Silver Lake-based home goods maker Graf Lantz is in a growth phase, launching new product lines and expanding into new markets. Founders Holger Graf and Daniel Lantz say the growth is part of the company’s push to become a lifestyle brand.
For Graf, who has a PhD in glass technology, it made sense to branch out into glassware and create a new product line. The company also makes coasters, tote bags, and other home goods that it sells through its website and third-party retailers.
While revenue figures are not disclosed, Graf said the company expects sales to grow 25% this year.
While focusing on the materials used, such as merino wool, Graf Lantz is expanding its production into additional products, such as a line of glassware called Glas.
“Our coasters come in a variety of colors and are suitable for hot and cold drinks,” Graf said.
Graf said the company is expanding its wholesale business to Canada, Japan and the UK, adding: “We already operate worldwide through the (direct-to-consumer) channel.”
“We just stuck with what was popular at the time,” Lantz said. “We thrive on the attention we get and grow from that.”
He added: “We have a small team, so we need to make sure we have everything ready before we enter a new market.”
This means that the merino wool used in felt comes only from unshorn farms in New Zealand, South Africa and South America. Skinning is the process by which some herders cut the skin from the buttocks of sheep to prevent them from dying from insect infestation.
“We know how to market the materials we use,” Lantz added. “Our goal is to create a company that people understand, trust, and know who we are.”
In addition to merino wool felt, the company uses hand-dyed cotton canvas, vegetable-tanned leather, Peruvian alpaca, biodegradable cotton and organic hemp.
Lanz said the company’s new glass products are made from borosilicate glass, a material that originated in Germany in the 19th century and is known for its durability and ease of cleaning.
“With proper care, cleaning and maintenance, these glasses will last a lifetime,” Lantz added.
According to the National Retail Federation, about 75% of people seek additional information about the environmental friendliness of the products they purchase.
“But I would caution you that what consumers say in surveys doesn’t always end up in the shopping cart,” said Scott Case, the alliance’s vice president of corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
He added that people also have different definitions of what is sustainable, further complicating the issue.
Graf Lantz turns 15 this year, but things have never been easy for its two founders. They met through a mutual friend while Lantz was on a business trip to Germany.
“Ironically, we had a fight on the first night,” Lanz recalled in a 2021 interview with Forbes. “Holger was right and I was wrong, but that seemed to spark something. The rest is history.”
In 2009, they moved to Los Angeles and founded Graf Lantz in their West Hollywood apartment. Their first product was wine bags, spurred by a large order from Dean & Deluca, a high-end restaurant chain that later filed for bankruptcy.
They then moved on to totes, clutches and shoulder bags. Graf applied his engineering skills, focusing on the structural properties of thick merino wool felt and various types of leather, while Lanz contributed to the design and drew on his love of Japanese aesthetics.
They source their non-toxic, chemical-free dyes from Okeo-Tex, a textile and leather certification and manufacturing organization based in Zurich, Switzerland.
In an interview with Forbes, Lantz said their most popular product is their wool felt coasters. He added that the company sold 15,000 coaster sets in 2020, and 9,000 coasters and 7,000 placemats in 2021.
During the pandemic, the company switched to making masks, and its products have been featured in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, Reader’s Digest and The New York Times.
“We are thrilled to receive this recognition because we designed and developed the masks like everything else we do — after countless research and testing to create a high-quality product that we are proud to put our name on,” Lantz told Forbes.
While mask sales have slowed (they once made up 60-70% of the company’s revenue), the company still sells them.
Graf Lantz products on its website range in price from $3 for a mask lanyard to $425 for a merino wool tote bag.
“If you create something that lasts, then we can grow the business,” Lantz said.