A decade after Mike Spangenberg and Nicholas Polando founded the Chandler T-shirt company, State Forty Eight has become synonymous with all things local.
by Jessica Dunham | Photo by Thomas Ingersoll
We have our emblems in the Valley – symbols that signify who we are and where we’re from. The saguaro. The phoenix. And, thanks to some plucky Valley-born entrepreneurs who launched a T-shirt line a dozen years ago, the now-iconic logo from State Forty Eight.
The logo – the brand’s name in Futura font jammed inside a silhouette of Arizona – is so ubiquitous today, on T-shirts, car decals and golf club covers, it seems like it’s always been around, a talisman locals claim as their own. That’s exactly how co-founders Mike Spangenberg and Nicholas Polando like it.
“Seeing people rock our shirts in the community or tag our posts saying how proud they are makes all the hard days worth it,” says Spangenberg, the company’s CEO.
Spangenberg and Polando started State Forty Eight (along with Polando’s brother Stephen Polando, who has since moved on to other ventures) to show their love of Arizona. This was 2013. Stylish, state-themed fashion was sparse. But, as the trio suspected, the appetite for it was not. They trademarked the name, and Polando, a self-taught graphic designer and the company’s creative director, dreamed up the logo. They printed it on shirts and sold them at a Mill Avenue party.
“We were the first company to trademark ‘state forty eight’ in Arizona,” Spangenberg says. “We take a lot of pride in that. And kudos to Nick for creating our logo. They say in business you’ve got to get lucky, and we certainly got lucky with our name and logo.”
People loved it. So did the Arizona Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who collaborated with the guys on apparel, embedding State Forty Eight into our collective identity and making it the symbol of localness.
Despite more than 100 or so organizations cropping up in Arizona in recent years with variations on the same name (the copyright is limited to “State Forty Eight” spellled out), the confusion hasn’t hurt the bottom line. Within the last five years, profits have doubled from $3.3 million in 2021 to $6.1 million last year. Today, State Forty Eight is the biggest lifestyle apparel brand in Arizona.
But according to Spangenberg and Polando, it was never their mission to just sell tees. The brand’s 2016 collab with the Arians Family Foundation, which supports and develops programs to help abused and neglected children, inspired their next move.
“Creating those T-shirts became so much more than selling a product; it helped create awareness for their foundation,” Spangenberg says. “And it allowed us to be part of a bigger mission. We’ve always had a bigger goal of making an impact, but now we thought: ‘OK, we need to do more.’”
They partnered with local nonprofits (Phoenix Children’s, Luis Gonzalez’s Gonzo’s Hometown Heroes), organizations (Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine) and businesses (OneAZ Credit Union), even creating apparel to raise funds for families in need, such as shirts honoring Preston Lord, the Queen Creek teen murdered in 2023. “Sometimes just-cool shirts sell well,” Polando says. “But we’ve found that you need to have a little bit more purpose behind the design.”
In 2020, they established their own nonprofit, State Forty Eight Foundation. Led by executive director Marina Sandoval, the foundation empowers other entrepreneurs.
“People reach out asking, ‘How do you do this?’ or ‘How do you do that?’ and I certainly don’t have all the answers,” Spangenberg says. “But if we can find a way to help people follow their dreams and be successful, that’s incredible.”
The foundation does this via networking and educational events; its flagship TED Talk-style Entrepreneur Speaker Series, held every August; generous grant funding; and proceeds from its $17 license plate, one of ADOT’s best-sellers.
“When we go through these grants and hear how excited people are, that’s so cool,” Polando says. “Remembering when we were there, too, just figuring stuff out.” He pauses. “I mean, shit, we’re still just trying to figure stuff out.”
Circle K x Burrito Express
Your gas stop on the way to work just got a lot tastier. In May, Circle K and Burrito Express announced plans to expand their partnership – first tested in January in a Gilbert Circle K – to five more stores. “At Circle K, even as we have grown into a global brand, our roots here in the Valley run very deep,” says Morten Jensen, vice president of local operations. “It’s important to us to collaborate with local innovators in bringing new value to our customer experience.” That value will include four breakfast burritos and four lunch burritos from the East Valley chain in the convenience store’s Fast and Fresh hubs. The plan is to continue to scale to other locations in the Valley and beyond. circlek.com; theburritoexpress.com
– Leah LeMoine
Tech Corner: Jaime’s Local Love Podcast
If you dig Arizona’s Family anchor Jaime Cerreta’s Local Love series on 3TV, you’ll adore her Jaime’s Local Love podcast. While her TV dispatches have to be short and snappy to fit a fast-paced news show, the podcast format lets her luxuriate in unhurried conversations with local entrepreneurs. Ever an enthusiast, Cerreta gets business owners gabbing on their origin stories, their challenges in self-employment and their gratitude for being part of the local community. Available on podcast platforms, YouTube and at azfamily.com/originals/podcasts/jaimes-local-love
– Leah LeMoine
