SPERRY TENTS, INC.
NAPLES, FLORIDA

About Sperry Tents The Sperry Tents Story: Developing the world’s finest tent Sperry Tents is a family-owned company through and through. It began with Steve Sperry, a talented sailmaker who started his career during the ’60s working at Hood Sailmakers under the legendary Ted Hood. In the mid-’70s, Steve struck out on his own, starting Sperry Sails in Marion, Mass., where he and one employee built sails and did custom canvas work for local sailors. During the following years, Sperry Sails’ much-loved, colorful sun logo was seen up and down the coast of New England and the Sperry Sails brand became known and respected among the sailing community. One upcoming weekend, he was heading to a party and decided to try his hand at making a party tent. He had everything he needed on hand: sailcloth, sewing machines, grommets, nautical line. He even crafted the wooden support poles at his own personal sawmill, where he also milled the lumber to build his house. For an extra flourish, he sewed in a huge version of the Sperry Sails logo, loaded it into his truck, and was off, not knowing that he was unwittingly starting a revolution in the world of event tents. Fast-forward to 1996, when Steve’s sons, Tim and Matt Sperry, returned from circumnavigating the globe on a 41-foot sailboat with three other friends. Tim joined his father’s company and established Sperry Tents as a separate rental entity, while Matt stayed on the Sperry Sails side, working on sails, tents, and directing and enhancing the family’s signature fabric designs. Today, Tim Sperry is still president of Sperry Tents and helms the original office, Sperry Tents Marion, while advancing the brand’s reach by signing on privately owned and licensed Sperry Tents providers both nationally and internationally. Meanwhile Matt took over from his dad as Sperry Sails president and launched sister company Sperry Fabric Architecture, which manufactures each and every Sperry Tent as well as custom fabric structures for commercial venues and private homes. About Sperry Tents The Sperry Tents Story: Developing the world’s finest tent Sperry Tents is a family-owned company through and through. It began with Steve Sperry, a talented sailmaker who started his career during the ’60s working at Hood Sailmakers under the legendary Ted Hood. In the mid-’70s, Steve struck out on his own, starting Sperry Sails in Marion, Mass., where he and one employee built sails and did custom canvas work for local sailors. During the following years, Sperry Sails’ much-loved, colorful sun logo was seen up and down the coast of New England and the Sperry Sails brand became known and respected among the sailing community. One upcoming weekend, he was heading to a party and decided to try his hand at making a party tent. He had everything he needed on hand: sailcloth, sewing machines, grommets, nautical line. He even crafted the wooden support poles at his own personal sawmill, where he also milled the lumber to build his house. For an extra flourish, he sewed in a huge version of the Sperry Sails logo, loaded it into his truck, and was off, not knowing that he was unwittingly starting a revolution in the world of event tents. Fast-forward to 1996, when Steve’s sons, Tim and Matt Sperry, returned from circumnavigating the globe on a 41-foot sailboat with three other friends. Tim joined his father’s company and established Sperry Tents as a separate rental entity, while Matt stayed on the Sperry Sails side, working on sails, tents, and directing and enhancing the family’s signature fabric designs. Today, Tim Sperry is still president of Sperry Tents and helms the original office, Sperry Tents Marion, while advancing the brand’s reach by signing on privately owned and licensed Sperry Tents providers both nationally and internationally. Meanwhile Matt took over from his dad as Sperry Sails president and launched sister company Sperry Fabric Architecture, which manufactures each and every Sperry Tent as well as custom fabric structures for commercial venues and private homes. To the Sperry-run companies that foster the Sperry Tents brand, creating and renting elegant tents is not about bottom lines and cookie-cutter copying of what exists and what’s been seen before. To us, a tent is no less than a piece of fabric art, and its components, from geometric support patches to wood support poles to pennant flags atop each peak, contribute to an aesthetically pleasing whole. Sperry Tents believes in fostering the effortless elegance that comes from handcrafted and breathable canopies, naturally occurring materials, rigorous attention to detail, and small-batch manufacturing. Our tents are the products of boutique production by local craftspeople, in a sustainably designed post-and-beam barn powered by a solar array. Nothing is generic, nothing is released from a factory without care. Tim Sperry established the first-ever Sperry Tents rental office in 1996, serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Over the next few years, three like-minded entrepreneurs saw the tents and decided to launch rental companies centered around Sperry Tents. Those were Sperry Tents Nantucket, Big Sky Tent and Party Rentals (Martha’s Vineyard), and Zephyr Tents (San Francisco). Over time, the family of licensed providers has grown steadily, expanding into Europe in 2012, Colombia in 2013, and more recently Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Currently the number of companies renting Sperry Tents worldwide is quickly closing in on 40. And this is why a Sperry Tent is more than just your average rental tent. Whether destined for events in California or the Hamptons, on the Jersey Shore or in Palm Beach, each one of our canopies is first designed and manufactured at sister company Sperry Fabric Architecture, located in coastal Massachusetts. While some of the construction techniques involve modern technologies like CAD and a mechanized cloth cutter, most of the work, from sewing to grommet pressing, is still done by hand by local craftsmen. Which is exactly the way we like it.