In June of 1982, I asked Jacques Cousteau (JYC) if I would be able to have a copy of his Calypso Flag made to fly on my own flagpole. He was a little hesitant, but then told me that I could have one made if I promised to send it to him for his inspection before I flew it. I went to American Flag and Banner in Clawson, MI (I live in New Hampshire now), gave them a picture of the Cousteau Logo and asked if they could make me my flag. They said that they would try. On June 10th (see attached receipt) I went in and picked up my flag. As I promised, I gave it to JYC for his evaluation. He smiled his big "Cousteau" smile, laughed, and said, "Of COURSE you can fly the Calypso Flag! Your flag is better than MINE"! To make a long story shorter, my flag has flown over the Calypso over a dozen times, flown on my own pole for decades now, and is STILL in great shape! Thank you American Flag and Banner of Clawson, MI. As proof, I am attaching a picture of both flags together (Cousteau's is the upper flag) and also a picture of my flag as it looks today (Aug. 13, 2024). Craig Truscott CaptNOAA2@aol.com read more

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We've purchased flags, flag poles and hardware here for years. You can get pretty much any type of U.S. flag you can imagine here as well as state flags, military flags, holiday flags and other specialty flags. They also offer repair services for flags, so if you have a flag with a frayed end it's pretty easy for them to repair if, giving you some extra life for your flag. My latest experience here, taking a 4x6 Halloween flag we had hanging in front of the house in for repair of a frayed end. I had the repaired flag back within a couple of hours! We've got a good-sized collection of flags (U.S. and holiday flags) that we alternate using throughout the year...and this is always the first place we head if we need a new flagpole, flag clips or just want a new flag. Great service, friendly folks...a great argument for buying local :) read more

I'm glad the other person has had a good experience at AF&B however I'm very dismayed at the quality of everything I purchased there. As a Veteran I believe in commissioning and decommissioning Flags (US) properly (as you should). So, for my commercial building I went to AF&B and bought a U.S. Flag, POW/MIA Flag, Sate of Michigan Flag and the Gadsden Flag. Along with those Flags It was recommended that I get these nifty poles that spin with the Flags as this will help to keep them from wrapping up and having to go up 14 feet in the air and having to in-furl them. Also, there were these nifty solar lights that you could attach to the top of the Flag Poles so that you may keep the Flags properly lighted at night. So, with all that being said I dropped several hundred dollars on the poles, flags, holders, solar lights etc....... The day of the Flag Commissioning Event came. We had a great turnout, had a few speeches, gave "Old Glory" her due as the day commanded and had a wonderful meet/greet with food. Unfortunately, one of the nifty poles that keeps the Flag from wrapping around was DOA right out of the Box......As we were mounting it with a "Ritual Team" with everyone looking on I got a head fake (that meant please come here) and they wanted to know if I had anything in my shop to keep the ring from sliding up and down the pole as it was broke....Really? So, we adapted and overcame and moved on. The other three went on with the usually fanfare. It gets worse..................... Not even a week later every one of the set screws has broken on the nifty "it keeps the flag from wrapping around" the pole mechanism and every Flag is flapping in the wind like a psychotic cheerleader trying to rally the fans around the home team that's losing 42-0. Now being that every Flag is 14+ Feet in the air you can imagine how excited we were to go there and try and fix them (of course we have nothing better to do). We used one of the surviving cylinder circles and set screws and tried it again............. No way, no how. Same incident and all flags failed with the exception of one (1). The Gadsden ("Don't Tread on Me) Flag, go figure. Every other assembly has failed MISERABLY. I've had to take them down and am going to go to another supplier that sells something that works. Most likely a standard Wooden Pole will be the way to go. Oh WOW!!!! I almost forgot two (2) things. They U.S. Flag is already fraying apart at the ends (no I don't live in the windy city; our business is in Michigan) and number 2................... the top the POW nifty pole mount assembly with the solar light actually blew apart from the top and I found it several feet away (I never found the hokey screw on cap). This was most likely due to when the nifty cylinder that spins with the pole snapped the Flag with the wind kept blowing against the top cap and blew the solar light straight up against the cheesy plastic assembly. read more