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Made in NYC Company of the Month - August 2011
Buttonwood Corp.
Out with the Old, In with the New Buttons in Brooklyn
“Once you have missed the first buttonhole you'll never manage to button up.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Hoffmans have been manufacturing buttons, beads, buckles and toggles for over fifty years. In 1939 Murray Hoffman began making plastic buttons when he opened his business in Manhattan’s Garment Center. After WWII, Mr. Hoffman met a Czechoslovakian émigré, Mr. Licht, who introduced him to the owner of a lumber mill in New Hampshire. This was a critical connection for Mr. Hoffman since it led to the manufacturing of wood buttons, rather than plastic. Achieving success with his new wooden buttons, Mr. Hoffman renamed his company Buttonwood Corp. Today, Mr. Hoffman’s sons, Steven and Dennis, are the company’s president and vice president.
Buttonwood Corp. used to manage a large industrial site in the South Bronx where they had 40-50 employees. In the 1990s the company was able to buy out its competitors and grow into this large manufacturing 18,000-square-foot space. By 2001, however, Buttonwood was forced to downsize and move into its current Brooklyn location. They had to throw away a substantial amount of wood and machinery to fit into their new, smaller 2,000-square-foot factory, Steven Hoffman explained. While their production site is in Brooklyn, their showroom remains in the Garment Center in Midtown Manhattan.
Despite several business setbacks, Buttonwood is beginning to rebuild itself by reframing its image and marketing tactics. Finding their niche within eco-friendly buttons, the company is responding to clients’ increased interest in sustainability. For example, Buttonwood proudly highlights their lumber mill, Pride Manufacturing Company LLC in Maine, that was awarded a Gold Certificate by the Forest Stewardship Council for planting at least three trees for every two harvested. Buttonwood states, “Our stewardship of wood as a finite natural resource will hopefully lead others to take good care of the forest while it is in our temporary care.” Buttonwood Corp.’s new slogan: “Cut two—plant three,” reflects the company’s mission to increase public awareness of where raw materials come from and how to consume them in a responsible, sustainable fashion.
Much of the company’s material, such as birch, maple, and ash, is sourced from within the U.S. However, Buttonwood also imports exotic woods and manufactures buttons out of zebrawood, bubinga, robles, bayong, and black tiger wood. The company also specializes in making buttons from laminated wood from the Vermont firm, Rutland Plywood Co., a company that complies with all of the Consumer Product Safety Commission standards, like Buttonwood.
Currently, the company’s most valuable resource is tagua nut from the tagua palm tree grown in South America on the coast of Ecuador. This raw material enables Buttonwood to manufacture Corozo buttons. Corozo, the "vegetable ivory," is a 100% natural product which is similar in consistency to a hard resin. This material captures the modern spirit of ecological concepts, natural materials and sustainable activities. It has all the desired characteristics of a plastic, but none of its limitations. This is what makes tagua one of the most desirable products in the market and why Buttonwood is capitalizing on this material.
Buttonwood strives to engage in sustainable practices while maintaining “old school” techniques, operating as a classic American manufacturer. Their three production employees use hundred-year-old Rube Goldberg-like-machines in order to cut out buttons from a sheet of wood, punch holes, glaze, fasten shanks, and even measure out sizes under the ligne standard of measurement. According to Steven, these means of production are how, “sheets and rods come in one door, and finished wood buttons, wood toggles, wooden beads and buckles go out the other.” Buttonwood’s commitment to tradition, sustainability and their clients is what makes all of the buttons they produce unique and stylish.
Showroom: 545 Eighth Ave., between 37th-38th St., 7th Fl, Manhattan, NY 10018
Factory: 43 Hall St., 4th Fl, Brooklyn, NY 11205
