The Business

How exciting is thread and yarn?  I have been in this business for 32 years.  People sometimes ask me if I am bored or tired of doing the same thing in the craft industry.  How can you get bored in a creative industry like this?  Everything is changing: new materials, new twists on old techniques, new viewpoints—and new artists and crafters always asking for more and better. 

As a thread company, we get to work with creative people all over the world. Kreinik does not only work in the arts and crafts industry, but in fashion, fishing and home decor business, so I am met with many challenges and angles each day. We supply some of the biggest names in fashion with braided ribbons and round braids. We create products for all ranges of fishing lure and rod companies, and we custom package, twist yarns, and wind cards for kit makers in the crafts industry. We aren’t a big company, but we have a staff of dedicated people making, packaging, and shipping threads around the clock.

Kreinik the company was started by my parents in the early 1970s. Why am I still here? I love teaching classes around the world, enlightening clients and the consumer about my product line and the possibilities, being invited to exhibit over 40 years of product history, and collaborating with other manufacturers to come up with new and amazing ideas. Being on the edge of creating new ideas and watching them come to fruition, along with seeing my product used in so many areas, fuels my excitement and dedication. I love the creative process, being first with new ideas and concepts (and then, unfortunately, being copied…my mom always told me that that being copied is a compliment. I wish people weren't so complimentary!).

Yes, I love this business. My parents loved this business. Kreinik Manufacturing was created after my dad lost his job. It was an accident, a fluke, a challenge. My dad challenged my Mom to do something about her needlework that was spreading all over the car as they traveled to look for work. That is when she created Pakks, the first needlework organizer carrying case. They worked together in this small business.  No one believed in the concept of their business. They were told, " You can not make a livelihood in the crafts business."  But pushing onward, they succeeded and on the way helped many other small business owners become successful.  From designers, to small mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar stores, they gave creative ideas to them all. Today, I find this business fun, different and rewarding.  Today's biggest challenge is introducing a whole new generation to quality, colors and fun. We work hard to do this and to get consumers to stretch their minds and to embrace creativity.  On vacation or when I travel I always find textile artists to expand my world and textile knowledge.  Last year, I met rug hookers and quilters in Nova Scotia. This year there will be new adventures, all with needlework shops and textile studios on my itinerary.

If you happen to be down my way this summer, Kreinik will be one of the Quilt Contest sponsors at the judged West Virginia Arts and Crafts Fair in Ripley, West Virginia, July 3-5.  I will be attending and have been asked to display some of the incredible pieces created for us over the years.  If you are in the area, come on down and visit, I would love to meet you.

Sincerely,
Doug Kreinik, owner of Kreinik Manufacturing Company

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News direct from thread maker Kreinik Mfg. Co., Inc., located in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Visit our factory outlet store when you are in the area; call for hours 1-800-537-2166.

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