Business Spotlight: Stratus Designs
Welcome to our new video series, where we will take you for behind-the-scenes peeks at our amazing local businesses here in Pilot Point!
Stratus Designs, which started as a humble sewing shop providing parachutes to the US Military, has expanded into sewing various items for military, law enforcement, and added custom embroidery services for the community as well. Nate Smith & Courtney Linde, owners, have embraced the Pilot Point community since opening their doors in 2017, with a constant eye on expansion as their business grows.
Question: What is Stratus Designs?
Answer: We started off as a design company, designing products for the military. In 2016, we started really designing products out of our house. I would design and sew products, and market them. We had a partner in Tennessee who would do our manufacturing for us. When COVID hit, our manufacturing partner shut down but we still had orders to fulfill, so we got a building here in town. We’ve been lucky to find people with sewing experience. We’ve built a really good core group of people to keep us going.
Q: What do you do that the local community would be surprised about?
A: I think the locals know us as an embroidery shop. They don’t make it past the first part of the showroom. Once they turn the corner and walk into our military and law enforcement area, they’re surprised. Most don’t know that we are actually manufacturing products for them and are really all over the world at this point.
Q: What are your expansion plans?
A: We currently occupy two buildings. We’ve purchased commercial lots on the north side of town, where we can have a larger facility to grow our production capabilities. We started off in that building [on US-377] with five people. I had no idea it was going to grow this fast. We started with our military clients, and most of our OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) clients are military as well. We’re producing equipment for a skydiving company. There’s another company that does dog leashes.
Q: You pride yourself on being a company with US-based products. Why is this important to you?
A: Some people just want their products made in the US. That’s our niche. Everything we’ve got is made in the US, from the dyes and the materials, every thread, every coating. We specialize in very-compliant products, as the military requires, but I love bringing that over to our other products as well. Our fabrics are made in North Carolina. The petroleum products going into those fabrics come from Houston. We know the supply chain, and we think that’s very important.
Q: How can locals use your services?
A: Our embroidery would appeal to them. We’ve done business with local law enforcement as well. They can get logos put on hats, shirts, jackets. A lot of shops have a minimum, where we don’t. They can bring in their own garments as well.
Stratus Designs
600 US 377 | 940-686-7400 | stratus-designs.com | Stratus Designs Facebook
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