Since our founding in 1967, Bradford Industries, Inc. has undergone a major transformation to emerge as America's leading supplier of polymer coated textiles. As the dominant manufacturer of synthetic leathers for the shoe, leather goods and home furnishings markets, Bradford rode the crest of America's heyday in those industries throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

In the mid-1980s, stiff competition from foreign markets caused the evaporation of domestic business. With 95% of Bradford's sales in the shoe and leather goods markets, it was time to redirect our focus to the broader industrial marketplace. As a result, we not only reinvented our marketing and sales programs, but we also successfully made the transition from providing low-tech coated materials for fashion to delivering some of the most advanced materials known to the industrial marketplace.

Today, Bradford Industries is recognized for its unprecedented growth and innovative talent in industrial polymer coated textiles. We quickly became the automotive industry's driving force in the manufacture of advanced silicone coated automotive airbag materials, commencing a new era of safety that has become the standard of this essential industry.

The extent of our expertise in the development of airbag materials resonated throughout the world when Bradford's advanced silicone coated fabric was deemed by NASA to be the most reliable means of cushioning the shock of the Pathfinder's 60 MPH landing on the rocky surface of Mars. As a result, our product became the first man-made material to ever touch the surface of Mars on July 4, 1997.