About Us History The company was founded in the late 70’s in California as Yarn Loft International as part of a yarn shop’s efforts to import primarily serger threads from Japan. 1980s In the early 80’s the company was purchased by Dan and Esther Randall and moved to Provo, Utah. Combining Esther’s passion and talent and Dan’s business sense, YLI became a pioneer in silk ribbon embroidery including books and kits. During this time, YLI’s reputation grew as a supplier of top quality products to the needlework and serger markets. 1990s More big changes in 1996, with new owners Lanny Smith and Jim Miller and a move to Rock Hill, South Carolina. With Lanny’s marketing experience and Jim’s thread background, the booming quilting market was a natural expansion. It was an innovative period with new threads constantly added to the company’s expanding product line. During the late 90’s, YLI began marketing its high quality, niche products solely to independent retailers. The company sourced many of its new products – especially cotton quilting threads - in the U.S. while maintaining strong ties to Japan for specialty products. 2000s In 2001, YLI purchased its largest U.S. supplier – 125 year old A. H. Rice Company in Pittsfield, MA. Five years later, YLI consolidated all operations in a renovated textile mill in Rock Hill, tripling its manufacturing and warehouse space. This key move allowed YLI to prepare for the next step in the company’s growth. Today YLI’s 100% long staple cotton products are purchased from Egypt, dyed in North Carolina, Georgia or Japan and then finished, wound and packaged in South Carolina. Hand Quilting thread has an additional step of starch glazing in Massachusetts. Today YLI is one of the last companies producing our consumer cotton threads in the U.S. Tours We enjoy giving tours of our Rock Hill facility. If you’re interested in seeing the innovative YLI threads being made, please contact us at (800) 296-8139 or email Jim Miller jmiller@ylicorp.com for details. We look forward to meeting you. And we won’t let you leave without some YLI thread! Get to know us Jim Miller With almost four decades of textile experience, Jim Miller leads YLI. He has worked with various apparel manufacturers, weaving companies Springs and JPS Textiles, and thread manufacturer American & Efird before beginning his 18 years with YLI. Jim and his partner, Lanny Smith, purchased YLI from Esther and Dan Randall in 1996 and relocated the company to South Carolina where Jim’s southern accent feels right at home. When Lanny retired in 2005, Jim became the sole owner. “I was hooked on quilters at my first Quilt Show in Houston. After 20 years, I remain in awe of what our customers do and how and why they do it. Because of that, I feel a huge responsibility to provide the absolute best quality product for them to work with. I’m very proud that we can do that, in many cases, with products made right here in the United States. I believe we create more content in the U.S. than any of our competitors – including the big guys.” Roseann Chase Roseann joined YLI Corporation as the full charge bookkeeper in May of 2005. She was originally hired to be the bookkeeper and office manager. She took to this business and quickly learned everything that it was about. She was very interested in what went on in the warehouse and learned everything from shipping to winding to production. When our original warehouse manager retired in 2009 she elected to take on the task of managing the warehouse and production and gave up her bookkeeping duties. When the economy went down and we had to tighten our belts she became both warehouse manager and the bookkeeper again. Vickie Roberts Vickie is an original member of the YLI Team. She was the 3rd person to be hired after the move to South Carolina. Vickie does all customer service and is the voice of YLI on the phone. She also is responsible for entering and invoicing orders and shipments. She is the one who handles all customer calls, customer returns and all international customer relations. Recently she has also become our trade show coordinator. She quickly learned how to find shows, schedule, organize and do all the paperwork that pertains to our 35 – 45 shows per year.