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NFL Draft: St. Clair Shores company makes jersey magic for players
Do you ever wonder how the players drafted have a jersey ready to go as soon as they walk up on stage?
FOX 2 (WJBK) - Do you ever wonder how the players drafted have a jersey ready to go as soon as they walk up on stage?
A company right here in Michigan is responsible for getting the right jersey made in just minutes before players meet the commissioner.
Stahls' is based in St. Clair Shores, is the largest manufacturer of garment decoration material and equipment. They've been making jerseys for the NFL Draft since 2012.
"Back in 2011 I had my contact from Nike reach out to me, with the idea, 'Look we want to do something different for the NFL Draft in 2012,'" said Brent Kisha, VP of strategic development. "So they explained their ideas to me, and I said, 'Yeah I think we can do that with a heat press.' So back in 2012 we set up at Radio City Music Hall on the stage and decorated Andrew Luck's jersey and they gave us the thumbs up and the rest has been history since."
Different teams, different colors, different fonts are all ready to go at a moment's notice. The Stahls’ team has less than two minutes to heat-press a jersey in time for the player to meet the commissioner on-stage, if all goes according to plan.
Unless it doesn't.
"Then there's times where whoever is on the clock take their regular allowed time and trade," Kisha said. "And then whoever takes that position comes on the clock and they do a quick pick," Kisha said. "And when that happens, it could be like 30 seconds for us to scoop the jerseys off the heat press, put all the names away, put the new jerseys on the press, get all those names out and then press it."
Aside from the 2020 draft when the NFL held a virtual draft, Stahls' has been traveling all around the country. From city to city over the last 12 years and now that it's here - it's pretty cool to stay home.
"It's hard to believe, right?" he said. "It started out at Radio City Music Hall and we've done this road show and have gone many places and now we come to Detroit where our headquarters is," he said. "The buzz has been amazing. So we're engaging our employees with a watch party, shirts, and encouraging them to go downtown to experience it. It's hard to imagine what the NFL will do to the city and what it will become this weekend. It will be packed with people and lots of fun activities," he said.
Stahl's has licensing agreements with the MLB, NBA and NHL, but this event is something special.
"This is unique, it's really a unique situation, the way they do their draft," he said. "They definitely are the leaders in their space." :09
And so is Stahl's.