Started in October, 2005, SMASH is a clothing store and screenprinting/design shop that has played a critical role in the revitalization of downtown Des Moines, Iowa. The store quickly built a solid reputation locally, but recently has gained more national attention recently after being featured in the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler

National Geographic Traveler

National Geographic Traveler is a magazine published by the National Geographic Society in the United States. It was launched in 1984. Local-language editions of National Geographic Traveler are published in Armenia, Belgium/the Netherlands, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latin America,...

, Slate.com, the Huffington Post

The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...

, on C-SPAN

C-SPAN

C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...

, and on NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

.

Primarily, SMASH is a Des Moines-centric clothing brand with a full clothing store at East 4th and Locust in Des Moines. Though they wholesale their designs across the Midwest, they have turned down offers from stores on either coast and major chains like Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....

, preferring to be "a regional anomaly" in the words of SMASH-founder, Mike Draper.

But SMASH is run by a team of designers (Mike Draper, Justin Meyer, and Garrett Cornelison) who have been hired to design or screenprint for a wide variety of local and national companies -- from Farm Bureau to MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.

In 2006, SMASH's star rose with Des Moines' growing music scene, and Draper, Meyer, and Cornelison were contracted to print shirts for local bands like The Envy Corps, The Nadas, and Randy Burk. By 2007, SMASH was designing and printing for regional bands like Dick Prall out of Chicago and Pomeroy

Pomeroy

- Places :* Pomeroy, County Tyrone, a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland* Pomeroy , a townland in the parish of Desertcreat, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland* Pomeroy, Derbyshire, England* Pomeroy, Iowa, USA* Pomeroy, Ohio, USA...

 out of Kansas City.

By the Iowa Caucuses of 2008, SMASH was very much at the center of the action: printing and designing for
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

, and Bill Richardson.

In the spring of 2008, SMASH expanded its downtown store (doubling its square footage) and expanded its online presence.