Inside a stand-alone single-story building — a lone commercial one surrounded by houses on 35th Avenue in Phoenix — sewing machines that were probably made around the time of World War II whir.
The Show took a step back in time with Sue Castelletti, the co-owner of Phoenix Lettering, for a new installment of the series Made in Arizona.
The company has been around since 1957. In 1980, Castelletti and her former husband, Jack, bought it from the two sisters who’d owned it.
Inside the lobby, you can see patches of all different kinds of activities — from chess club to choir to student council. There are patches for musical instruments, sports and achievements. And then, there are the mascots — lions, pumas, eagles, jaguars and all manner of other scary and intimidating animals.
The main workroom is filled with sewing machines — and members of Sue and Jack’s family. The Show stopped by the shop, and in the back room — away from the sewing machines somewhat — Sue talked about how busy she was, despite this being kind of a niche business.
Full conversation
CASTELLETTI FAMILY: It just connected me to my roots, and it's just something so portable and inexpensive and felt that I could take risks with embroidery in a way that I couldn't take risks in other areas of art.
SUE CASTELLETTI: A lot of my paintings, gravity doesn't matter a whole lot.
CASTELLETTI FAMILY: From there, I had a request for hand eyed wedding gowns, and that's how it started. So I didn't plan to be a wedding designer. I just knew I wanted to work for myself. I loved to sew. I love to just be in my piece.
CASTELLETTI FAMILY: Try to tug at people's heartstrings. I try to do something disturbing, but usually a duality piece. But this year was all about, you know, what? I don't want any madness in my work. I want to really just be this big, beautiful place that I want to live in.
CASTELLETTI FAMILY: Dance wasn't something that is necessarily seen in galleries, you know? And I just remember being like, this is the key. This is how dance gets out there.
CASTELLETTI FAMILY: I escaped real life, and I went back in time.
MARK BRODIE: And today we're also stepping back in time just a bit. Inside a stand alone single story building, a lone commercial one surrounded by houses on 35th Avenue in Phoenix. Sewing machines that were probably made around the time of World War Two were.
CASTELLETTI: We just make Varsity letters. We make High School letterman jackets. We make school banners. We make car club jackets.
BRODIE: Sue Castelletti, the co-owner of Phoenix lettering. The company has been around since 1957. In 1980 Sue and her former husband Jack bought it from the two sisters who'd owned it. Inside the lobby, you can see patches of all different kinds of activities, from chess club to choir to student council to Junior ROTC. There are patches for musical instruments, sports and achievements, and then there are the mascots, lions, pumas, eagles, jaguars and all manner of other scary and intimidating animals.
The main work room is filled with sewing machines, and as we'll hear with members of Sue and Jack's family, I stopped by the shop recently and in the back room away from the sewing machine, somewhat, I asked Sue about how busy it was despite this being kind of a niche business?
CASTELLETTI: It definitely is a niche operation. Actually, we're probably the only ones in Arizona that do this right now. There used to be other companies, but they've all gone out of business. I think we survive because we're family, you know, we'll work long when we need to, and we'll all pitch in, and we've got longevity, you know. So I think that's why it works for us.
BRODIE: So how did you come to want to do this? How did you come to buy this place?
CASTELLETTI: Actually, Jack's parents were looking for a business when his dad retired. And he knew some people in this area, and he knew there were two ladies from Ohio that had started this in 1957 and they were going to retire. So he said, ‘OK, let's buy this, and all of the kids start working here’, and so we did. We the ladies, they stayed here a couple months, and they trained us. So that's when I first knew nothing about chain stitch embroidery. So they trained us, they got us rolling, and then they moved to Prescott, and we've been here ever since.
BRODIE: Did you know how to sew before you took this place over?
CASTELLETTI: Actually yeah, and I was in grade school. I was in 4h and sewing make aprons, things like that. But yeah.
BRODIE: But probably not to this extent?
CASTELLETTI: No, this is a whole different ball game.
BRODIE: All right, so you mentioned Jack, and you have a lot of family working here as well, right?
CASTELLETTI: Yes, Jack and I bought it from his parents. And we have our daughter, Katie, that works here. Our granddaughter Angelina works here. We've had my other kids work here in the past. We have one of our oldest employees, who's been here for 30 years. We've had her three of her granddaughters work here. So they come and go. People come and go.
BRODIE: Do you get orders from just Arizona? Are you working on schools across the country or across the West, or anything?
CASTELLETTI: It's basically Arizona, mostly in the Valley. We do Northern Arizona schools. Since we got a website, we've done things across the country. You know, people want a jacket or a certain patch, even overseas, somebody from Germany, somebody from Japan, we’ll do whatever.
BRODIE: I think for a lot of folks, when they think of school letter jackets, they think of like the Fawns right there. You know, happy days in the 50s and 60s. Are they still popular in high schools now, as they have been in years past?
CASTELLETTI: I don't know how popular, but we sell a lot. We sell a lot of jackets. We actually are surprised too that they're still popular, that we're still selling them. But I think over the years, fashion designers, you know MTV, you know different celebrities and style, fashion people you know have used it. We're just a small custom, you know, business that can handle small runs. We're not geared for big runs.
BRODIE: So I've got to ask you about the practicality of a leather jacket in a place like Phoenix, because those are big, thick leather jackets. Like are people able to actually wear them and not sweat their brains out?
CASTELLETTI: Yeah, they do. They do. They wear them in the mornings. They wear them to football games. But the thing is, people are so proud of the students for accomplishing a sports, you know, getting an award for sports. The parents come in, they're proud. The students are proud. The students that come in are like exceptional teenagers. I mean, I feel so lucky to see cream of the crop teenagers, which a lot of people don't see. I see parents that are proud of their kids. It's so delightful. I mean, it almost gives me chills. It's really exciting to see how happy people are.
BRODIE: I can imagine. I mean, but it's not just as you were showing me before we started recording. It's not just patches and school logos and things like that. You have some of your own stuff, right? You've sort of branched out and let your own creative juices flow a little bit, right?
CASTELLETTI: Yeah, after a while, you know, I've been here for 43 years doing the same horses and stallions and birds and things like that. So I wanted to stimulate myself or challenge myself, so I started to do fun little patches that somebody could put on a denim jacket. So we've been going to like street fairs, and doing real well selling things like that, and I'll take my machine with us, and then we can sew names on things.
If somebody has a jacket, they want their name on it. I can do that right on the spot. And I've even started doing more fine art, like using my machine to do portraits. And it's very stimulating to have the needle be my paint brush and my thread be the paint, and just see where the shading is. It's, like I said, 43 years, and I'm still learning, still learning.
BRODIE: So you mentioned that you bring your machines to some of the street fairs, other events you go to, those are not new machines. Like, what's the like? What's the significance of continuing to use the machines as old as they are?
CASTELLETTI: They work well. They're all metal. If they break, we can work on them. They're cool to look at. The people are just amazed at what they do and how they run. And I don't even know if they make new ones for these machines. You know, these were here when we got them in 1980 and probably here since 1957 I think they were made in the 40s.
BRODIE: How long do you think you want to keep doing this?
CASTELLETTI: Oh, gosh, that's a question. Jack's mom worked with this till she was 91 years old. She did a little part of the business. I have no plans on retiring. I would love to stay and work as long as I'm able.
BRODIE: How much of that is because your family is right outside there?
CASTELLETTI: Like probably 99% and because it's a creative field too.
