Business Spotlight: Fly It Flags
Continuing with our look around at the companies which help grassroots soccer look good, we came across Fly It Flags – Michael Juszczak, the sales representative I’ve had the good fortune to work with on a few projects, was able to answer my questions and tell us all about the custom flag making company in our latest Business Spotlight.
When was Fly-it-Flags founded and what was the original vision of the business? What products did you start with?
Fly-It Flags was founded in 2017. This is all started because of a men's soccer league in Buffalo called the Buffalo District Soccer League which is one of the biggest men's amateur leagues in the country with around 80 teams every year with 6 different divisions. I run a team called Pendleton United FC, and made flags for my team since we are all big soccer fans. Other teams saw the flags and majority of teams wanted flags, which was our only product at the time in any size, so I made them all flags for their teams. This made me think, if the demand for flags is so high in this, I should start a business with it. I have been growing every year, and appreciate all the support from all our customers so I can live out my dream of making this bigger every year.
Who was the first soccer team you did personalized products for; a local youth team, a lower league soccer team, or maybe a college program? Have there been any requests which you added specifically for a soccer client?
Continuing on from question one, the first people I made flags for was my team, Pendleton United FC, but my first big customer was the whole Buffalo District Soccer League itself. Without them and their outstanding participation, Fly-It Flags wouldn't be a thing. Some soccer clients have been really interested in the starting 11 crests you see professional teams use for their team pictures before games and soccer scarves which we have added as well. We really can accommodate anything custom, so we usually meet the demand of our customers.
I've seen a few examples of soccer jerseys made by Fly-it-Flags; do you have in-house designers or do clubs have to have an idea of what they want beforehand? Sublimation seems pretty dynamic, can interested teams approach you with any design they have in mind?
The past two years all our jerseys have had set designs and we would print anything on the jerseys like logos, sponsors, names, and numbers anywhere on the jersey where the customer wanted. This year we added dye sublimation jerseys which allows us to fully customize any jersey with any design imaginable. We work with our customers and our design team in house to make it happen exactly how the customer envisions it.
Nearly every soccer league in the country has been put on hold, some may not be able to buy full uniforms right now, but what other promotional, lower price-point items do you sell?
Some teams are still gearing up for the season by buying jerseys because if there is no season some of the players like to have the jersey to use in our Buffalo indoor leagues or out with friends. Some lower price items we sell are the starting 11 pennants, car flags, and any size flag.
Are there any new items you're considering? Patches, charms, labels? What do we have to look forward to from Fly-it-Flags?
I would like to enhance some of the products we can print on like metal signs which could be hung to promote something or hung inside a house or man cave. As we move forward you can expect Fly-It Flags to continue great work and meet any demand the customer is looking for product and design wise. One of our biggest assets is being able to redraw any logo. If it is bad quality, we can bring it back to life by the work of our design team which is very beneficial for social media and printing purposes. We appreciate all the support as we continue to grow!
Check out Fly-it-Flags here: https://www.flyitflags.com/
- Joshua Duder
