Montville Native Makes Embroidery Biz a Class Act

When little league baseballers hit the diamond, they look sharp, professional and ready to play. Much of that is due to their coaching, but a lot has to do with what they are wearing. For some, it is t-shirts and uniforms featuring detailing by Lake Hiawatha's Class Act Embroidery, co-owned by Montville native Jared Breslow.

The business, at 86A N. Beverwyck Road, specializes in school spirit wear, custom team uniforms, corporate branding and advertising needs. A sense of family one seems to fill the space at Class Act—that may have to do with the fact that the business involves the whole Breslow clan: mom, dad and sons, says Breslow.   

"I am originally from Montville but reside in Montclair right now," he told Patch. "I do all the artwork/design work here. I am a graphic artist/designer/photographer, so going into the family business was a no-brainer, especially when I am able to control everything myself when it comes to the designs and layouts of everything we do."

The family operates out of two locations, the Lake Hiawatha store and one in Fairfield.

Breslow said he is a big fan of the local little league.

"I love baseball on every level," the artist said. "We followed the team that was there last year since they were 8 years old and watched what a unique and dominating team they turned out to be. Any team coming up has a lot to live up to. We did all the embroidered hats for the world series team. We work closely with PTLLE; we do all their uniforms, signs and just about anything they need every year."

1. What got you into the embroidery business?

Well Kathy, my mom, started the business in her house in Montville in 1992, looking to start a business while being home, caring for four children. Very quickly she outgrew the one room everything was in and we moved to a storefront in Lake Hiawatha in 1998, outgrowing that store within a year and eventually moved to our location now at 86A N. Beverwyck Road.

2. What's your setup? Do you have a factory at your site in Lake Hiawatha?

We actually have two locations. Our Lake Hiawatha store is where our showroom is, where all the embroidery is done... [it's] basically our retail shop. Our other location is in Fairfield where we have a factory setup, doing all our screen printing and large orders. All work we do is in-house so we can easily control our quality control.

3. What is the most unusual item on which you've placed embroidery?

It is a tie between boxer shorts, which we have done quite a few of, and a shirt that was placed in a casket for burial.

4. How's the economy treating you lately; what challenges and successes are you encountering?

We have seen that [the number of] businesses that get shirts and clothing for their employees has dropped and they are being more careful with their spending, but on the upside, sports clothing, uniforms and equipment have remained on the upswing because people tend to not cut back when it comes to their kids' sports or extracurricular activities.

You can learn more about Class Act Embroidery on Facebook or at its website.