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San Antonio-based Dixie Flag and Banner Company has been busy making U.S. flags to sell in time for this Fourth of July weekend.
Dixie reports it sells U.S. flags to customers around the world. It also sells the flags of other nations. The company can even make them big enough to cover an entire football field.
They also sell the flags for nations and territories around the world. Visitors can see those as soon as they walk into the main entrance. But their biggest seller is Old Glory followed by the Texas flag.
The sewing machines and their expert operators were whirring away on new U.S. flags this week at the fourth-generation family business that is 67-years old.
Vanessa Van de Putte, the company's president and CEO, said the most patriotic time of the year and their busiest U.S. flag-selling period is from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July.
She said U.S. flag sales also tend to soar higher during a national or foreign crisis when Americans feel a need to rally around the Stars and Stripes and show their patriotism.
And she said when flag sales are strong, the economy usually is too.
"If people are really comfortable, they will, you know, maybe spend a little bit more money on flags for their business or flags for their home, whereas when people are little bit financially unsure, they don't spend as much," Van de Putte said.
She said San Antonians who feel it's time for a new U.S. flag can drop off their old flag for a proper retirement at the company on I-35 near Fort Sam Houston and purchase a new one too.
"We do offer retirement for both U.S. and Texas flags, and it is a way for us to show respect for the flag, especially the United States flag. It's considered a living symbol of our nation and so, therefore, you never want to see it in a dump, so the appropriate way to do that is retire it with respect," she said.
The company can also repair a tattered Old Glory when possible. Gloria Ramos likes to do that sort of work at Dixie.
"In the first place, I like sewing. I started sewing when I was little. My aunt showed me how to sew, and I've loved it ever since then and I like it as a job. It's very family here."
Ramos says when she sees a U.S. flag flying around San Antonio she sometimes wonders if it's one she might have fixed, so it could wave red, white, and blue a little while longer.
Vanessa Van De Putte is a member of TPR’s board of directors, and Dixie Flag is a TPR sponsor. We cover the company like we would any other.
