Today Feb 2, 2012 was a time to remember. We have our top sporting goods trade show in Washington, DC. We have vendors from all over to strut their stuff, show their products and prove that they can hang with the best. We have manufacturers of clothing apparel, shoes, headgear, jerseys, & numbers/letters from the sports world. There is way more competition than you think and the prices must be competitive & savvy. There are many wannabees, but only a few will stand out in the crowd.
One company we have seen is Eastern Lettering. They seem to have it all together. First on their display table were many different sports numbers from 1950 on forward. They had old styles that I haven't seen in ages. All of the numbers were in top, quality shape. All of the correct colors & fonts were exact matches from what I remember. They were all the right size as well. Not too small or big. The next thing I noticed was their number & letter kits. These kits which are a combination of numbers & letters to complete one entire jersey are an excellent idea. Say for example, if I had a blank baseball jersey (Any MLB team), Eastern Lettering will provide me with the exact style, color, font, size, etc of that team. It will get me the numbers for the front of the jersey, the back of the jerseys, and the name for the back of the jersey. These numbers are 100% authentic and they are to be sewn onto the jersey just like the pros wear. These numbers can be sewn on by anyone with a standard sewing maching using a zig zag stitch. They were all price less than $30, which is a great deal. They can also sell you just the numbers, or just the letters if you don't need everything for your jersey. There are many options here. I saw that they carried kids or youth sized numbers as well as baby or toddler sized numbers. A great place for any sports fan to begin.
The most interesting thing that they had was the completely stitched nameplates. They were selling them by the bunch. Most of us have expensive authentic jerseys, but we are out of luck if that player gets traded. I'd hate to spend another $300 on another jersey just for that player to get traded again. So Eastern Lettering has the concept of sewing the players name onto a twill nameplate. For example, I had an old Jeremy Shockey NY giants jersey. He was #80. But now, Victor Cruz is #80. So I can get a brand new 'CRUZ' nameplate from Eastern Lettering and have SHOCKEY removed from the jersey, and have the CRUZ nameplate sewn right over top. It was less than $40 to do this. What a huge savings compared to spending $300 for a brand new jersey.
This is why I see this company as up & coming. Not everyone knows about this industry & those that may think they do have no idea what these guys can do or accomplish. Looking for many good things in the future. Good Luck Eastern Lettering.
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