CARROLL, Iowa — At the Game One facility in Carroll, three million sports apparel garments are produced each year.
"We produce any kind of attire that is used for teams or fans," said Manager Jeff Puffett. "We've done stuff for every state in the United States including Hawaii and Alaska. We also do some stuff for Canada teams."
From decals to t-shirts and everything in between, this is where those items come to life.
While we may think of a t-shirt or a polo being fairly simple items, the process to create them is a little more complex.
"When we've given tours, they're amazed at what it takes to get a t-shirt printed or an embroidery polo embroidered," said Puffett.
First, a product is chosen. Then, a designed is formed.
"It's everything from what do you want do you want on the shirt," said Game One General Manager Quentin Buswell. "Well, this is what you want on the shirt. We have to format that artwork and make sure colors are matching and all that. We have to make sure that the screen if it's screen print has the correct image to size and all that stuff and the customer approves."
After that, they put it into production and put their machines to work. They do everything from screen printing to heat transfers and embroidery.
"It's actually a pretty big process built around a lot of people," Buswell said.
Every item is then carefully inspected to make sure every stich, every strand is perfectly in place for a clean finished product.
Finally, they're hand-packed and shipped off to the customer.
"We're sorting them out where that one person has their own little kind of gift bag type deal with all their specific garments rather than them have to sort through it," said Buswell.
At the end of the day, it's more than just a piece of clothing. Sports apparel represents the team's identity and is part of what brings them together.
"If you think about whether you're playing on a team, or you're supporting a team, what's the first thing you do? You're gonna wear the colors," said Buswell. "You're gonna wear the uniform, your logo, things like that. So, that identifying yourself as a part of a team and that whole atmosphere is huge."
There's no better feeling for the staff at Game One to be able to help provide that confidence and pride through their products.