U.S. Acrylic LLC President Monique Hsu’s three daughters, all under the age of 13, have already contributed to the success of the nearly 40-year-old manufacturing firm in Libertyville.
When her daughters were in what she called “their headband phase,” Hsu said she was inspired to create a headband holder. Now for sale on Amazon.com is U.S. Acrylic’s stackable plastic headband and hairbrush holder.
It’s among 150 products the company makes and sells on Amazon.com. U.S. Acrylic also creates exclusive products for Williams-Sonoma and the Container Store, as well as drinkware items for Bob Chinn’s Crab House in Wheeling, among others.
Its products include bowls, cups, plates, tumblers and similar items made of clear, durable plastic. U.S. Acrylic also created a new brand, Stori, last fall, which includes a host of containers.
“We’re here to simplify and help keep people organized,” said Hsu, a Vernon Hills resident. Visitors walking into the firm on Harris Road will see immaculate lines throughout the well-organized show room.
In the manufacturing room, employees run 18 machines 24/7.
Since Monique’s father, Junior Hsu, founded the company in 1978, it has moved, expanded, downsized and reworked its product line — all in response to changes in the market, including the advent of online sales.
“We went from selling to mom and pop shops to larger retailers and now online,” Monique Hsu said. “We used to sell to Ace Hardware. We replenished (a space of products) every week. We are selling on Amazon now.”
The company also capitalizes on the fact that its products are made in the United States, and that it can provide orders quickly to its customers.
As such, it remains “the largest manufacturer of clear acrylic products in the U.S.,” Hsu said.
In its beginnings, the company manufactured picture frames, kitchen items, ornaments “and tchotchkes galore,” Hsu said. “We did all the fabrication, cutting, gluing and bending.”
These days, employees operate machines that create the products from molds designed in-house.
“Today we design the product in-house, we have the molds made and then manufacture on site. We melt the materials and it goes into the mold.”
“Over the years, we decided to home in on what we do best,” she said, which is drinkware and innovative containers.
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“We were the first … in the market to come up with some unique storage items,” Hsu said.
For example, U.S. Acrylic created nail polish holders and makeup holders, as well as vanity organizers, she said. In addition, the personal organizing trend has kept U.S. Acrylic working with the Container Store.
Hsu added as other companies imitate their products, U.S. Acrylic works to stay on top of its innovative game, creating newer designs.
“We’ll see a need in the market place and we’re able to move quickly,” said Lori Gedroc, graphic designer and marketing director for the firm.
Hsu agreed. “We can react much faster coming up with ideas and executing them compared with larger companies that have a lot of red tape,” she said.
Dan Matteucci, national accounts manager, said it’s more cost effective for buyers to purchase from U.S. Acrylic because they don’t need a three- to five-month lead time.
“If they run out of product, we can have it to them in 30 days,” he said. It takes much longer to get items made in China to the U.S., he said.
One of his accounts is Williams-Sonoma. “They came to us,” he said. “They wanted a special product they could put their name on. So we do … drinkware for them.”
Among the products they make for Williams-Sonoma is a casual stemless red wine glass, which is advertised online as “now being made in the USA from an extremely durable polycarbonate.” It can be purchased at retail stores and online.
That their products are made only in the United States has been a good marketing tool, Gedroc said. Selling online via Amazon has had some positive outcomes as well, Gedroc added.
“We actually have more control now that we’re on Amazon,” she said. “We have more control on how we want to market the product. We take a much more active role in dealing with consumers.”
The average rating for the headband holders inspired by Hsu’s daughters is 4.5 stars.
One person wrote, “I am constantly buying new headbands & pins as I am always losing them. Well not anymore! After buying this US Acrylic Headband & Accessory Organizer I am now able to display my headbands & store my other hair related things in one place.”
Customers even inspire new products, Gedroc said. An online comment led the company to repurpose a product, which went over well with other customers, she said.
Among U.S. Acrylic’s biggest sellers are the five-compartment vanity organizers, the restaurant tumbler and Champagne flutes, Hsu said.
She’s also proud of one of the firm’s newest inventions, which holds 30 individual necklaces so that they don’t get tangled.
“A lot of it is just observing — somebody saying ‘I wish I had something to hold this,'” Hsu said.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer for the News-Sun.
U.S. Acrylic, LLC
Address: 1320 Harris Road, Libertyville
Opened: 1978
Number of employees on-site: 43
Website: usacrylic.com