Auglaize Embroidery is a multi-generational family affair

On Feb 27, 2022

WAPAKONETA — The next time you see a local athlete wearing a fancily-stitched letter jacket or local fire department officials with a shirt adorned with a logo, it might be the product of a local family’s embroidery business.

Brian Bailey, owner of Auglaize Embroidery and associated business Bailey’s Equipment and Apparel, said although he took ownership of Auglaize Embroidery in 2021, the business is a full-on family affair that includes his wife, parents and other relatives.

“We purchased Auglaize Embroidery in March 2021, but it has been one of the oldest embroideries in Wapakoneta,” Bailey said.

The business, located at 4 N. Wood St., Wapakoneta, was originally founded by two of Bailey’s uncles in 1999. When the duo decided to retire in 2021, Bailey bought the business in order to keep the family tradition going.

Now, there are 11 employees between the two businesses, which includes his mother, father and wife.

“We’ve had a lot of support from our uncles and our whole family,” he said.

The business specializes in embroidered clothing items, including shirts for local fire and police departments as well as varsity letter jackets for local high schools. Among the high schools that are customers are Bath, Elida, Lima Senior and Wapakoneta.

“At Bailey’s, our primary customers are police and fire departments,” he said. “Down here (at Auglaize Embroidery), we work with a lot of businesses in Wapakoneta. With schools, we do letterman jackets, and we also do a lot of screenprinting.”

Outside of running the two businesses, Bailey works as a full-time firefighter at the Shawnee Township Fire Department, a job he’s held for 18 years after starting out as a cadet at the age of 15 with the Cridersville Fire Department.

The staff working on the embroidery at both businesses is very experienced, Bailey noted, with an average time on the job of at least 15 years.

Bailey said he had to teach himself the art of embroidery as he became more involved in the businesses.

“It is really on-the-job training. I was self-taught. I learned how to do it on my own, running the machines, watching YouTube videos,” he said. “It is a lot of trial and error.”

The businesses do not use hand-embroidery, rather fully automated and computer-assisted stitching machines.

Bailey said the machines offer a high level of detail, as well as a safer environment for workers, who don’t need to worry too much about sticking their fingers with a needle.

Being able to continue the family business created by his uncles has been an emotional journey for Bailey, who said it makes him proud to carry on the family tradition and provide jobs locally.

“To expand it, it gives me a lot of joy. To expand it beyond what they had started, it brings me a lot of joy,” Bailey said. “(My uncles) wanted to retire, the business needed a new owner, or it would close. I just walked in at the perfect time one day. It brings me joy to continue their legacy.”