Crane came to life alongside America — and like America, it's had quite a challenging 2024. Actually, make that a few challenging years. This is actually the second episode of The Paper Fold covering Crane; my first dealt with its previous owner, Mohawk Fine Papers, having to move the entire Crane operation from its North Adams, Massachusetts, facility, opened in 1799, to Cohoes, New York, during lockdown in 2020.
The Crane story reignited last February as Mohawk Fine Papers was being acquired by the International Fedrigoni Group, owned by Bain Capital, a Boston-based private investment firm, and BC Partners, a British international investment firm. Once the acquisition went through, Fedrigoni abruptly shuttered Crane and unceremoniously laid off 76 employees. Retailers who had open orders hadn't a clue what to tell their customers. I followed the story at Stationery Trends and as February slipped into March, I began to fear that Crane had printed its last piece.
But, with assistance from the former CEO at Mohawk Paper, an Albany, New York, investment firm, WP Strategic Holdings, was able to acquire Crane, and its Managing Partner Todd Kletter suddenly found himself with a new title: Crane CEO! Now Todd himself drops in The Paper Fold to recount it all — and give a glimpse of what the future holds for this all-American brand.
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