When renowned architect David Rockwell designed life-size toy building blocks, he tapped a Rhode Island foam factory to bring his product to market in 2009. Children’s museums and play spaces around the country eagerly snapped up Imagination Playground’s Big Blue Blocks. But, in 2018, the company’s executives sought to lower prices by offshoring against Rockwell’s wishes, so that Rhode Island factory fought back. Imagination Playground CEO Jim Stallman shares how they kept American manufacturing the cornerstone of the company’s success.

Photo courtesy Imagination Playground