How Tuuci reinvented the global market for outdoor umbrellas, from Miami
By Yousra Benkirane
A few miles from Miami International Airport lies a massive 250,000-square-foot facility, the home of Tuuci’s global headquarters. Here, nearly 500 workers busy themselves assembling some of the toughest patio umbrellas in the world, using marine-grade materials and weather-resistant fabrics to produce high-quality, commercial-grade products.
The factory is a far cry, however, from the humble beginnings of the outdoor shade company. Tuuci’s CEO, Dougan Clarke, began by working part-time at a small boat shop in Miami when he was a teenager, making and rigging custom parts for boats. After dropping out of college, he came back years later with a multi-million-dollar idea: to use the same techniques for umbrellas.
Before returning to Small Craft, Inc., Clarke worked at an outdoor patio retailer in Miami and then, in 1997, founded his first company, Casual Furnishings International, which provided patio furniture to clients mostly in South Florida. At one point, he received an order for several hundred umbrellas to be used at a hotel in Jamaica. But Clarke had reservations. “I just knew that the umbrellas would come back damaged,” he says. “I really didn’t have a vendor that could make something super durable or serviceable…. Put an umbrella in an environment that was windy [and] they would just fall apart.” So, he went back to Small Craft to seek help.
The owner, Fred Herman, had been something of a mentor to Clarke. He pushed the young man to use his hands and make his own innovations. “[He said,] ‘I’m going to teach you a trade. You’re going to have these skills forever,’” Clarke remembers. “He taught me how to innovate, use my imagination, and put it into the physical world.”
Clarke enlisted Herman’s help to build the umbrellas for Jamaica, using the same materials and techniques they used for boats. According to Clarke, this was unique for the outdoor patio industry at the time. “I made those first few hundred umbrellas myself,” he says. “I created the patterns for the canopy, cut the panels, sewed them together, and together we created a marine-grade shade platform.” Afterward, Clarke patented the new system, which became the genesis of Tuuci, launched in 1998.
Twenty-five years later, The Ultimate Umbrella Company, Inc. (which trades under its acronym, Tuuci) has grown from a 200-square-foot boat shop to more than 400,000 square feet of production space on three continents, including its primary production campus and global HQ in Miami. The manufacturing process is based on high quality materials, skilled artisans, and state-of-the-art equipment. The frame of a Tuuci umbrella is made from fiberglass, marine-grade hardwood, or durable aluminum alloy, all three of which provide exceptional strength and corrosion resistance. The canopy is made from a variety of materials, including Sunbrella acrylic fabric, which is the industry standard for outdoor applications due to its resistance to fading, mold, and mildew.
Tuuci umbrellas are all made-to-order, encouraging clients to express themselves through their outdoor decor. “We’re not a company that builds hundreds of umbrellas for stocks and puts them on the shelves in two colors,” says Clarke.
Clients are wide-ranging, from luxury homeowners to high-end resorts around the world to outdoor restaurants. Designs vary according to individual color pallets, taste, and branding, from sophisticated hotels on the Riviera to Caribbean vacation rentals. Tuuci supplies umbrellas to nearly every Starbucks location in the U.S., for example, incorporating their green color and logo. “It’s about creating destinations, whether it’s in a hospitality venue or a residential venue, and doing it in a durable and serviceable way,” says the CEO.
Shortly after establishing Tuuci, Clarke expanded the company into the global market. He set up manufacturing plants in Holland and Vietnam to target the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets. Tuuci also began making a variety of other outdoor products in addition to umbrellas, and the company now offers outdoor furniture, including cabanas, planters, and windscreens.
According to Clarke, the company’s revenue has been doubling every few years, though he declined to disclose exact numbers. With Miami serving as its global HQ, Clarke feels that the area’s diverse, multinational workforce provides Tuuci with the ability to be more inventive. “I think a lot of the people that work here are incredibly innovative because of their backgrounds and where they came from,” he says. “If you had to do a lot with a little, and you’ve brought that thought process to our company, we embrace it. That’s how I started and that is the culture permeated throughout.”
The company’s slogan, “Born in Miami,” remains fitting. “It’s part of the DNA of our company and who we are to the marketplace,” Clarke says, reflecting on why he keeps Tuuci in Miami. “We’re just very proud to have been born in Miami and to have our innovative roots here.”
