Haas-Jordan

In February, 1899, the Haas-Jordan Company was founded as the Hull Brothers Umbrella Manufacturing Company in Norwalk, Ohio. The brothers moved their fledgling enterprise to Toledo in 1899. By 1910, they had built a new factory to house the growing business. By the 1920's, the Hull Brothers' company was among the ten leading umbrella manufacturers... in the United States - quite a feat considering that they competed with 250 umbrella makers across the US. Their dominance was due in part to a patented design which let consumers easily interchange handles and ferrules - an early example of the innovative spirit that has guided Haas-Jordan throughout its first century. The company's success was also enhanced by the efforts of an aggressive young salesman named Cloyd Haas. Haas had joined the firm at age 14 and moved into sales by his mid-twenties. In 1928, he purchased an ownership interest and the company was reorganized as Hull Brothers & Haas Umbrella Company. Under Haas' direction, the company continued to expand its share of the market for high quality fashion umbrellas sold in finer department stores. In 1932, Cloyd Haas approached William H. Jordan, the owner of a New York-based import-export firm, with a plan to combine their companies. This made excellent sense because Jordan's sole business was supplying high quality European-manufactured frames, handles and textiles to the American umbrella industry. The savvy Haas realized this merger would also provide him with a showroom in the Empire State Building, an address frequented by buyers from America's leading department stores. In 1933, the two firms merged creating the Haas-Jordan Company. Haas managed the manufacturing and sales operation in Toledo while Jordan ran the New York sales office. The relationship proved invaluable to the company's survival during World War II, a period when more than 80% of American umbrella manufacturers ceased to exist, largely because of the wartime rationing of steel. During the war, Jordan's overseas connections ensured ...Read More