When Paul Kesiwetter slid straight across the bench seat in a Ford factory, he didn’t know he was cementing the next forty years of a global brand.
Founded in 1969, Petoskey Plastics focused first on bags and then on recycling. Having spent over a decade solidifying our presence as a bag manufacturer and emerging as a recycling solution, company executives looked to expand into a sector close to home — the automotive industry. Flourishing only four hours south of Petoskey, Detroit’s automotive industry had a problem: original equipment manufacturers couldn’t get plastic to stick to the seats during assembly. Plastic shifted across the seats, never staying in place and failing to do the job of protecting the brand-new, clean seat underneath.
The proprietary idea for a top “slip” layer paired with a bottom “grip” layer was born, and Keiswetter took the idea directly to a Ford engineer, showing off the product the best way he knew — throwing open the doors of the assembly vehicle, adding the Slip-N-Grip® seat cover prototype, and diving across the seats. Keiswetter made it out the other side of the vehicle, the plastic stayed in place, and Slip-N-Grip® as we know it was born.
Slip-N-Grip® has always been more than just a brand, though — it’s also a technology. The design team’s familiarity with slippery HDPE bags helped formulate the top “slip” layer that is designed to be smooth to get in and out of vehicles quickly and easily. The bottom “grip” layer is designed with high-friction plastic to grip the seat of any surface: cloth, carpet, or leather. The dual-layered formula provides extra elasticity and strength in the cover. The trademark was awarded in 1986, and here, 40 years later, the brand still features the innovative seat cover technology that started it all.
A look across our offerings shows an emphasis on vehicle protection, seat covers, floor mats, and steering wheel covers that keep interiors safe from dirt and grime. These products have been designed and perfected over the decades, fitting to be just what dealerships, repair shops, and detailers need. Our R&D teams are constantly working to set the standard for design and performance, most recently by developing a sustainable seat cover with 25% post-consumer recycled material.
To supplement the well-loved protection products, we’ve grown to offer other vehicle service essentials that make it easier to order all your needs in one place. We’ve been fortunate to work with distributors across North America and beyond and to supply shops across the globe. We take the trust our customers and end-users put in our products and our sales team seriously — they’re the very reason we’ve stayed around this long.
The Slip-N-Grip® name and origin embody the innovation and solutions we strive to provide every day. For the partners we’ve had along the way and the associates who make it possible, we say thank you for 40 years, and we look forward to many, many more.
