Max Berry and Wes and Katie Lyon weren’t having much luck finding high-quality American flags to fly outside their new homes when they went looking about three years ago. Today, the three are cofounders of North Charleston-based Allegiance Flag Supply, producing what they think might be best American flag out there.
“Charleston is a tough environment for flags — I mean, you got a lot of rain, you got the sun,” Wes Lyon said. “We were looking up at them every three or four months, and they’re just becoming tattered and mildewed and torn, and they just fall apart.
“Either we were buying flags that were made in China, or they were made domestically but they were being spit out of a machine thousands at a time, not with the kind of craftsmanship and attention to detail we felt should go into the American flag.”
With all that in mind, they took matters into their own hands, working with a team of seamstresses in Georgia to manufacture their own flags with reinforced stitching, all made from high-quality materials sourced in the U.S.
But the three, who all separately attended the University of South Carolina and then later found themselves in Avondale, didn’t make their flags to keep to themselves. And though their new business venture got off to a rocky start, they are far from where they began.
They’ve since moved to a location on the old North Charleston Naval Shipyard, and again to a new warehouse off Dorchester Road.
“When we started this in 2018, we all kind of had hopes and dreams of what it was,” Berry said. “At least for me, we made an amazing product — probably, really, honestly the best American flag in the world.
“We were just waiting for sales to come in, and it was really just crickets,” he said. “There was a lot of time before we really made any kind of sales.”
At the time, they had all had their own full-time jobs, and couldn’t put the time and focus needed on the new business to really make the impact they knew it could have. So last March, when the pandemic began to sweep across the country, they found the perfect opportunity to make the leap.
“The stars kind of aligned for us,” Katie Lyon said, adding that the tumultuous time in the job market gave them a sense of urgency and opportunity that may not have ever come around again if they passed it up.
“Shopping just went crazy,” Wes Lyon added. “A lot of people couldn’t go into Home Depot or Lowe’s to buy their flag for the upcoming spring. It was kind of a perfect storm that allowed us to really leave our regular jobs, take the plunge and get serious about this.”
The small team said they don’t like to talk numbers, but pointed to major deals with department stores and other organizations, like recent talks with the captain of the Goodyear blimp who wants to fly their flags, as proof of their growth.
But managing that level of growth isn’t without its challenges. The crew can barely keep up with shipping demands, which come in from all over the country, even from Alaska and Hawaii. And their methods in flag manufacturing and distribution only added to those hurdles.
“Finding enough sewers has its own challenges because sewing, itself, is almost like a dying art,” Berry said. “The labor market for seamstresses isn’t robust by any means, and it’s not like we’re just going to go overseas to look for talent, which every other company, pretty much, does.”
And with the shipping delays and impacts that have come about as a result of the pandemic, it’s gotten even more difficult.
“We certainly had all the same concerns as everyone else did during this time,” Wes Lyon said. “Working with our delivery service partners like USPS and FedEx — it wasn’t the easiest time in terms of feeling like we were delivering our expectations to the customers every single time.”
“But when we’re talking about the American flag, we just feel like that’s the right way to have it done,” Katie Lyon said.
Despite the challenges, obstacles have cleared the way for growth and new opportunities for the Allegiance team, which plans to expand its flag varieties, starting with military service flags and state flags.
But as they continue to grow, the team never hopes to lose the feeling of the small business. Even recently hiring their first new customer service representative felt bittersweet, they said.
“It’s just been the most rewarding, gratifying thing we’ve ever done for sure,” Wes Lyon said. “We all knew that we wanted to have our own business, and we all hoped we would get there someday. The way that its all unfolded and the ride we’ve all been on has been so much fun, and the best part is we don’t know where it’s going to go tomorrow or a week from now.”
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