The Garland Writing Instruments brand is alive and well.

The provider of Made-in-the-USA writing instruments with a 95-year history was on the brink of closing amid the darkest days of COVID-19. The pandemic had sapped business to a drip, and then-owner Rick Becker announced that unless an acquisition were to occur, the firm was likely to close its doors for a final a time.

Colleen Shea and her brothers are the fourth generation of their family to run the business that is now known as Pen Company of America.

But fortune smiled: Thanks in part to help from the Paycheck Protection Program loans, the company with Rhode Island roots soldiered on until being acquired by Pen Company of America (PCA; asi/76811) in 2021. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Garland is now a PCA brand and available through the Garwood, NJ-based supplier/manufacturer.

“My family and I couldn’t let the Garland brand die,” said Colleen Shea, vice president of sales at PCA. “It was as simple as that. Acquiring Garland was something we had to do.”

Shea recently contacted ASI Media to share news of the acquisition and spread the word that the Garland brand is still available. More than a few distributors thought that Garland was gone, an economic casualty of COVID. But as Shea explained, that’s not the case.

“The acquisition of Garland has completed our product line,” Shea said. “From the most basic stick pen to Garland’s high-end brass logo dome pens, we now manufacture the entire line in our 49,000-square-foot New Jersey factory with USA components. With the combined lines, we currently manufacture more than 40 million pens, markers and their components annually.”

Becker, who had purchased Garland in 2013, is no longer involved in the company. Garland’s equipment and inventory was absorbed into Pen Company of America’s current facility.

“We have the ability to invest in the research and development and tooling needed to revitalize and expand the Garland line,” Shea declared. “This includes several new Garland pens for 2023, including a larger executive style Garland logo dome pen.”

Garland’s history extends back to 1927. That’s when Louis Lanoie founded the firm originally known as Lew Manufacturing Co. At the time, the company manufactured small presses, which led to the design and development of the internal pen mechanism later used by many of the major pen and pencil manufacturers throughout the United States and Europe, according to a company history.

“My family and I couldn’t let the Garland brand die. It was as simple as that. Acquiring Garland was something we had to do.” Colleen Shea, Pen Company of America

In the 1960s, Lew Manufacturing started making complete pens and pencils and changed its name to Garland Industries.

“Garland is proud of its many notable accomplishments and is one of the original designers and patent holders for the twist-action pen mechanism,” read a company history. “Garland products have flown on both the Apollo moon missions and many of the Space Shuttle missions.” Other achievements include that in 1969 Garland developed the Photo Top pen.

Pen Company of America also has an impressive history. Shea’s great-grandfather founded the firm as Radiant Pen in 1928. The company manufactured fountain pen tips. In the 1950s, Shea’s grandfather started Rotary Pen, injection-molding plastic components for ballpoint pens. The firm even did some manufacturing for Lew/Garland back in the day.

Since then, the company has continued to evolve, eventually entering the promo space to the pens and markers it was now making. These days, it’s helmed by fourth-generation members of the Shea family, including Colleen. The supplier is, as described by Shea, the largest manufacturer of true USA-made ballpoint pens and markers.

“My two brothers and I still run the day-to-day operations of the new PCA/Garland,” said Colleen Shea. “My father, while semi-retired, is also involved. Manufacturing pens is in our blood, and we are passionate about our family history and keeping our production stateside.”