art is not about putting yourself in a box," Dustin Carter said. "We feel like only giving to one charity will put us in a box, so we want to be thinking about as many charities and as many events as we possibly can."
