Keter’s 75th anniversary brings new texture, technology, and sustainability innovations

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In 2002, French designer Philippe Starck refashioned the 1700s-era Louis XVI chair in transparent lucite and called it the Louis Ghost Chair.

When tastemakers saw the clear chair, their collective swooning was heard from Paris to Tokyo. Starck’s seat wasn’t simply chic: It was — and remains — practical, its materials being of the indoor-outdoor type.

Recreating something woodlike from man-made materials isn’t new, but rather a craftsman’s parlor trick that’s been around for centuries.

The French began making faux bois (“false wood”) during the 1800s. Thanks to modern technology, modern faux bois materials possess shift-shaping abilities that are near-magical. 

Take the Adirondack chair, for example: The classic wooden chair designed for relaxing in the outdoors dates back to 1903.

Today, consumers continue to love the Adirondack chair’s design, so creative companies are using cutting-edge materials to create lifelike “wood” matched with longevity.

Keter — a global leader in outdoor furniture and storage solutions — is at the head of the race. The company produces environmentally friendly Adirondack chairs made of recycled resin that requires no maintenance.

The chairs are proudly built in the U.S. and come with a 20-year warranty. Alejandro Pena, Keter’s chief executive officer, extols the virtues of the company’s proprietary resin materials.

A key benefit, he stresses, is resin’s recyclability. Pena wants the public to understand that all Keter products can — and should — be recycled. 

Keter makes an array of products from the company’s environmentally friendly resin. These include chairs, chaises, sheds, storage boxes, raised garden beds, and coolers.

Keteris also becoming more proactive in collecting products for secondary uses to ramp up its dedication to sustainability. 

For its 75th anniversary, Keter keeps its eye on future innovation

Keter’s proprietary resin is its canvas for creativity. The raw material is inherently versatile, and Keter crafts it into a range of textures that feel natural to the touch.

This sophisticated resin mimics textures such as natural rattan or rich wood in high fashion; it’s hard to tell the difference between Keter’s manufactured materials and nature’s organic ones.

Keter’s Adirondack chair could easily be the company’s totem as it celebrates its 75th anniversary. Keter’s inventors, creators, and problem-solvers reinvented the chair’s classic design through cutting-edge materials.

These talented team members, among Keter’s 5,000 employees worldwide, design products to make spaces more livable. Since Keter’s conception in 1948, the company has held innovation at its core. 

Keter produces its Premium Adirondack chairs from a proprietary LumberTech material that recreates natural fibers to look real but with modern qualities such as longevity.

Like natural wood, each board of LumberTech material features its own unique grain. No two boards are alike. Keter’s weatherproof resin is made possible by the company’s continuous innovations in technology.

History’s original Adirondack chair — designed a century ago from flat wooden boards — needed an upgrade to withstand the natural elements.

Keter’s low-maintenance “faux bois” isn’t subject to real wood’s natural weaknesses: fading, warping, denting, and splintering.

Another supreme advantage of resin over wood is its ability to retain its colors as years pass. Keter offers Premium Adirondack chairs in five exclusive, fade-resistant colors: white, brown, black, gray, and teal.

Keter’s SunGuard technology saturates each board with deep color, ensuring the chair’s hue is protected from harsh UV rays. 

Additionally, Keter’s Premium Adirondack chairs feature an easy folding mechanism that’s as simple as removing two pins on either side.

With this system, which underscores Keter’s attention to detail, the chair is ready to fold flat for easy transportation or storage. 

Keter continues to transform its materials beyond the 75-year benchmark

CEO Alejandro Pena envisions Keter becoming the most innovative company in the industry and more geared toward sustainability in its continued evolution.

Pena’s vision makes sense; the company’s expertise is like no other global maker of outdoor furniture and storage solutions — especially in its use of resin. Keter continually challenges itself to make the raw material more lifelike and sustainable. 

“Our vision is that through the power of our innovation, the power of our brands and by leveraging our global footprint, a the vast resources and global resources that we have, we will become the leading company in our space and a global consumer products with well-known brands,” says Pena.

“We’re not only a leading player in our industry, but also a responsible member of our community and also the place where people would want to come and work and be part of our company.”

That vision is apparent in Keter’s classic Adirondack chair. Keter makes them from recycled resin-based materials that require no maintenance.

The design underscores the company’s sustainability commitment, so Keter calls it its “Zero Wood Chair.” Every 1,000 chairs Keter produces saves 27 pounds of virgin wood and 50 trees using recyclable resin as a substitute for the real thing. 

Keter is slated to increase the use of recycled content in all its products to 55% in 2025. The company is already the largest user of postindustrial and postconsumer plastics in its industry.

For example, in 2021, Keter avoided 210,000 tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases) emissions by using recycled resin instead of virgin materials. 

Some of Keter’s other technological achievements include its resin line of Jute and Y-Wear indoor storage boxes. Sold at Lowe’s, Target, and Walmart, the boxes demonstrate Keter’s sophisticated finishes and are inspired by handcrafted textiles.

This innovative production method ensures the storage baskets are functional and fashionable in any home.

Keter also uses its impeccable faux wood finishes for its outdoor storage assortment of Artisan, Darwin, and Cortina sheds. Made of Keter’s proprietary resin, these models can store garden tools, toys, lawn furniture, and more.

The UV-protected sheds won’t peel, crack, or fade. Still, these structures look like the classic wooden sheds seen for centuries and come in small, medium, and large sizes. 

Keter is celebrating the momentous occasion of its 75th birthday with a sitewide sale at keter.com. Going forward, Keter says it will continue to be the leader in recycled outdoor furniture and organization solutions.

By using a waste conversion process that transforms landfill-destined household waste into cost-effective, climate-positive materials, Keter is well on its way. 

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