Kaas Tailored
| Formerly | Kaasco International, Inc., Kaasco Inc. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1974 in Everett, Washington, United States |
| Founders | Larry Kaas and Allan Kaas[1] |
| Headquarters | 13000 Beverly Park Rd., , |
| Owners | Jeff and Stacey Kaas[2] |
Number of employees | 200[2] |
| Website | kaastailored |
Kaas Tailored is an American furniture and upholstery manufacturer based in Mukilteo, Washington. The company primarily creates commercial furnishings and aerospace furniture.[3][4]
Background and history
[edit]1974-2019
[edit]Kaas Tailored was founded by cousins Larry and Allan Kaas in 1974 under the name Kaasco International, Inc.[1] The company operated out of an old barracks building at Boeing's Paine Field.[1][5] The cousins later had a falling out, and in 1980 Larry Kaas reformed the company on his own, naming it Kaasco, Inc.[1] In 1981, Nordstrom placed its first order with Kaasco, and the company began providing furniture for Nordstrom's shoe department.[6] In 1984, Kaasco began producing for the aerospace industry,[1] and in 1985, Larry Kaas bought out his business partner.[7] Larry Kaas' son, Jeff Kaas, joined the company in 1989 as the director of marketing.[8] Kassco moved to Mukilteo, Washington in 1992, after Tramco, an aircraft maintenance company needed to expand at Paine Field.[1][5] Around the same time, the company became one of the first to give away free scraps of stuffing and fabrics to local artists involved in the Snohomish County industry-to-art movement, which focused on sustainability and recycling.[9] The company was the biggest contributer to the movement, after one of its receptionists noticed the large amount of wasted materials, saving Kaasco over $3,000 in landfill fees in 1992.[9][10] In 1995, Kaasco became the primary supplier of curtains for all of Boeing's commercial airplane models.[11] Jeff Kaas eventually became the general manager, growing the company from eight employees to sixty-eight employees by March 1997 and getting named Boeing Supplier of the Year in 1996.[7][12] At that time, the company was producing leather seats for first-class sections of Boeing airplanes, furnishings for Marathon Coach luxury recreational vehicles, and in-store furniture for Nordstrom and Niketown.[7][13] In 1997, Jeff Kaas took over the company, and that same year, Kaasco received an award from Boeing for quality performance due to a one hundred percent on-time delivery record.[1][11] In 2000, the company was renamed Kaas Tailored after the name caused confusion with Costco.[1]
In the 1990s, Boeing, a client of Kaas Tailored's, adopted the Lean manufacturing philosophy and encouraged other companies to adopt the philosophy.[1] In 1999, Jeff Kaas toured Toyota Motor Company factories in Japan which were using The Toyota Way.[1] Kaas Tailored adopted kaizen principles at its factory.[1][14] Kaas Tailored began providing tours to other companies such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Boeing, Providence Medical Group, Amazon and Microsoft.[14][1] In 2017, the company began providing consulting services for other companies such as Nordstrom.[6]
2020-present
[edit]In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaas Tailored was one of the first manufacturing companies to pivot from their usual operations to producing personal protective equipment.[6] Kaas Tailored worked with Providence Medical Group to lead the "100 Million Mask Challenge."[15][2] The company switched from making furniture to making masks and face shields for Providence Medical Group hospitals[2][16] and Swedish Health Services.[17] Kaas Tailored also sent a prototype to a company in Holland, who began making masks for its local hospitals.[2] Jeff Kaas also coached health care systems in South Africa, Albania, Ireland, and the Netherlands in his model for manufacturing personal protective equipment.[14] The prototype and instructions were also posted online along and sent to companies in 25 states so that others could join in to produce masks.[2][18] Nordstrom worked with Kaas Tailored to begin producing masks at its factories as well.[6][19][20][21][22] Kaas Tailored worked with partnership companies, Alaska Airlines and Boeing to ship personal protective equipment,[6] and partnered with the Washington Aerospace Training and Research (WATR) Center at Edmonds College, which produced face shields.[23] The company manufactured about 4,000 masks per day.[24] In the last two weeks of March 2020, the company manufactured more than 100,000 masks and 30,000 face shields.[6][14]
Awards and recognition
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sasseen, Jennifer (July 25, 2016). "Mukilteo's Kaas Tailored learned from Boeing". The Everett Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Lindblom, Mike (March 23, 2020). "Mukilteo furniture maker converts factory for '100 Million Mask Challenge' to fight coronavirus". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Podsada, Janice (October 11, 2023). "Trade group tour highlights manufacturing in Everett, Mukilteo". Everett Herald. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
- ^ Pan, David (July 10, 2024). "Former news anchor pivots to podcasting". Mukilteo Beacon. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
- ^ a b Lobos, Ignacio (March 30, 1990). "TROUBLED BY TRAMCO EXPANSION - DISPLACED". Seattle, Washington: The Seattle Times. p. C3.
- ^ a b c d e f g Guevara, Natalie (September 6, 2020). "Kaas Tailored's quick pivot provides hundreds of thousands of masks to front lines". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c Benbow, Mike (March 9, 1997). "Entrepreneurs follow different paths to success". Everett, Washington: The Daily Herald. pp. 10E, 11E.
- ^ "AT THE TOP". The Seattle Times. December 25, 1989. p. E2.
- ^ a b Salyer, Sharon J. (December 12, 1992). "Throwaway Art". Everett, Washington: The Daily Herald. pp. 1B, 2B.
- ^ Lobos, Ignacio (September 1, 1992). "APARTMENTS FIND SAVINGS, AWARD IN RECYCLING EFFORT". Seattle, Washington: The Seattle Times. p. B3.
- ^ a b "2 local firms win awards from Boeing". Everett, Washington: The Daily Herald. November 6, 1997. p. 8C.
- ^ Benbow, Mike (March 9, 1997). "Lynnwood center helps navigate the road to success". Everett, Washington: The Daily Herald. p. 11E.
- ^ Benbow, Mike (November 23, 1997). "Jobs the attraction of this fair". Everett, Washington: The Daily Herald. pp. 1B, 2B.
- ^ a b c d Payne, Patti (April 1, 2020). "Mukilteo furniture builder turns out 100,000 surgical masks and counting". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "La guerra delle aziende di Seattle contro il Covid". Fortune Italia. August 10, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "Coronavirus spreads across the U.S." Reuters. March 26, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "Mukilteo man protected by Mukilteo company". Mukilteo Beacon. May 13, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ Cates, Lindsay (March 27, 2020). "How 10 Small Businesses are Fighting Coronavirus in Creative Ways". U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "How to buy face masks, according to medical experts". NBC Nred. May 8, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Penrose, Nirisha; Weaver, Hilary (May 21, 2020). "How The Fashion Industry Is Stepping Up To Fight COVID-19". Elle. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Dornfeld, Ann (March 22, 2020). "Furniture manufacturer near Seattle turns into mask factory for hospitals during coronavirus pandemic". NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Ausley, Christina (June 25, 2020). "Seattle Nordstrom, REI, Anthropologie open for in-store shopping". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "Edmonds College prototypes, manufactures face shields to meet COVID-19 needs of health care workers". My Edmonds News. April 25, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "In the United States, the private sector on the war foot against coronavirus". Wire News World. March 30, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.