Sustainability has shifted away from PR bullet point into core identity. The brand began repurposing HDPE well before sustainability was mainstream, however they continues to moved beyond. Scrap from the making operation undergoes reused and reincorporated internally. The building ceiling features blanketed in solar modules that produce more energy versus the factory requires in typical shifts. Cardboard reinforcing guards plus plastic film underwent exchanged by recyclable covers in shipping. When a seat ultimately does arrive at The first company’s pieces came out nearly not at all similar to the polished pieces that come from the line nowadays. The early ones remained hefty, clunky, and came in a palette limited by any tone HDPE proved to be lowest cost that time (often a variant of institutional tan which reminded one of clinic corridors over alpine cabins). However those units performed. Those chairs lived outside one Sheraton hotel down in San Diego, CA for three summers free from fading, warping, neither splintering. The buying officer phoned Dick and requested 200 units. Rumor moved horizontally within the hotel circle exactly as it usually happens: single venue copied a peer, a brand switched hands, a different specifier selected the same seats in a separate hotel. By the mid of the nineties Tailwind began delivering freight containers filled with Adirondacks all over the country.
Founded in 1999 in the small coastal town of Warwick, Rhode Island, the company started with a straightforward truth that still fuels every decision made in its plant today: classic outdoor furniture simply can’t withstand the the punishing onslaught of salt air, intense sun, harsh winters, and pounding rain that mark seaside living.