YOUNGSTOWN -- Christopher Orlando and Kathy Loomis specialize in placing logos and special designs

YOUNGSTOWN -- Christopher Orlando and Kathy Loomis specialize in placing logos and special designs on jerseys, hats and sweatshirts, but they also can handle unusual items such as motorcycle handlebars and flags.
"We do logos for companies and [sometimes] come up with ideas for those who don't know what they want," Orlando said.
Orlando runs Ham's Shirts, and Loomis is the company's full-time embroiderer.
The 15-year-old business, bought in 1999 by Richard Barr of R-Barr Enterprises Inc. of Youngstown, specializes in adding custom-made designs, patterns and logos to a variety of fabrics, garments and other merchandise -- much of it based on customers' ideas and needs.
Loomis also works as a digitizer, meaning she draws out a particular design or logo, as well as its color scheme, on a computer and does the individual stitching, sizing, lettering and other fabric work that way.
Owns another business
She also owns Seams Unlimited, a business she runs from her Levittsburg home. There, she does alterations and design work on wedding gowns, quilts and various outfits.
"I thoroughly enjoy my work here and there and love coming to work," she said.
Ham's Shirts also sells much of what it alters, including numerous jerseys, caps and outfits emblazoned with local sports teams' insignia. The business often addresses many unusual requests, such as placing a baby's date of birth and birth weight on a baby blanket or making Halloween or Christmas patterns at different times of the year.
"We keep most [seasonal outfits] out year-round," Loomis said. "But we have some oddball requests like Christmas in July."
Loomis starts by striving for the most precise spacing and sizing for each design. She uses large or small hoops to stabilize each hat, shirt or other garment, depending on its size and fabric.
Special tools
Loomis sometimes uses backing, a process that keeps thin and fragile fabrics from shifting before the design is added. Then she uses solvy, a plastic material that dissolves in water and that prevents threads from sinking too far into the fabric.
Before he started at Ham's Shirts, Orlando worked for the Mahoning County Board of Education and was a special-education teacher for four years after receiving his bachelor's degree in education from Youngstown State University.
Orlando lived briefly in Omaha, Neb., where he took a three-month teaching position. After returning to the Mahoning Valley, he began at Ham's Shirts in November 2000, and now does much of the sales, contract and managerial work.
Loomis began as a seamstress when she was a student at the former South High School and later worked for three years at the former Phoenix Sportswear Co. in Warren. Shortly after responding to a newspaper ad, she got the job at Ham's, where she's been for three years.
Loomis described herself as "self-taught," adding she had few computer skills before taking the job.
"I barely knew how to run the computer when I came here, and I barely knew how to turn it on," she recalled.
Orlando said that he hopes to get away from the retail end of the business and focus more on contractual work. "I used to go to craft fairs and now I do mostly individual and business work. We're steadily growing," he said.