NEXT DOORS {ahead of the curve}
STATE FORTY EIGHT IS MAKING ARIZONA COOL And Doing Much, Much More Tom Evans | Contributing Editor
Let’s face it — Arizona doesn’t always have, um, the best reputation on the national scene. We’re still considered a growing state, with a lack of identity. People in other regions think everyone rides around on horseback, or everyone is retired, or that we lack our own sense of style and culture. And we — how shall I say this politely? — tend to occasionally make decisions that don’t put our state in the best light. But three guys from the East Valley are trying to change that, one T-shirt at a time. And they’re doing so in a way that’s giving back not only to our sense of state pride and general 6 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | MAY 2018
coolness, but to our community as well. The idea sprung from an investment of $500 each and maybe a little chip on a shoulder or two. “It always bugged me that we were the weird ones, being Cardinals fans in a town where so many people are from somewhere else, and not having anything representing our state in a cool and fashionable way,” said State Forty Eight co-founder Michael Spangenberg. He and State Forty Eight’s other two cofounders, brothers Stephen and Nicholas Polando, shared not only an apartment
