Lee Moffie leaned against a lamppost, cell phone glued to his ear, watching foot traffic on King Street on a cloudless spring morning.

The former South Carolina Stingrays defenseman and now full-time entrepreneur was ready to close another sale.

Three years ago, the idea of Moffie, who earned a degree in history at the University of Michigan, starting his own athletic performance clothing line seemed, well, preposterous.

But look who’s having the last laugh these days.

Moffie, 27, along with former Stingrays captain Andrew Rowe and current goalie Parker Milner have set up their temporary digs in downtown Charleston — hoping to sell a few shirts and spread the word about the State and Liberty Clothing Company.

A couple wandered into the pop-up store this week and began to get a closer look at the dress shirts and polo shirts along one wall of what had been an art gallery only a few months ago. Moffie, low key with his sales approach, gave his potential customers plenty of space to appraise his product.

“There’s no hard sell, we’re not going to be in your face about it,” said Moffie, who played for the Stingrays during the 2014-15 season. “If you’ve got a question, we’re here to answer it.”

The idea of launching his own clothing line started with his own frustrations about buying clothing for himself. At 6-1 and 195 pounds with broad shoulders and a 32-inch waist, Moffie found it almost impossible to buy a dress shirt that fit. It was either too small in the shoulders and chest or too big in the waist.

“The only thing you could find would be tailored stuff and that meant big bucks,” Moffie said.

So, Moffie, who had always been interested in fashion, decided to come up with his own shirts that were geared for athletic builds that would have more room in the shoulders and chest and be slimmer at the waist. Moffie’s shirts are made of athletic performance fabric, which includes 10% spandex, giving them a more breathable feel.

“A lot of guys I knew complained about the same thing, so that’s what gave me the idea,” Moffie said. “We wanted to cater to that athletic guy that has been neglected by the big box companies. We wanted our dress shirts to look professional, be comfortable and to be low maintenance.”

Moffie joined forces with Steven Fisher, a college buddy from in his days at Michigan, and State and Liberty was born in January of 2015.

“I knew I wanted to be a part of a start-up company,” Moffie said. “I’d done a couple of internships in the corporate world and I knew that wasn’t for me. I wanted to be a part of something from the ground up and build it myself.”

In the middle of the 2014-15 season, Moffie ordered his first 100 dress shirts and began to sell them to his teammates.

“At first I was kind of doing him a favor buying the shirt, but as soon as I started to wear it, I really liked it,” Rowe said. “Now, I can’t wear another dress shirt.”

Moffie would plot marketing strategies and new products during those long bus rides around the ECHL. Word began to spread across the ECHL and players from opposing teams were getting in touch with Moffie about buying his shirts.

“It just kind of took off,” Moffie said. “Word spread around the league and guys were coming up to me before and after games wanting to get the shirts.”

Moffie knew his shirts were catching on around the league one night against Greenville. In the second period, Moffie and Greenville captain Brett Cameron dropped their gloves and fought on the ice. When the two combatants were ushered into the penalty box, Cameron leaned over and told Moffie, “love what you’re doing, got two shirts, already.”

“I think that’s when you know you’ve got something,” Moffie said.

These days Moffie counts New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter and ESPN personality John Buccigross as customers.

“State & Liberty dress shirts are the best fitting, most comfortable dress shirts out there,” Buccigross said on the State and Liberty website. “They don’t, but they should be paying me for how good I make these shirts look.”

Moffie has pop-up stores in Boston and Washington, D.C., and is looking to open another one in Chicago. The one on King Street will close on June 20.

“We were lucky to get this place on King Street,” Moffie said. “It’s been a great. Finding a place like this in downtown Charleston is tough. We heard about it a few weeks ago, so we jumped at the opportunity. We had to set it up in like three days.”

Milner, who has known Moffie since the two played together in prep school, came on board as a salesman once the Stingrays were ousted from the playoffs two weeks ago.

“Our season ended a little earlier than I had hoped, but this gave me a chance to learn about the business and help Lee out,” said Milner, who was a marketing major at Boston College.

Moffie got the name for his company — State and Liberty — from one of the main intersections in Ann Arbor.

The long-term goal would be to build a permanent brick-and-mortar store.

“Our main business will always come from our website,” Moffie said. “We’d love to have an anchor store somewhere, but now we’re just trying to expand our brand.”