Founded in 1973 by Kay (Ferguson) Thorson and her mother, Lenore Kinkel, the prospering business started in Kay’s home. Kay & Lenore started out with a sewing machine, a ping-pong table and did custom work for local designers for extra money. It wasn’t long before the business grew to the point where it needed to expand. Kay’s husband at that time, Jerry Ferguson, quit his job to spear head a new focus for the company: Fabric Jobbing, distributing and fabricating soft window treatments and accessories. In 1975, Kay & L purchased a building in downtown Waverly and hired retail salespeople in Iowa and Minnesota. In 1977 they built a 7,000-square-foot facility to accommodate expansion. It wasn’t long before Kay & L need to add another 8600 square feet for the custom quilting department and new offices.
Now Kay & L features approximately 4,000 SKUs of decorative fabric that ship to dealers, designers, decorators, paint and wallpaper stores, furniture stores and home based workrooms nation wide. In addition Kay & L fabricates soft window treatments and Bedspreads. The workroom is very detail oriented and customers can use Kay & L fabrics or they can supply their own materials (C.O.M.) for fabrication in the workroom.
The company remains family owned and operated. Both Jerry Ferguson and Lenore Kinkel passed away in the 80’s and Kay remarried Jerry Thorson. Kay and Jerry manage the business with the help of Kay’s son Jeffrey Ferguson, daughter Julie Lammers, and her husband Jim Lammers.
Mission Statement
Our Philosophy is to recognize that our business depends on your business.
Our Mission is to complete each task with the skill, quality and precision that we ourselves would expect, remembering that our customer must satisfy their customers.
Our Promise is to provide you with what you want, when you want it and we guarantee your satisfaction.
