THE NATIONAL ENGRAVERS INC. TIMELINE

1993 - 1999

National Engravers Inc. is founded in the greater Chicago area. Throughout the first decade, the company experiences quick growth through 1) acquisition, 2) a move to a larger facility, 3) increased production capabilities, and 4) the purchase of new laser engraving equipment which allowed National Engravers, Inc. to produce all engraved glass and crystal products in-house. The customer focus centers on the corporate client, looking for customized awards for their employees, customers, and vendors.

2000 - 2008

National Engravers, Inc. expands their customer base nationally. This growth prompts the creation of our first e-commerce website under the name Awarding You. A larger manufacturing facility is acquired, and the company headquarters are moved to Winfield, IL. The customer focus continues to be corporations and recognition, and a new type of customer service is added, the Company Store, for a large multi-location customer, to make ordering simpler and more efficient.

2008 - 2016

A new company, Running Awards is launched: a division focused on supplying unique, high-quality race medals for 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, triathlon, and extreme marathon markets. To keep up with the production demands, LEAN manufacturing is added to our business model. We celebrate our 20th anniversary in business and expand our manufacturing to a larger location in IL. The assets of a couple more companies are acquired to help round out our product mix and grow both our production capabilities and our customer base.

2017 - 2019

Running Awards changes its name to Running Awards & Apparel as their apparel division becomes a significant part of the company's product offering. In 2018, Racetrackers Enterprise is acquired, adding a branded line of technical caps, visors, and apparel to the product mix. In 2019, the popular Chicago area award provider, B. Gunther & Co. is acquired, providing National Engravers Inc. a wider product line, new customers, and several new key employees who continue with the company today. 

2020 – 2021 

A new product line and e-commerce website are created under the name of Classic Identity to offer our corporate customers an online design and ordering tool that provides quick turnaround for name tag and ID needs. In 2021, the assets of Thomas Dale Company are purchased, and the company rebranded under the name Thomas Dale Co. A new e-commerce website is created to offer both existing and new retail customers fine pewter, silver, and crystal products. Awarding You increased its glass and crystal inventory by over 30,000 products, to help mitigate shipping and fulfillment issues being experienced in the post-Covid supply chain world. This helped to bring in-house inventory level over the 1-million-dollar value mark and allowed for even quicker turnaround than before, as our products are ready to decorate and ship by the next business day.

2022– 2024 

Growth within the company continues with the expansion of our retail brands and the acquisition of fine crystal product design and production company, Evergreen Crystal. By purchasing the rights to produce original designs by artist, Lorraine Coyle, National Engravers Inc. became the exclusive wholesale seller of these unique products, which include a variety of fine crystal service ware and giftware items for the home or office, each piece featuring Coyle’s deeply etched designs. These items can be found on the evergreencystal.com website, along with listings of fine gift shops and galleries from where they can be purchased. 

What’s new? 

The latest news at National Engravers Inc. is our move of all production, operations, and sales offices to a new building located in Elgin, IL. Our new facility boasts several state-of-the-art conference rooms, multiple executive offices and lots of room for our development, sales, and marketing teams, as well as over twenty-thousand square feet of production and logistics space. We are currently poised for even more growth in this exciting time period.