Vendor Spotlight: Lloyd Flanders

Buying from an American vendor for outdoor furniture has a whole host of benefits. It’s good for America’s economy, helps U.S. citizens keep their jobs and offers a high-quality, reliably sourced product that ships quickly.

Lloyd Flanders is one of those American furniture companies. It is also a premier American wicker and cane vendor. The company was founded in 1906 and still operates out of the original facility where the company began. Below we’ll take a look at some history and background information about the Lloyd Flanders furniture company.

Founder

Marshall B. Lloyd founded the Lloyd Manufacturing Company in Menominee, MI, in 1906. The company’s trademark product was woven wicker furniture. They crafted baby buggies and children’s furniture out of wicker materials. The wicker furniture products were hugely popular with the public, and Lloyd aimed to expand his business.

Development of the Lloyd Loom

The process of constructing wicker furniture is actually pretty complicated. Marshall B. Lloyd developed this intricate process. He would take a metal wire, wrap it in kraft paper (which is a cross between cardboard and paper), string the covered wires onto a loom (a weaving machine used in the textile industry) and weave them into the desired pattern.

This process was innovative and cutting edge. It also produced superior products that customers adored. To wit, Marshall B. Lloyd trademarked the process in 1917 and called it the Lloyd Loom.

Sale to Heywood-Wakefield

Born in 1858, Marshall B. Lloyd was a prolific inventor who held more than 200 patents. In 1921 he sold his company, Lloyd Manufacturing, along with the American rights to the Lloyd Loom to wicker and rattan furniture company Heywood-Wakefield. That same year he sold the British rights to the Lloyd Loom and its associated products to William Lusty and Sons. During the 1920s, Marshall B. Lloyd sold his loom patents for $3 million (the equivalent to nearly $46 million today).

Heywood-Wakefield to Flanders transition

For over 60 years the Heywood-Wakefield Company produced furniture out of the original Lloyd Manufacturing warehouse, through wars and cultural changes, until finally shuttering operations in 1982.

All was not lost, however, as Dudley and Don Flanders, heirs to the Flanders Manufacturing Company, orchestrated the purchase of the Lloyd Looms and Lloyd Manufacturing facilities from Heywood-Wakefield in 1982. The company’s new owners brought a fresh set of eyes and ideas while maintaining the craftsmanship of Lloyd Manufacturing’s wicker furniture. The company’s new name, Lloyd Flanders, reflected this.

New product gives company new life

In 1985, Lloyd Flanders released a new type of wicker furniture that could stand up to the elements. It was an all-weather wicker furniture called Heirloom that remained close to the Lloyd Manufacturing Company’s roots. This new type of furniture revitalized and energized the Lloyd Flanders company and propelled it to new heights.

Lloyd Flanders became a top American vendor for outdoor furniture. You can now find Lloyd Flanders furniture anywhere from the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion to the Waldorf Astoria, and from the Grand Hotel on the Yellowstone River to the carriages of Mackinac Island.

Call for your Lloyd Flanders furniture today

In addition to Lloyd Flanders products, we at Rattan Wicker & Cane offer other American wicker and cane vendors as well. Give us a call or come see us today to find the right wicker and cane furniture for your needs!

Categorised in: Outdoor Furniture

This post was written by Writer