Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tam Litherlind joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Tam.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
First of all, always great to see people in this
studio chatting with me. I get to see them face
to face, not over the phone or anything. Thanks for
coming on in today.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You bet. I appreciate you inviting me.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
All right, I am holding in my hand here an
American flag. What's the size here? Three by five? That's
a three by five? Yes, okay, So this would be
great on my on my porch.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yep, for an outrigger or a fifteen to twenty foot
pole out front of a house.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All right, Oh man, this thing is sharp. Feeling the
material here. I'm doing this first and I'll ask the
questions later. Because you're called durable flags. Absolutely, so people
are like, so are the flags durable? I think they're
probably pretty durable, would be my guest. Yes, sir Matt Field.
The stars feel the stars here? Oh yeah, isn't that?
(00:50):
Is that something else there?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Those are embroidered absolutely?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I mean so so like some real care went into this. Now,
this is an American flag. A lot of people have
great in our country and they love having new flags.
This is a really interesting business model. You are selling
durable flags. The people in Omaha. This is a local business.
Tell me about how you got this idea and how
you guys have been operating here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
You bet well? Okay, this started with we would be
the third generation on This started with Chadhouse out in Arlington,
Nebraska a number of years ago, probably a little more
than twenty years ago. Now. He started it, I think,
to really kind of focus on helping some of the
local community find good flags. At a certain point he
offered it to his son, David House, would you like
(01:36):
to take over this business as it's growing? And I
think at first Dave kind of considered it. He wasn't
quite sure our flags even really a big thing. But
as you drive around, and now that I'm mentioning this,
as you start looking around, you're going to see flags everywhere.
They are everywhere. A lot of people like to show
their patriotism. There are polls out there for just having
(01:59):
logo flags, cust some flag things like that. So you're
going to see a lot of them. They're everywhere. So
that's your game day. Oh yeah, I mean in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Everybody's got the big inn or go big red on
a flag just outside their house. You know, So if
you have that, and you have an American flag, and
you have maybe a Nebraska flag if you're one of
those kind of people that like to celebrate state pride too,
or you have a flag of your favorite you know,
professional team like the Chicago Bears or the Chicago White
Sox or any of the teams that I like specifically,
(02:30):
all of a sudden, you're talking about people having four
or five six flags. Yeah, that could be a pretty
solid business there if people are passionate about that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Absolutely, absolutely, and it's doing very well this you know,
last year just a little bit of a I guess
notice for you on this last year when we took
over My wife and I took over the business. We
bought it from her dad, Dave. The expectation was that
we're going to kind of see a little bit bump
just because it's election year. You kind of always see
that during election years, but you know, last year was
(02:58):
a little bit more, if you will, and we certainly
saw that. And as the winter was coming, that's usually
our slower months, we're kind of expecting, Okay, we're going
to see that little maybe a little bump once he
takes office. Trump takes office and then we'll just kind
of see it get back to normal. And that has
been untrue. Has that bump turned out to be a
(03:19):
major mountain of just straight up in busyness.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And this isn't to say that Democrats can't be patriotic,
but there's something about just the true showing off of
the patriotism that I think is going to always be
associated with this past election in twenty twenty four, just
people being proud to Hey, remember we live in the
greatest country in the world, and let's show that off now.
(03:46):
Of course, American flags, I would imagine, are of among
the most popular that anybody who's in the flag business
would sell here in the US. But it doesn't stop there.
Like you mentioned, all these different flags are available to
people this material. Can you tell me about the material
on how you make these types of flags, especially the
custom flags that you know people may like, well, can
I get this on a flag?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Like, how does that work? You didn't pretty much get
anything on a flag. Honestly, it just depends on what
you're trying to do. And of course think readability put
too much on there, it's going to be a little noisy. Yeah,
But that particular flag there that's a Nylon US flag.
It's considered two hundred to year. So let's think of
that as a thread count that's embroidered stars, and then
(04:29):
the stripes are all sewn. And what we do that's
unique to our company is we have reinforcements and when
you unfold that, you'll see at the very fly end
the corners. We add additional material on both of the
flag corners that strengthens that because that's going to be
the first place you see a flag go. The corners
want to go. It's like I grew up with six
(04:49):
kids in our family. We would whip each other with
the kitchen towels. Made my mom mad it to no
end because you know, the second you do that, you
fray it. And well, the same thing happens to flags
a little bit tougher, but eventually the same thing will happen. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So like here's just an example, as we speak with
Tim Litherlind here from Durable Flags, a local company here
which cells makes flags of all kinds. I can't I
can see my fingers a little bit through the white
stripe m hm. And as soon as I get to
the corner because of the reinforcement that you've put there.
I can barely see my fingers at all, So it
(05:24):
really is a lot thicker in a spot you might
think there, like people out there might think, is a
weak spot in a flag. I mean, how much additional
life could something like this get if it's taken care of.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
If it's taking care of well, I have a four
x six outside my house. I've been flying it for
more than two years. It's not tattered, it looks great.
It always depends on really location, because wind is of
course your number one enemy of a flag, but also
it's what you want to have in order to fly
it and get that nice resentation. Yeah, I see it
blowing in the way. And nylon is a lighter material.
(05:57):
So if you're in an area like a neighborhood or
you're around buildings, windbreak kind of stuff, you can fly
this flag and unless win, it will still be out
there with that nice presentation. If you're out in the open,
there's polyester type materials heavier literally heavier material and it
will take that heavier wind to get it going. So
there's those are the two major types of fabric. And
(06:21):
with with that particular that nylon, you can you can
kind of see your fingers through that material there. But
that's because it's that light, lighter material, but it's still
extremely strong.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, I mean it's it's very interesting and then it's
it's such a stark contrast to the actual feeling of
like the truly embroidered stars, all fifty stars on both sides. Here,
Tim literally from Durable Flags joining us Durable Flags dot com.
It is the website. Can you stick around? I'd love
to ask some more questions. We'll talk more with Tim
and how you can find your own flags coming up
(06:54):
right here on news radio eleven to ten kfab. Tim
was talking to us about the kind of strategy in
making sure that this is as strong as it possibly
can be while still being light enough to billow in
the breeze, which is the entire point of having a flag.
Of course, you got an American flag, and of course
you have like the state flag. But what if people
are listening there just like, well, I have a business,
(07:17):
it'd be sweet to put on a flag. Do you
guys do that too?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Absolutely? I do that quite a bit. Actually, a lot
of custom logo flags or just images that someone in
a fly.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay, so how does that work? Like how can people
go about doing this? Obviously durable flags dot Com you
can see a lot of what you have in the inventory.
But if somebody has an idea of what they're looking for,
what would be the process that you'd say they should
start with.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Usually that one's better with a call or email because
then we can kind of go down the route of
what specifically you're looking for, and then where are you
going to fly this? Because then I can kind of
help determine the type of material you want to put
it on.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Now, see that makes a lot of sense, and especially
when you're talking about flags. The one thing that you
told me was, well, do you have a fly? Actually no,
I don't have a flag pole. It might be good
you guys do that too. You've been thinking ahead on that.
You have great flagpoles available as well.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Right, Oh, yeah, you think of one hundred and fifty
foot pole, we'll do those. We'll do oh, county foot pole,
fifteen foot pole, yeah, the whole gamut.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
What did you would you bring me here?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
This is a six foot outrigger for the out right
off the side of the wall.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Okay, so I got that little thing and I can
just push that thing right in there. Absolutely this kind
of thing. It will be nice and sturdy for me
when you bet okay, And do you have different color
options for people like if they're thinking like, oh, you know,
I don't know if I want that metal looking one.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
You bet? Yeah, So there's for this, there's there's a
number of different colors. This particular one is white or silver,
but there's different types as well of outriggers, so that
it just depends on one the length of the pole
and then what they're kind of looking for and of
course maybe the location for strength. But there's also flag
poles coming all kinds of different colors. The most common
(09:00):
is your satin or the clear coded color where it's
just that silver, but you're gonna there's there's bronze, there's
dark bronze, and then there's a whole bunch of different colors.
So you can paint these things custom if you want.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Ah, this is cool. We're talking to Tim Lithelyn from
Durable Flags. Durable Flags dot Com is where you can
learn more. Big thanks to you, Tim. You're a part
of the family now in the afternoons and we're super
happy to have you and I get to talk about
what you guys do regularly. I'm on the website right now.
You can get really awesome deals on a Betsy Ross
nylon flag. You know, the thirteen stars in a circle, right,
(09:35):
It's kind of like the Betsy Ross is like the
Queen of the American flag. I think a lot of
people would you know? Note that, And I gotta be
honest with you. There's just something that people feel when
they have the ability with whatever it is, whether it's
a Husker flag, or whether it's supporting a local team
of some kind, or they're talking about maybe a country
(09:55):
that they're from where they went to, that they want
to kind of have, Like I went to Andorra, any
little country in between Spain and France. No, could you could?
Could I get an Andorra flag at Durable Flags. I'm
sure you don't have that in the inventory.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Right, Probably not sitting on my shelf, no, But that's
definitely a possibility. Yes, And usually it only takes a
couple of days or something like that.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Really, now, see they're amaze in the US.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Much faster turnaround.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Ye see, this is the guy and you want to
talk about it locally on company, Like you said, you're
doing the work here right like this is this is
a local company that people are supporting.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yes, I actually have people right now at my shop sewing.
They so because we do repairs on flags, a big,
huge garrison flags you see all over Omaha, all around
the region. We've got a bunch of those that we
do repairs on because when those start to tatter, you
don't want to just retire it. It's you can fix that,
you know. So we pull that down and we get
it repaired, and they can usually get them to last
(10:48):
for a couple two three years before you know, eventually
you go, okay, we should probably retire this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Wow. So not only you are selling flags, but you
can repair flags as well. Oh yeah, I mean it's crazy.
See where can people see? You got a showroom? Like,
how can people go and check out? Can people visually
see what you guys do?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah? Actually, I have people come down to the shop
all the time. It's not really a retail location, but
you're more than welcome to come down and take a
look physically at the flags. And that happens quite a
bit actually somewhere well before they want to buy a
flag there, what's this look like?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
See window shopping?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, well, and a lot of times when you're getting
things off the internet, you don't know what you're getting
until you get it, and then you fly it and
you go, well, this only lasted a month or two. Yeah,
you know. So I start seeing a lot of folks
coming in and they physically want to look at what
they're getting, and that makes a lot of sense before
they buy it. You know, you, is this really as
strong as you say it is? And when you look
at it, you'll know, yeah, it's so great.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You guys, like you said, you have some gigantic flags
that people can buy or you do repairs on, and
you also have some deals here and it tells you
how much people can save on some of these deals,
which are very fascinating for people who are trying to
see the entire inventory. Is the website the easiest way
to see what you have available right now?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It's probably, but that's something that we're also working on improving,
getting the better inventory on the website so that you
can see more and more of what we do because
we are continually growing and just getting that to be more.
I don't know showing of that well.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And I got to tell you, this is the kind
of business that I think, I mean there's no end
to the amount of people that could be interested in
the people that get one flag if they want a
second one, Like you have brought me an American flag here,
which I'm going to fly proudly on my porch. Who's
to say when we get the football season. I'm like, man,
it'd be sweet to be like my neighbors and have
a big n right outside my house. I need to
(12:44):
go see Tim and Durable Flags to try to help
to get myself set up. So all that stuff is available.
Go to Durable Flags dot com. You can see what
is available, and as Tim mentioned, if there's anything custom
that you're looking to do, you can get a hold
of them. All that information is actually right on the website.
Are you guys on social media at all? You know,
my wife is very good at that kind of stuff.
(13:05):
I am not, so I defer to her on that
and she does a very wonderful job of that kind
of stuff. Okay, So search Durable Flags you'll find him.
They're in Omaha, made to last and flown with honor.
Tim Litherline is the main man. Thank you so much, dude,
for coming in such a great opportunity to meet you
in person. Here in the studio. Thank you for the flag,
and we're going to send a lot of people your
way over the next several months.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Absolutely, and I would love to, I guess so to
shout out to the family getting us here, my father
in law David House and his wife Sandy House, and
of course my wife Jordan. They're all very pivotal and
making this happen.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Amazing Durable flags dot com to learn more.