Our story began in 1932 when Trendler Metal Products open edits doors on 63rd and Hoyne on Chicago’s South Side. The business began as a manufacturer of metal cabinets and other metal components. In1951, 10 years after immigrating to the U.S., Anton Gfesser Sr. got involved with the company and later acquired Trendler from the original owners in 1962, beginning the Gfesser family’s entrepreneurial success with the company.
After Anton Gfesser Sr. took over Trendler, we began creating new furniture products including kitchen cabinets. We began producing swivels when Douglas Furniture, one of the largest dinette manufacturers in the U.S. at the time, commissioned Anton to produce a swivel for their products. A couple days later, Anton had several examples and prices for them, and they loved the swivel. Since then, Trendler has innovated and created hundreds of models of swivels, mainly for chairs and barstools. By 1985, Trendler was one of the largest swivel manufacturers in the world and we continue to manufacture and provide high-quality, heavy-duty swivels to this day.
In 1985, Anton’s son Stefan Gfesser joined the company and saw an opportunity for growth by offering new metal and wood furniture components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Within a couple of years, imports and world markets presented competition for our OEM customers. We soon began making completed furniture products, including chairs and barstools, that we provided to OEMs and wholesalers under private label. We now offered metal and wood furniture components as well as finished furniture products.
In 1988, the company began global sourcing and marketing to meet world demand for U.S. made furniture components. Our corporate name changed to Trendler Components in 1995 to reflect the changes in product offerings that now went beyond just metal. Just two years later in 1997, we moved into our current facility near Midway Airport in Chicago and changed our name once more to Trendler, Inc.
While we began offering finished furniture products such as chairs and barstools to our OEM customers in the late 1980s, it wasn’t until 2015 that we launched our line of Trendler brand products that include finished wood and metal chairs and barstools. Our Trendler brand products are available to OEMs, wholesalers, businesses, and individual buyers. No matter your application, you can expect a durable, high-quality product from Trendler.
Today, Trendler, Inc. is run by Anton Gfesser Sr.’s four sons who focus on carrying on the tradition of innovation, quality, and service.
