History
The company was started as a housewares manufacturer in 1932, then bought a bankrupt furniture factory in Beecher Falls, Vermont in 1936. The firm adopted the name "Ethan Allen" for its early-American furniture introduced in 1939. It was named after the Vermont Revolutionary leader.
In 1972 Ethan Allen moved its headquarters from New York City to Danbury, CT. The Ethan Allen International Headquarters Complex includes the Ethan Allen Hotel, corporate headquarters offices, and an interior design center. The firm was sold in 1980 to Interco for $150 million, though Ancell remained an advisor. The company was sold again in 1989 to a management group headed by current Chairman, President, and CEO Farooq Kathwari. In 1993 the company went public to help raise $156.9 million through the sale of common stock.
In 2008, the company announced plans to close a dozen Design Centers. The decision was made to consolidate the Design Centers with others that were currently serving the same market area.
More than seventy percent of its cherry, maple and alder wood pieces are crafted in the United States. Towards the end of 2008 Ethan Allen began selling their products online.
In 2009, the company laid off 238 workers from Beecher Falls, Vermont. 93 workers remained. Later in the year, the plant ceased operation. In 2009, Ethan Allen closed the Eldred, PA manufacturing plant.
Read more about this topic: Ethan Allen (furniture Company)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“In all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.”
—Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947)