About Us

Happy 100 Year Anniversary Steele Canvas!

Founded in 1921, on Hamilton St. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Steele Canvas Basket cut its teeth manufacturing specialty canvas products for the New England coal and textile trades. Steele’s craftsmanship quickly earned it the reputation of providing dependable and durable wares, and soon industries all over the country began ringing up the little shop on Hamilton Street.

Fast forward 100 years and you can still see many of the same manufacturing processes in our factory. We have since grown and added a variety of durable home wares to our product portfolio, but Steele remains true to its roots. Although the shapes, sizes and materials ran the gamut, the consistency of our quality never changed. Check out our behind the scenes Steele Canvas 100 year anniversary video below.

Second generation owners (and brothers) of Steele, John & Paul Lordan, have taken their father’s passion and made it into their very own. The Lordan’s remain committed to carrying on the tradition of the place they fell in love with decades ago. Each product that bears the Steele name has been handcrafted in the U.S.A. and we will continue to make products we are proud of in the community we cherish for the next century and beyond.

As Steele Canvas grew and moved the factory to a larger facility, the catalog of products became just as varied as the industries served. We made steaming baskets with hundreds of hand-set grommets for the woolen industry, narrow canvas picking baskets to hold tobacco leaves and small, sturdy doffing bins on white birch runners to catch wooden shoe lasts. Although the shapes, sizes and materials ran the gamut, the consistency of our quality never changed.

With over 90 years of materials and manufacturing knowledge under our belt, Steele Canvas Basket is as productive and industrious as ever. Whether making mini bar bags for the Carlyle Hotel, enormous custom baskets for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons, or the industrial canvas trucks used every day on construction sites from coast to coast, Steele is up to the job. Still family-owned and operated, Steele Canvas continues to proudly manufacture in Massachusetts. Many things have changed since 1921; fortunately Steele Canvas quality is not one of them.