Do you have vexillology questions? Head to Tenleytown, where you will find Brittany and Brian Sobotka nestled in the back office of Kengla Flag Co.: They’re the ones to ask.
Vexillology is the study of flags. Although Tuesday will be only the second Flag Day Mrs. Sobotka has worked in a year and a half in the business, her husband said she is becoming a vexillologist.
“You’re becoming a flag nerd,” Mr. Sobotka joked as he sat at his desk, propped up by a barrel holding a 30-by-60-foot flag — retail priced at $2,500.
Surrounded by thousands of flags every day, the duo can unfurl tons of knowledge about flag history and even dismantle historical myths, including the one about Betsy Ross — the unlikely seamstress of the original American flag.
“According to historical references, it was this guy, Francis Hopkinson, who did it,” Mrs. Sobotka said.
She pulled out a folder stuffed with printouts about flag history and etiquette. “It would have been very hard to sew a flag with the stars in a circle like that, and it would have been very hard to replicate. In those days, everything was cut up, so there’s no real way to find the actual flag.”
The Sobotkas bought the flag store from Robert Kengla, also known as “Uncle Bob,” in 2014. Mr. Sobotka grew up around the shop: His mother, Judi, worked in the flag store for more than 40 years. The Kengla Flag Co. has operated out of the same cozy brick building on Wisconsin Avenue Northwest since 1961.
As Flag Day approached, Mr. Sobotka said he “appreciates when people appreciate the flag.”
President Wilson proposed Flag Day in 1916 to commemorate the adoption of the U.S. flag on June 14, 1777. President Truman made the holiday official in 1949.
Though she knew nothing about flags before starting with Kengla Flag Co., Mrs. Sobotka said she loves what flags can mean to people.
“It’s a flag. It has a story. It has some meaning behind it,” she said.
Mrs. Sobotka notices how many flags people encounter every day and jokes that she now sees them as “flying money.”
“When we first started dating, he came over and was telling me about this flag company, and I was like, ’What are you talking about? A flag company?’ And then I started noticing there are flags everywhere,” she said. “We’re so used to it. Now that we’re in the business, I’m like, ’Oh my gosh, there’s opportunity everywhere.’”
Flag sales fluctuate, the Sobotkas said, though interest often spikes after natural disasters or tragedies. Judi Sobotka said a line of people stretched out the door and around the block after the twin towers fell in 2001.
Mr. and Mrs. Sobotka said weather is a huge sales factor. The Kengla Flag Co.’s sales spiked around Memorial Day last year but not this year.
“How’s the weather been the last few months? It’s been raining. People who probably don’t normally fly a flag but would come out and buy one for a holiday aren’t going to do that in a year like this,” Mr. Sobotka said.
Bad weather can sometimes work to the Sobotkas’ advantage, though.
“When we see lots of wind outside, we’re like, ’Yes, beat those flags up,’” Mr. Sobotka joked.
The Sobotkas buy only American-made flags, an uncommon devotion considering that $3.9 million of the $4 million in U.S. flags sold in 2014 were made in China, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
James Giraudo, president of the National Independent Flag Dealers Association, estimates that U.S. producers make $50 million to $60 million worth of American flags annually. Just 6 percent of sales come from Chinese-made flags.
The Kengla Flag Co. is the only stand-alone flag shop in D.C. proper. Its location has allowed the Sobotkas to make some memorable business deals.
“We sold all of the flags that went to the [Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception]. We had to custom-order 5,000 papal flags,” she said. “If you saw anyone waving a flag on TV when [Pope Francis] gave his speech at the National Shrine, it was from us.”
During their interview, the Sobotkas welcomed a longtime customer who popped in to buy a 15-by-25-foot American flag to decorate the White House lawn. This sort of extravagant transaction is not uncommon, they said.
“If [the government’s] fiscal year is about to end, we’ll get a pop for 40 or 50 flags,” Mr. Sobotka said. “But on the other hand, we had a lady who came in a couple of weeks ago, and her 3-year-old’s toy of choice is a flag. She came in and dropped a couple of hundred bucks on mini flags.
“She wants to use flags as potty-training incentives,” Mrs. Sobotka said. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll grow up and start his own flag shop.”
“He should know,” Mr. Sobotka said, “it’s not a good idea to come up against Brittany and I.”
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