In Stay's short time, we've worked with three century-old Pennsylvania manufacturers

Ben's Bolt Mini Zip Bag

I discovered Standard Pennant Co. of Big Run, Pa., when I examined the collar tag in my wife’s decades-old Hershey High School cheerleader jacket.

Much to my delight, the Jefferson County company (approximately 30 miles northeast of State College) was still in business in 2018 when I was looking to have custom USA pennants made.

Standard Pennant subsequently made our Hockey Night in Hershey pennant and banner, too.

Standard Pennant, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2019, is one of three century-old Pennsylvania manufacturers with which we’ve had the great fortune to work. While we aspire to be a fully actualized 21st century company, Stay is decidedly a product of the past.

‘Awesome on a pint glass’

An appreciation of history informs everything we do. Enduring companies have experience and expertise that we can marvel at and learn from.

What’s more, the three Pennsylvania companies are providing valuable jobs in their local communities. We are proud to support them in our small way.

We turned to Susquehanna Glass in Columbia, Lancaster County, for a pint-glass version of our popular Pennsylvania Craft Beer tee design. Actually, Susquehanna Glass, which Albert Roye started in 1910 when he installed a glass-cutting machine in a small shed behind his house, reached out to us upon seeing our Instagram post about the craft beer tee.

“This design would look awesome on a pint glass or mug!” Susquehanna Glass commented on our post.

We agreed, and within a couple of weeks we were sharing mockups of the pint glass with our social media followers. Our friends at Creatively Lancaster included the pint glass among the products in its Father’s Day gift box this year.

Beyond the high quality of their work, what I love about Standard Pennant and Susquehanna Glass is that they weren’t just order takers. They were proactive: I had only planned to offer Hockey Night in Hershey banners until Standard Pennant took the initiative to show me what the design would look like on a felt pennant. I was sold.

Likewise, Susquehanna Glass knew I favored a pint glass, but I also received samples of our design etched on a jumbo glass mug and on a beer can glass. We received mockups of the design on a wooden cutting board and on a slate cheese server. We might revisit those ideas.

For the long haul

Of course, the companies wanted to sell to me, but they proved to be creative, nimble and responsive.

Meanwhile, A. Rifkin Co. in Wilkes-Barre is our newest century-old vendor, as I described in this recent post.

I met a customer at Creatively Lancaster on Aug. 8 who works in the financial services industry. We bonded over screen printing (he dabbled in it as a young man) and A. Rifkin, the latter when he realized that our Ben’s Bolt Mini Zip Bag is made by the same company that makes banker’s bags.

Those moments are golden.

We’re selling T-shirts and accessories, yes, but Stay aspires to be so much more than that. We want to connect with people, to share the stories behind our products, the rationales behind our designs, in a way that mass merchandisers never aspire.

Ultimately, we want customers to buy from us with an appreciation that we committed to only offering high-quality American-made products and always delivering top-notch customer service.

We are in this for the long haul. How about a hundred years?