Slim Pickins Outfitters

In 2004, Jahmicah Dawes moved to Stephenville, Texas. Stephenville, or as he calls it “Stephenchill”, is just outside Dallas, and it is home to Slim Pickins Outfitters, the first Black owned outdoor shop in the country.

When Jahmicah moved to Stephenville in 2004, he was attending college at Tarleton State University. During the mid-2000s he sold vintage clothes online out of his dorm room, loving the challenge of finding vintage clothes that appealed to a wide range of customers. That interest is still evident in his store with his current collection of personally curated vintage clothes ranging from vintage Americana, military, vintage prep, American workwear, all the way to retro western, just to name a few.

In 2017, Jahmicah founded Slim Pickins Outfitters and is now its operator and creative director. He and his wife Heather, and Bill Murray, the Basset Hound, offer an open and welcoming environment which lends itself to the inclusiveness on which they pride themselves as offering their clientele. They are a dog friendly store as well, so they really do welcome everyone from all walks of life, even those with four legs. Their goal is to give everyone a chance to experience the outdoors, and they pride themselves on being a part of the community in real life as well as online. I think that is what impresses me most, that they have set out to make a place that, online or in real life, allows people from every conceivable group feel at home in their store and in the outdoors.

As part of that commitment they carry a line called Black Outside which lets them support BIPOC and differently abled youth looking to get outside, travel, and have adventures. Black Outside Inc, the group they have partnered with, is a Texas based non-profit whose mission, to connect Black youth to the outdoors, wants to change the narrative around the idea that only some people belong in nature.

And yet, despite enormous community support and deep roots in the area, Covid has nearly destroyed their business. However, unlike many small businesses, the work they have done over the years to make customers feel like they are welcome just as they are seems to have paid off. They recently had a GoFundMe campaign launched for them, and the response has been overwhelming. They have currently exceeded their goal by around $30,000 and the momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing down much. Why mention it? Because if you think about the sheer number of struggling businesses in this country and the number of people struggling, it speaks volumes about Jahmicah Dawes and his efforts to create the inclusive space he always dreamed of building. I don’t know many businesses, especially those specializing in outdoor gear that could have raised over $172,000 from patrons in these economically strained times.

One reason for the store’s success, both offline and online, is the commitment that he and his wife have made to authentically be a part of each of the communities they are a part of. They don’t just belong to the real life community of Stephenville, but also to various online communities that have created a wide circle of followers. Some of the groups that follow them on Instagram, @latinooutdoors, @unlikelyhikers and @plussizetreats show how wide their reach really is. Latino Outdoors is a group that provides connection and encouragement for Latino youth and families who want to feel less conspicuous in the outdoors and want to help each other achieve equity with the other groups enjoying the outdoors. Unlikely Hikers is a group focused on people who have, historically, been unlikely to participate in hiking the outdoors, either because of their size, their disability, or their ethnic background. Plus Size Treats (short for Retreats) is focused on getting the Plus Size community comfortably into the areas of adventuring and exploration. These groups are only the tip of the iceberg. The list of followers is long and shows just how much work has gone into creating Slim Pickins Outfitters.

All of that, coupled with things like Vinyl Wednesdays and their vintage clothing collections, makes Slim Pickens Outfitters, and its founder, Jahmicah Dawes, pretty remarkable in an era of big box stores who treat their customers like an anonymous line item in their budget.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can follow Jahmaicah Dawes and Slim Pickens Outfitters @spoutfitter or on their website at https://slimpickinsoutfitters.com

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~Jennifer