It's a smaller company that Burley Design workers returned to Monday morning after the Eugene, Oregon-based trailer and bike maker was purchased by a local businessman last week.
One of the first moves was to lay off all 104 employees Friday; 65 return to work Monday morning and the other positions were eliminated.
Michael Coughlin, the new owner, is refocusing Burley on kiddie trailers for bicycles — the product the company is probably best known for. Founded by Beverly Anderson and Alan Scholz in the early '70s as a bicycle clothing manufacturer, the two sold the company to workers in 1978, about the same time they started building the bike trailers.
In later years, the company branched into making recumbents, trandems and road bikes (at right from 2006 Seattle bike expo), but it was the fabric over metal-framed trailers that remained the most popular. The company sells about 27,000 trailers a year, according to an article in the Eugene Register-Guard.
Coughlin told the newspaper that he plans to keep making the trailers in Portland, while subcontracting some of the sewing to firms in Portland. He doesn't plan to send any work overseas.
The company currently makes five styles of kiddie trailers, the d'Lite, Solo, Cub, Encore and Burley Bee. It also makes covered and open hauling trailers for bicycles, as well as equipment to convert the kiddie trailers into jogger strollers.
Earlier this summer, Burley converted from an employee-owned company to a private business.
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