Levolor is an American manufacturer of custom window blinds and shades,

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, Alison Leigh Cowan, 15 May 1988 as well as stock blinds and shades.

History

The company was founded in 1914 in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

by Hans K. Lorentzen, (June 23, 1887 – January 17, 1974) a Danish immigrant who originally started out as a tool and die maker.Hans Lorentzen Dies at 86; Pioneer in Window Blinds

18 January 1974 Considered the Henry Ford of the window blinds industry, Lorentzen introduced the concepts of standardization, vertical integration, metal manufacturing and assembly lines. In 1993, Levolor was acquired by Newell (known today as

Newell Brands Newell Brands is an American manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. The company's brands and products include Rubbermaid storage and trash containers; home organization and reusable container products; Contig ...

). In July 2016, Levolor was sold to

Hunter Douglas Hunter Douglas N.V. is a Dutch multinational corporation. Its principal business is making window blinds and coverings. The company is publicly listed. The head office is in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and a management office in Lucerne, Swit ...

, a Dutch custom window blind manufacturer, for US$260 million.

Locations

Levolor is headquartered in the

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

, and has operations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. As of 2016, the company had approximately 2600 employees. Levolor products are sold through a number of major retailers including

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...

JC Penney's Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, and RONA, as well as independent dealers and stores.

In Popular Culture

The rock band

Veruca Salt Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, " Seether", that ...

wrote a song titled 'Number One Blind' singing the company name in the chorus. The song is about window blinds keeping the sun away, making it difficult to know what time of day it is.

References

External links

* Manufacturing companies based in Atlanta {{manufacturing-company-stub