At high school wrestling matches this season, there’s a big change on the mat. And a Berks County manufacturing company has a hand in helping wrestlers make the switch. What they’re making near Sinking Spring has the potential to create a reversal for the sport.
This year, teams have the option to move beyond the traditional singlet to a two-piece uniform. It might sound like a simple change in apparel, but coaches say the move could boost participation in wrestling.
Berks County’s own Brute label has been one of the top brands in wrestling for decades. The company recently added more sports like lacrosse, baseball and basketball to its roster. A new management team, whose oldest member is 30, is bringing fresh ideas to the company, too.
Inside an industrial park in South Heidelberg Township, 27 employees design, manufacture, ship and sell sportswear.
“Any garment that they can imagine or anything that they want to create, we have an art department that is capable of putting their dream jersey onto fabric,” says brand manager Jacob Hodges. “And we have the technology to take that, sew it, manufacture it and put it into their hands.”
High Tech and Low Tech
Designers work with customers to come up with unique images, from a scowling wolf or a serene lake scene to more subtle patterns like digital camouflage made in a team’s colors or team logo watermarks.
Making the uniforms is a mix of high and low tech. The designs are created on computers and the uniform patterns are cut with laser-aligned cutting machines. Graphics and team names are printed onto uniforms in a process in which the ink turns into gas and transfers onto the fabric. The sublimated pattern is long-lasting and less likely to crack, chip or peel compared to other types of printing. A team of sewers pieces the uniforms together with the goal of finishing one piece every minute, says James Hein, operations manager. Then the uniforms are checked, packed and ready to ship across the country.
Olympic Roots
It’s a lot more high-tech than the 1960s, when wrestling legend Josiah Henson started the company. Through his company, he distributed gear from his home in northern Virginia.
Forty years ago, one of his wrestlers bought the company and moved it to Berks County, an area with a long history of clothing manufacturing.
Brute Changes
Through the years, the fabrics moved from thick nylon to stretchy Lycra. Brute made and sold accessories like wrestling shoes, but today the company focuses on uniforms.
In the fall, Brute made some management changes, hiring Hodges, 23, and promoting Hein, 30, to operations manager and Brooke Reitz, 28, toadministrative manager. Hein andReitz are young, but they have spent six and seven years, respectively, at the company.
They made changes across the company to simplify processes and focus on customer service. All this was done during the crunch time before wrestling season. This year was the first for the new two-piece uniform option, and Brute designed a new pair of shorts to meet the requirements.
About half of customers bought the two-piece uniforms, and Brute’s team expects more will switch next year.
The company started with singlets. Yet even if wrestlers abandon the one-piece, Brute’s ready to outfit tomorrow’s athletes.
