Kaas Tailored

What Kaas Tailored does

Kaas Tailored is a privately held upholstery and sewn-goods manufacturer founded in 1974 in Mukilteo, Washington, by Larry Kaas. Originally incorporated as Kaasco Inc., the company was rebranded to Kaas Tailored in 2000 and is now led by second-generation owner Jeff Kaas, who succeeded his father in 1997. The firm produces custom and small-batch upholstered products for industrial and consumer applications, serving three primary vertical segments: original equipment manufacturers in aerospace, contract manufacturing, marine, and recreational vehicles; commercial selling environments including public/private hospitality, timeshare, and retail; and workplace furniture for healthcare and corporate settings. Brand-name customers include Boeing (supplier since 1984, named Supplier of the Year in 1996), Nordstrom (first order 1981), Design on Stock (partnership from 2012), and Miller Knoll (partnership from 2023).

The company's core offering is end-to-end upholstery manufacturing executed through a Develop-Integrate-Build process that combines rapid prototyping, just-in-time bit-pull production, product localization, raw materials sourcing, and new product design. Its technical foundation is a lean and Kaizen production system stressing on-demand bit manufacturing rather than batch production, supported by a Daily Management System with visual management, daily huddles, and leader standard work. Kaas Tailored introduced CNC machining in 2001 and 3D modeling in 2003, holds AS9100 aerospace certification since 2006, and operates a workforce of 140-plus employees speaking more than 10 languages at its Mukilteo manufacturing campus. Kaas Core, a renewable furniture line introduced in 2005, is engineered so that on-site staff can reupholster a chair in under 30 minutes without tools; the line is the firm's principal reusable-product claim.

Kaas Tailored generates revenue primarily through enterprise B2B manufacturing contracts executed in Mukilteo and shipped to U.S.-based customers, with the firm claiming to pursue global client relationships via direct field sales. A secondary revenue stream comes from Truth Bit Pull, a teaching-factory experience brand offering paid waste tours (approximately $295 per person), field days, boot camps, and a free virtual improvement series featuring Kaizen practitioners. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the company pivoted capacity to personal protective equipment before returning to upholstered goods in 2021. The firm remains family-owned with no disclosed institutional capital, parent company, or subsidiary structure, and does not maintain an investor relations function or revenue disclosure in the public record.

Name

Kaas Tailored

Legal name

Kaasco Inc.

Website

https://kaastailored.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Kaas Tailored is a family-owned upholstery manufacturer in Mukilteo, Washington, producing custom and small-batch sewn goods under a lean Kaizen production system for aerospace, marine, recreational vehicle, hospitality, and workplace furniture clients. It also operates Truth Bit Pull, a paid teaching-factory experience sharing its continuous-improvement methodology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mukilteo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Upholstery Manufacturing: Production of upholstered goods and furniture for OEMs and commercial clients, including aerospace, contract manufacturing, marine manufacturing, recreational vehicles, hospitality, and workplace furniture industries. Long-term B2B manufacturing contracts with focus on quality, low costs, and on-time delivery.
2. Design Services: New product design and development services collaborating with clients from prototyping through manufacturing, combining specialized manufacturing knowledge with client industry expertise.
3. Kaas Waste Tours: Educational tours and experiences teaching Kaizen and continuous improvement principles in their manufacturing facility. Revenue generating experiences including waste tours, field days, and boot camps.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Kaas Tailored provides end-to-end upholstery manufacturing services—including rapid prototyping, JIT production, integrated logistics, new product design, product localization, and raw materials management—for OEM, commercial selling environment, and workplace furniture clients. The company manufactures upholstered goods and renewable furniture (Kaas Core) in Mukilteo, Washington, and complements manufacturing with Kaizen training tours and consulting under the Truth Bit Pull brand.

Product overview

Kaas Tailored is a platform for upholstery manufacturing and continuous improvement, combining manufacturing services with educational experiences. The core offering consists of manufacturing solutions—rapid prototyping, JIT production, integrated logistics, new product design, product localization, raw materials management, and pre-designed furniture—delivered through their Develop-Integrate-Build process. The Kaas Core furniture line provides renewable, reupholsterable furniture for high-use commercial properties. Complementing manufacturing, the company operates Kaas Waste Tours as a teaching factory, sharing Kaizen and continuous improvement principles with businesses and organizations through hands-on experiences at their Mukilteo facility.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Truth Bit Pull: Kaizen and continuous improvement consulting and tour experiences hosted at the manufacturing facility
• Kaas Pass
• KaasCore
• The Treehouse

Products and services

• Manufacturing Solutions End-to-end upholstery manufacturing services including rapid prototyping, JIT production, integrated logistics, new product design, product localization, raw materials management, and pre-designed furniture. Delivered through a Develop-Integrate-Build process that integrates client needs with manufacturing expertise for industrial and consumer applications.
• Kaas Core Renewable Furniture Renewable furniture designed for high-use properties such as timeshares. Built for easy reupholstery, allowing on-site staff to reupholster a chair in under 30 minutes without tools or removing it from the room.
• Kaas Waste Tours and Educational Experiences Educational factory tours and experiences (Waste Tour, Field Day, Boot Camp, Kaas Pass) hosted at the Mukilteo, Washington manufacturing facility, teaching Kaizen and continuous improvement principles to businesses and organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30% improvement always achieved when moving to flow
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Miller KnollcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Partnership started in 2023 for furniture manufacturing collaboration, expanding Kaas Tailored's presence in the furniture manufacturing industry.
• Design on StockcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Product localization partnership starting 2012. Kaas builds furniture as close to end users as possible to minimize freight and logistics costs, reduce transportation and waiting wastes, and deliver products at lower cost with shorter lead time.
• NordstromcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1998Nordstrom introduced Kaas Tailored to lean/Kaizen concepts and helped implement daily huddles. Nordstrom's continuous improvement team shared their journey and helped Kaas develop daily management systems. Long-term strategic relationship.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Steelcase: Global office and contract furniture leader. Comparable to Kaas's workplace-furniture segment, though Steelcase serves a much broader product portfolio and standardizes rather than specializes in bespoke OEM upholstery.
• La-Z-Boy: Public upholstered furniture manufacturer with a sizable contract/hospitality and residential business. Comparable in upholstered construction and supply-chain model, though substantially larger and retail-anchored.
• HNI Corporation: Owner of The HON Company and Allsteel. Competes with Kaas in workplace-furniture OEM manufacturing and contract seating for healthcare, government, and corporate buyers.
• Haworth: Privately held office and architectural interiors manufacturer. Overlaps with Kaas on workplace-furniture upholstery and integrated contract solutions for healthcare and corporate workspace clients.
• Kimball International: Public manufacturer of contract and residential furniture including National Office Furniture and Kimball Hospitality. Comparable to Kaas in hospitality and workplace contract upholstery manufacturing.

Others

• Winnebago Industries: RV OEM and a likely downstream customer profile for Kaas's RV-seating work. Useful as an RV segment analog rather than a direct competitor in contract upholstery manufacturing.

Direct peers

• Miller Knoll: Public contract and residential furniture giant (Herman Miller + Knoll). Direct peer through the 2023 manufacturing partnership with Kaas, overlapping in workplace, healthcare, and contract upholstery categories and serving the same enterprise buyer base.
• Flexsteel Industries: Mid-cap upholstered furniture manufacturer with strong OEM/commercial seating exposure (hospitality, RV, healthcare). Closest US-listed analog in terms of upholstery-first manufacturing mix and customer-segment overlap.

Emerging players

• RECARO Aircraft Seating: Specialist in commercial aircraft seating — a downstream buyer of Kaas's aerospace sewn-goods work. Comparable in being a quality-certified aerospace upholstery specialist operating inside the Boeing/Airbus supply chain.
• Patrick Industries: Public RV and marine components supplier. Overlaps with Kaas on recreational-vehicle and marine upholstery manufacturing and shares an OEM-built-to-spec contract model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCnWAPEayIJKoplFkbMBN4AQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/Kaas-Tailored-102210366822067
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kaas-tailored
• Instagraminstagram.com/kaas_tailored
• Pinterestpinterest.com/designonstockusa
• Xx.com/kaas_tailored

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kaas Tailored