Local musician Jim Duff has the blues

Comment by drzrocks: Wednesday, July 14

I never heard anything impressive on his site at all....read more...

Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

Comment by Truthseekerme: Thursday, July 8

Patti Strand, of the National Animal Interest Alliance, author of "The Hijacking of the Humane Movem...read more...

Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

Comment by HillaryatHSUS: Wednesday, July 7

I work at the HSUS, and I’ve also worked at several animal shelters. Shelters do great work – ad...read more...

» Read more recent story comments
» Register for your account

What do speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, skier Lindsey Vonn, snowboarder Shaun White and Tillett’s Uniforms Inc. have in common?

The answer: all are representing the United States in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

While Ohno’s, Vonn’s and White’s athletic mastery of the short track, slopes and pipe have earned them a place in the 2010 Games, Tillett’s Uniforms Inc. relied on its prowess with needle and thread to sew up its spot on the global stage.

Tillett’s Uniforms Inc. of Stanford, also known as Tillett’s Band Uniforms, was chosen by David Atkins Enterprises, executive producer of the opening, closing and victory ceremonies of the 2010 Games, to produce jackets to be used in Sunday’s closing ceremonies.

At least that’s what Clydene Sluder, president of Tillett’s Uniforms Inc., Leota Padgett, vice-president and secretary, and Herbie Tillett, CEO, have been led to believe.

“It’s been really hush-hush,” said Sluder.

“The way our dealer said it to me was, ‘If you were to ask me, ‘Are the (jackets) going to be used in the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics?’ I would have to lie,’” Padgett said.

“‘I would have to lie and say No!,’” interjected Sluder.

“Everything we’re doing is basically on guess work,” said Padgett. “They didn’t want to come out and tell us anything. They try to keep these things a secret, I guess.”

But how did this small Stanford uniform company (current payroll – 16) catch the attention of an international company like David Atkins Enterprises, which also handled the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia?

“Ninety-eight percent of what we do is outside the area,” said Padgett, whose company has been in business for over 25 years. “We have dealers in several different states that sell our band uniforms and David Atkins Productions contacted one of our dealers down in Florida.”

“I guess they thought what they wanted might be similar to a band uniform,” she said. “Our dealer worked with their people until they came up with a sketch of what they wanted and then he sent it to us.”

It wasn’t a done-deal yet. Tillett’s Uniforms Inc. looked over the design for the order of 125 jackets and assessed their ability to meet the request.

“We came up with the price, if we could make what they wanted, that we needed,” Padgett said. “But when they said they wanted it to be shipped the last day of December (2009), we said we couldn’t do that.”

The deadline was tight but Padgett, Sluder and Tillett put their heads together and decided to rethink declining the order.

“We kept thinking this is something too important,” Padgett said. “It’s not like they were going to miss one football game with a band uniform. We knew if we took it, we had to meet the delivery date.”

All parties agreed, and Tillett’s got a break when they were allowed extra time to produce the jackets.

“They moved the date up to the 15th of January,” said Sluder. “We took it and had it done with plenty of time left.”

So what can viewers look for when they watch Sunday night’s closing ceremonies? Will the locally-made jackets bear any resemblance to the uniforms worn by the Lincoln County High School band or the Danville High School band?

“No, it’s like a parody of the Canadian Mounted Police,” said Padgett, who could not release photos of the completed jackets. “The jackets are red with black trim.”

“I’m going to be looking for them during the closing ceremonies,” she said. “The closing ceremonies are always my favorite part, but I’m really excited about them this year. I can’t wait to watch them.”

The excitement that Padgett, Sluder, Tillett and the rest of Tillett Uniforms Inc. have felt about getting to see their uniforms paraded before an international audience has been almost too much to keep to themselves.

In fact, they admit they may have let the secret slip out a few times.

“We’ve been wanting to tell people to watch it, but we’re not supposed to,” said Sluder. “We told some cousins the other day so they could watch it because we want people to see them.”

Unlike Ohno, Vonn and White, Tillett’s Uniforms Inc. will go unheralded at the 2010 Games, not hearing its name called over the public address system even once to recognize the company’s presence.

“It’s just too bad they don’t roll credits to tell where the jackets come from,” said Tillett. “It would be kind of nice to see your name on the screen to let people know you had a little part in the Olympics.”

In the grand scheme of things, the Olympic order was small potatoes for the uniform company.

“It’s great to say we’ve done something for the Olympics, but that’s just a small portion of what we do,” said Tillett.

“We probably do 50 or more of those (orders) a year of 110 to 250 complete uniforms at a time,” Padgett said. “It was a lot less complicated than some of the band uniforms that we make.”

“But we’re glad we did it,” she added. “We all feel proud to be a part, even a small part, of the Olympics.”

Story comments

No comments on this article yet.

Posting comments on this web site requires free registration.

• Create your account
• Log in to your account