He Immigrated To The U.s. And Started A Business. It's 'not The Sexiest' But Sells Over 6,000 Units Daily — Up To $25,000 Apiece — Anyway.

When Amir Loloi immigrated to nan U.S. from Iran astatine spot 16 successful 1976, he planned to personification an acquisition overseas and return to his location country. However, Loloi's life measurement took a very different turn: He stayed successful nan U.S. and founded his namesake rug company, Loloi, yet turning nan business into an manufacture favourite pinch galore high-profile collaborations.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. Amir Loloi and his sons, Steven and Cyrus (left to right).

Loloi's recreation to entrepreneurship began pinch a beardown desire to activity during his teenage years. He asked his parents to extremity supporting him truthful he could summation acquisition and net his ain way. So, arsenic Loloi pursued an acquisition successful nan U.S., he took connected a assortment of jobs. He worked astatine Burger King, waited tables, sold crystal prime and bartended.

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"I thought I'd commencement a very mini institution pinch a dream of making nan champion product."

Loloi too had a part-time business moving astatine a rug institution successful college. On nan weekends, he would thief pinch nan business's stepping roadworthy shows, loading carpets connected and disconnected nan truck. "I sewage a business relationship to spell a full-time worker while I was going to school," Loloi recalls, "and nan remainder was history."

For nan adjacent 25 years, Loloi stayed pinch nan company, climbing nan ranks from salesperson to income manager, VP roles and, eventually, president. At that point, Loloi decided it was clip to onslaught retired connected his own; he wanted to commencement a business-to-business (B2B) rug company.

"I thought, Perhaps it's clip I personification point arsenic a bequest for my children down nan road," Loloi says. "But I thought I'd commencement a very mini institution pinch a dream of making nan champion product, bringing successful caller mode and ideas that I ever had a passion for, and conscionable doing it connected my own."

Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. The Heritage Collection.

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Despite being told he was nan highest-paid personification successful his manufacture astatine nan time, Loloi was wished to spell a business owner, and he had his family's afloat support. Loloi officially launched successful 2004. The laminitis says nan determination was nan champion he's ever made.

Considered a "young manufacture sweetheart" successful those days, Loloi enjoyed wide support from nan jump. Of course, that didn't extremity his business from experiencing nan "growing pains" that truthful galore caller ventures do; successful Loloi's case, nan rumor was ne'er nan merchandise itself but immoderate of nan logistics. Loloi recalls attending discarded and acquisition shows wherever customers expressed their enthusiasm for nan marque — and vexation pinch delayed shipping and deliveries.

Fueled by nan truth that customers loved his product, Loloi vowed to do immoderate was basal to relationship a precocious level of customer work to match. Ultimately, that meant bringing successful overmuch talent; expanding his squad was nan only measurement to support gait pinch nan company's accelerated growth. Today, Loloi employs overmuch than 500 people.

"You personification to [consider], what worthy tin they bring to nan picture?"

The finance successful Loloi's squad paid off; nan company's prima kept rising complete nan decades. In 2023, Loloi sold astir 2.3 cardinal rugs, and nan marque continues to discarded astir 6,000 units per day, pinch worth tags ranging from $250 to $25,000. To date, Loloi has created overmuch than 800 collections, which spot collaborations pinch designers specified arsenic Joanna Gaines and Amber Lewis.

When it comes to doing business and establishing successful partnerships, Loloi says that spot is ever a apical consideration. "You tin do personification harm, aliases you tin get wounded by somebody's decisions because you're already successful it together," he explains. "So you personification to beryllium very cautious. You personification to [consider], what worthy tin they bring to nan picture? How are they related to nan industry? Are they meaningful successful position of our customer base?"

Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. Loloi x Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines Winter 2024 Collection.

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Additionally, immoderate imaginable partner has to mesh bully pinch Loloi's institution culture. Even though nan business has grown considerably complete nan past 20-plus years, it's held connected to "that mini touch of nan family business" that's defined it from nan start. In Loloi's view, that intends taking attraction of his employees.

The institution boasts astir nary layoffs successful its history, moreover successful challenging years. During nan holidays, Loloi hosts all-company luncheons wherever nan laminitis acknowledgment labour for their activity and gives emblematic awards for tenure; he too invests successful staff-endorsed charitable initiatives. Some different nice-to-haves spot a complimentary artisan java cart that visits agency almost regular and free mini manicures and massages.

Loloi's support for its labour comes backmost successful nan style of their passion and committedness to nan job, nan laminitis says.

Loloi will enactment a family business successful nan years to recreation arsenic Loloi's sons, Cyrus and Steven Loloi, return nan helm. "Generally speaking, nan location furnishing manufacture is not nan sexiest industry," Loloi says. "It doesn't excite nan younger generation." But nan Loloi brothers are embracing nan manufacture — and nan chance to build a wider assemblage for nan brand.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. The Heritage Collection.

Although Loloi remains a awesome subordinate successful nan B2B space, nan Loloi brothers co-founded nan company's direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, Joon Loloi, successful December 2024; its offerings span furniture, rugs and décor.

"We couldn't beryllium overmuch excited," Cyrus Loloi, main and CMO astatine Loloi Rugs, says. "We aspire to scope a personification that values their life astatine location and sees location arsenic a conveyance for shaping a life they want to live. Joon Loloi is for nan people, but we onslaught each merchandise arsenic creation experts — truthful we cognize that our collections will too delight nan designer discarded and acquisition audience, and we personification a discarded and acquisition programme for that reason."

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As Loloi's family-run institution enters its adjacent era, it's already grown acold beyond nan mini cognition nan laminitis first envisioned. The business's occurrence offers an invaluable instruction for immoderate aspiring entrepreneur who wants to motorboat a task of their own.

"If you dream large and activity hard, nary 1 is location to extremity you," Loloi says. "It's not astir nan colour of your skin. It's not astir your background. It's not astir your religion. It's not astir point isolated from astir you personally: What are you consenting to do? When you are fixed a task, really overmuch overmuch are you consenting to adhd to it to coming truthful overmuch more? If you want to beryllium personification successful life, measurement retired of nan boundaries."