Kimmel Athletic Co., a 40-year-old Spokane-based supplier of sports team uniforms and equipment, says it has formed a Seattle-area sales division.

Kimmel sells equipment and uniforms for youth, high school, and college team sports, along with adult recreational leagues. It operates stores here, in Coeur d'Alene, and in Yakima, Wash., and also has sales divisions in Oregon and Texas.

"The market (in Western Washington) is so much larger than Spokane," says Kimmel President Bill Davis. "We've been looking at that marketplace for quite a while, but needed experienced salespeople to be available."

He says such salespeople became available, and Kimmel hired them. For now, the new division will be staffed with three sales representatives, one customer-service representative, and one graphic artist, all of whom initially will work from their homes in the Seattle area. Its sales division will target sales to retailers, schools, and recreational leagues, but Kimmel won't have retail space there. As early as next year, it might open a customer-service office and a small warehouse in Western Washington, Davis says.

Kimmel carries uniforms and equipment for football, basketball, baseball, soccer, track and field, volleyball, softball, wrestling, tennis, lacrosse, and cheerleading, along with a range of fitness and other sports equipment.

The company's main facility in Spokane, located at 202 E. Mission, includes about 2,500 square feet of floor space devoted to retail sales, but has around 25,000 square feet of space including warehouse and office space, Davis says. Kimmel opened a retail store in Coeur d'Alene, at 405 W. Neider, in 2007, and a retail store in Yakima in 1997.

In Texas, where it has had an operation since 1998, it has a 4,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility that employs 10 people. In Oregon, it has two sales representatives, one based in Salem and one based in John Day.

Kimmel, which was founded in 1969, has a total of 90 full-time-equivalent employees, he says.