LeeWards had steel crochet hooks made with their name on them.<\/p>\n
One set that was made in Germany was in a red vinyl sleeve with the IRMA logo in the corner. IRMA was the German manufacturer of the hooks.<\/p>\n
Another set was made in Japan and was in a green vinyl sleeve.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
LeeWards History<\/p>\n
1947 \u2013 Leeward Products, LTD incorporated by Sidney Fink and Ralph Fried in Chicago, IL. Spinning a globe, one of the owner\u2019s eyes happened to fall on Leeward Islands, thus the business was named Leewards. Resellers of surplus WWII nylon parachute thread as Lustra Nylon to shoe manufacturers and crocheters.<\/p>\n
1948 \u2013 Changed name to Dexter Thread Mills, Inc.<\/p>\n
1949 \u2013 Purchased the old Collingbourne inventory from Dexter Mills, Inc. (Dexter Thread Mills and Dexter Mills not related).<\/p>\n
1950 \u2013 Obtained a mailing list of Virginia Snow (a Collingbourne brand) customers with inventory and used it as a base to start their own mail order business calling the catalog division LeeWard Mills.<\/p>\n
1953c \u2013 Moved to Elgin, IL.<\/p>\n
1955c \u2013 Opened retail store in Elgin, IL.<\/p>\n
1969 \u2013 General Mills purchased LeeWards and opened new retail stores across the US. Name changed to LeeWards Creative Crafts, Inc. sometime while owned by General Mills.<\/p>\n
1983 \u2013 Unprofitable catalog division closed.<\/p>\n
1985 \u2013 Company sold to Munford, Inc., Atlanta, GA. Merged with Craft Bazaar called LeeWards Craft Bazaar. Later returned to the name LeeWards Creative Crafts.<\/p>\n
1988 \u2013 Munford sold LeeWards to management backed by Purdential-Bache creating a privately held company.<\/p>\n
1994 \u2013 bought out by Michael\u2019s Stores, Inc., TX.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LeeWards had steel crochet hooks made with their name on them. One set that was made in Germany was in a red vinyl sleeve with the IRMA logo in the corner. IRMA was the German manufacturer … More