Sewing up a place in history
Embroid\\\\\\\'em picked as NFL Draft supplier
An estimated 500,000 to 700,000 people will turn out for the NFL Draft events this week.
And most, if not all, of them will encounter a piece of Greene County.
Waynesburg company Embroid’em was tasked with providing 14,000 pieces of apparel — including screen-printed T-shirts, jackets, hats and lapel pins — as part of the “teammate” uniforms worn by the paid workers of the draft.
Embroid’em was one of about 160 businesses in the 10-county region chosen through the NFL’s Draft Source program, which serves as a directory for NFL Draft vendors to choose local firms before using national contracts.
About 1,800 businesses — which must be owned by women, minorities or veterans — applied, said Embroid’em owner Bethany Tanner.
She learned last June Embroid’em would be part of the list.
“They just had everyone apply, and then they strategically chose people through that list of applicants,” she said. “It was a really big surprise and honor to be included.”
Being put on the long list is one step.
The rest had to wait. As part of the apparel and promotional items sector, they weren’t contacted until after the Super Bowl.
About a month ago, the NFL began its bidding process, ultimately choosing Embroid’em.
That left Embroid’em with just under two-and-a-half weeks to pull everything together. Tanner and her staff did some prep work beforehand, lining up logistics for blank apparel in case the order came in.
“It took all of the team, my team here, logistically, to sit down and figure out everything,” Tanner said. “It was challenging, but exciting. It really pushed us to our limits, really showed us what we’re capable of doing. And so it was a great experience.”
Tanner and her crew were given latitude to develop a design putting their own spin on the requested theme — Andy Warhol, in tribute to the famous Pittsburgh pop artist.
Over those two-and-a-half weeks, they ran 16-hour days in double shifts to get everything done: Tanner and her operations manager ran the machines for the day shift.
Embroid’em’s seven employees got help from the community. At various times during the sprint to the draft, Tanner would have 10 or 12 people lending a hand — friends, family, her parents and even Greene County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melody Longstreth.
“The NFL is huge, and to be able to have the draft come to Pittsburgh is great anyway,” Tanner said. “But, you know, to have Greene County kind of put on the map with one of our own, I think they were just ready to roll up their sleeves and help us out any way that they could.”
The work paid off. All 14,000 items got delivered Monday.
The scale of what they did — and the prominence it will have — still feels “pretty surreal,” Tanner said on Tuesday.
And it’ll feel even more surreal on Saturday, when the Embroid’em team will attend a VIP event where they were chosen to sit on stage alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“It went from not hearing anything for months and months and months, attending the events and then just about a month ago, building a great relationship with the NFL and being able to deliver everything,” Tanner said.
Greene County Commissioner Jared Edgreen said when the Southwestern Pennsylvania county commissioners met with the City of Pittsburgh and the tourism department at Acrisure Stadium last year, they stressed the importance of a regional impact that would help the community.
It’s impressive to see officially-licensed NFL gear being made in Greene County, Edgreen said. And he plans to see some of the thousands of items in action — along with the Greene County sheriff’s deputies, K-9 units and high school culinary students also taking part in draft events.
“I wasn’t going to go to the NFL Draft, but now I definitely am,” he said.
Tanner hopes the spotlight can open Embroid’em up to more opportunities — as a vendor for the NFL, Visit Pittsburgh or others.
“We have a great team,” she said. “We have great products that we put out, so I’m excited to get those in the right hands.”