Posted in General

Found Object – Ohio Brick Builds Curiosity

I found this cool Ohio brick while cleaning out an old garage. Of the 2000+ Ohio brick makers, only a fraction remain in operation such as Belden Brick of Sugarcreek, Ohio. Driving by their factory is almost like stepping back in time. They recently supplied 269,825 bricks for one of the coolest projects I’ve seen in a long time — the first railroad roundhouse built in the United States since the 1950s. Take a look at that project and its attention to detail which is second to none. Finding this old brick and others like it reminds me of Ohio’s manufacturing heritage and the care and quality put into products Made in the USA. Speaking of those days, perhaps we are on the cusp of a return to Midwest manufacturing and pride albeit dramatically different than its glory days?

Vintage Ohio Brick

Vintage Ohio Brick

Posted in General

2011 Video Recap

State of Devotion opened for business June 15, 2011 and wow what a year it’s been! We’ve been fortunate to work with some great talent, meet similar, forward-thinking people and get involved in our community. Here are a few videos from our first six months in business shot and edited by Aaron Spragg; half of State of Devotion and all of Storied Rivals.

Posted in General

First Fall ’11 Design

We recently had another chance to work with our pro photographer and friend Ryan Pavlov who shot the first new shirts in our Fall 2011 line. Shot some great pics and video at an abandoned football stadium and around town. Our models Drew McCulley, Megan Savage and Candice Bumgardner did a great job. Check out some of the pics on our Facebook page.

Fall 2011 Line - The Loyal-Tee - Drew McCulley

Fall 2011 Line - The Loyal-Tee - Drew McCulley

Posted in General

Picking for the Pop-up Store

I’ll be the first to admit I like to collect cool, old stuff. I also like to find great deals on things that can be re-used or re-imagined into something else. I’m like Bob Vila/MacGuyver meets American Pickers. I’ve been wanting to beef up the pop-up store a bit and came across a fixture liquidator and spent the afternoon with my 5-yr-old picking through his warehouse. Talk about a lot of stuff! Anyway, I scored some great deals on quality finds. Here are some pics of a few pieces of my score, click each photo for a larger version.  I’ll post pics of our future events so you can see what I turn this stuff in to.

Posted in General

Printed in Ohio

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at how our shirts are printed by hand. We take a lot of pride in the fact that our shirts are made in America and screened right here in Ohio, Cleveland to be exact. We go the extra mile and pay close attention to detail by removing the factory tags, printing our own neck tags and sewing hem tags onto the bottom of every shirt. In these photos you’ll see our new Devoted tee and the ladies version of our Columbus Bicentennial shirt in production.

State of Devotion Screenprinting

Vintage O.H.I.O shirt being printed by hand.

State of Devotion Neck Tags

State of Devotion Neck Tags

Columbus Bicentennial being printed

Columbus Bicentennial shirt being printed.

Posted in General

Accessories

One of the hobbies my dad partakes in when he’s not restoring vintage motorcycles or gas pumps is sewing. Here’s a shot of him at his industrial sewing machine working to turn duck canvas into hand bags. He only works on them when it’s raining or snowing so expect these State of Devotion totes to be short runs!

Dad Sewing

What you do after retiring from fighting fire for nearly 40 years...

Posted in General

Most Famous Ohioan You’ve Never Heard Of

Walt Dwiggins

W.A. Dwiggins

Few will recognize the name W.A. Dwiggins unless perhaps you’ve taken a CCAD typography class. Even fewer were around during his lifetime but it’s safe to say we’ve all seen his work one way or another. Dwiggins was an Ohio artist in the early 20th century credited with coining the phrase ‘graphic designer’. He was a master type designer studying under Frederick Goudy in Chicago – you might know that guy from Goudy Stout and Copperplate – especially if you’re a graphic designer.  The artist, born in Martinsville, Ohio and raised in Cambridge, moved to Massachusetts in 1905 where he spent the next 50 years as a well-known book illustrator and font designer. Dwiggins left Ohio over 100 years ago and time has all but erased his name from our local, collective memory. To reverse this injustice of character, New England-based biographer and artist Bruce Kennett travelled to Ohio to give an illustrated talk on Ohio’s forgotten son. The event took place Monday, June 20th in Cambridge.