"Stylin' & Profilin" An interview with the talented crew at Stylin Strings.

When was Stylin Strings formed?

Stylin Strings Started in 1999, while my business partner was in college, at Villa Julie, which is now Stevenson University.

Why did you start it?

At the time, there was not anything like what we were doing. The original incarnation of our business was a full lacrosse store, and it took a while for us to gain our focus and strictly produce lacrosse pockets.

How many years have you been stringing?

I have been stringing sticks since I was 12 years old. So that would be 17 years.

Can you give us a brief introduction of each Stylin Strings team member and what role they play?

Our core team members are the following people, but I should thank the rest of Stylin Strings including all of the part time people, our media department, and our custom team uniform division. They all make working at the studio an amazing experience.

Frank (Franky Fingers) Stanley – Frank is out COO (Chief Operations Officer) and it is his job to make sure that the heads are flowing through our facility correctly. He makes sure everyone has what they need and that the walls are full of supplies, heads, ect. He is also the sickest Dye artist I know. There are many great artists out there, but I wouldn’t trade Frank for the 5 next best artists.

Van O’Banion – Van has been with the business since the beginning. He has invented many of our pockets, and he is credited with having written some of the original stringing tutorial on the internet. His articles for the legendary e-lacrosse.com are just as notable and influential as the site itself. Van is a crazy ball of experience and talent that is rare in this industry.

Tyler (t-Bird, aka String Jesus) Bortner – Tyler is the best raw talent I have ever met. Don’t get me wrong, he works hard and betters his skills every day. It is his attention to detail and desire to furthering his education is what made him into one of the best stringers in the industry. All of this is admirable, but his raw talent to build something functional out of a pile of strings is freakish.

Mike (Irish Mike) Twiname – Irish Mike is one of the younger guys at the shop. He shadows Bortner in stringing and has worked on many media projects. Irish is by far the larges personality at the office and notable young talent.

How did you all meet?

I knew Frank since I was in school, but everyone at Stylin Strings met through the art of stringing. It is an uncommon art medium, and when you meet someone else who spends all of their free time making pockets, you tend to get into a pretty linear conversation

What was the most unique stringing job you have ever done?

Skaggs : “I redid a Patterson Traditional Wooden Goalie Stick recently, and half way through I thought ‘this has to be the strangest thing I have ever put together.’”

Bortner: “It would have to be between, either restringing a hockey goalie glove for a customer or, stringing the new STX knot mesh into an original STX Xcalibur. I had to retrace the entire string inch by inch for the hockey glove and when I strung the knot mesh, it was the first time I had got my hands on it so the combination of the old shovel of a head and using a piece of mesh with uneven diamonds on each row was a challenge for sure.“

Most unique dye job?

Frank: “The Most unique dye we have created here is our Galaxy Dye Job. We had a young kid travelling from New Jersey stop by and wanted us to replicate a design of a Nike Basketball Shoe onto his lacrosse head. With our dye knowledge we knocked it out of the park. We created exactly what he wished for. Now the Galaxy dye is one of our most popular dyes.“

Speaking of unique, check out these custom dyed Lacrosse Hub themed heads, from the talented, Stylin Strings crew.

What is the most common setup request, you tend to see?

Bortner: “The most common pocket I string at the shop is probably a tie between Cali+ pockets and East Coast Dyes replica+ pockets, both with mid placement. Our new Sniper+ pocket is coming on strong, though“

What is a typical turnaround time for getting a head strung & dyed?

It all depends on what is a being made. If you need a pocket done asap we can turn and burn it in 3 business days if the customer uses our Speed Pass Option.

String League is certainly gaining popularity in the lacrosse community, Can you tell our fans what it’s all about and why you started it?

String League is much more of a community event than a Stylin Strings event. The hope is to find a crazy talented stringer, and give them a higher platform on which to stand,so that the community as a whole, can recognize them. Chris Willson (@lacrosseman) has really blown up since he won season 1. Finding and exposing talent is why we hold String League. There was never anything like this when we were starting out, and there needs to be now.

I am happy to have the team members we do for this event. Throne Lacrosse, Lacrosse all-stars, East Coast Dyes, Red Star, STX, and in the past Jimalax, The Lacrosse Network, Encore Brands and others, have all taken part in the tournament. Season 2 will show us who the most inventive talent is in 2016.

String League Open Entry begins on February 2nd on the @stringleague Instagram page. Head to @ stringleague on Instagram for details on how to enter.