On a recent episode of The Manufacturing Report podcast, company president Paul Lordan shared the remarkable story of how this family-owned business has adapted and thrived across three generations.
Steele Canvas’s relationship with the US Post Office is the stuff of manufacturing legend. “We’ve been supplying carts to the Post Office for as long as I can remember,” Paul recounted. “When I see them in the Post Office, to this day, I still kind of nudge whoever’s with me and say, oh, that’s one of ours.”
But it was a chance encounter with a Hollywood prop master that catapulted Steele Canvas to a whole new level of fame. For the 2016 action-comedy Central Intelligence, starring Kevin Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the studio needed a custom basket for a key scene.
The stunt coordinator, we’d worked with him before on a project. And he said, there’s a key scene in the movie where we’re going to put Kevin Hart in a basket and push him through a window. So they came and we custom built a special size basket. We had to put foam around the rims in case Kevin got hurt and handles inside he could grab.
The silver screen cameo was just the beginning. Steele Canvas baskets have since become a fixture in the victory celebrations of Boston’s sports teams, from the Red Sox to the Celtics to the Bruins.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Like so many American manufacturers, Steele Canvas was hit hard by the recession of 2008-2009. As industrial customers shuttered, the company was forced to pivot to the residential and consumer market for the first time.
A glowing write-up in Martha Stewart Magazine in 2009 sparked an unexpected surge of online orders, sending Steele Canvas scrambling to set up e-commerce. “It never really crossed our minds anybody else would want [our baskets] because they’re very industrial,” Paul admitted. “And people, thankfully, really, really dug the products.”
The shift accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, as homebound consumers sought out quality, American-made goods for their houses. Steele Canvas even retrofitted its equipment to crank out tens of thousands of masks, donating one for every mask sold.
“Our customers, one of the reasons they’re buying our stuff is that it’s made here, right? And the fact that people actually give a crap about that is, that’s what I find encouraging,” Paul emphasized.
Throughout it all, Steele Canvas has remained true to its roots. Many of its employees have been with the company for decades, and referrals from longtime staff keep the talent pipeline strong.
For Paul and his brother, taking over the family business has been both a challenge and a privilege. While adapting to new markets and opportunities, they’ve held fast to the core values and craftsmanship that have defined Steele Canvas for the last hundred years.
As for the next generation of American makers? Paul’s advice is simple but profound: focus on doing a few things exceptionally well, grow deliberately, and never lose sight of what makes your product special.
With any luck, Steele Canvas will still be turning out its signature baskets – on factory floors and film sets alike – for generations to come.
To learn more about Steele Canvas and its remarkable Made in USA journey, visit steelecanvas.com. And for more inspiring stories from the front lines of American manufacturing, tune into The Manufacturing Report wherever you get your podcasts.
