Signature Plastics, the Custer, Washington-based company known for custom keycaps for mechanical keyboards, has announced its acquisition by a Portland-based investment group that intends to continue operating the company with all employees. This comes after majority owner Bob Guenser announced in January his plans to retire and find a new owner.
Signature Plastics is well known in the mechanical keyboard community for its high-quality PBT keycaps in vintage-looking SA and DSA profiles, such as DSA Creamsicle and SA Nuclear Data, and often sells keycap sets in limited bulk orders with long lead times, which can make them quite exclusive. It is the only high-end boutique keycap manufacturer based in the US.
The investment group coming to Signature Plastics' aid is led by Will Clark, a self-described keyboard enthusiast who previously worked in e-commerce and co-founded software-as-a-service startups. Although Clark has already joined SP's leadership team, the acquisition will not be completed until 2025.
Clark sat down for a short video interview with Tae Ha Kim on his YouTube channel Taeha Types to talk about the acquisition and what brought him and his partners to Signature Plastics, as well as to reassure his fans that notable pillars of the company, like minority owner Melissa Petersen, are staying.
It's common for acquisitions to become messy, with changes to products or staffing soon becoming apparent. Signature Plastics fans in the community seem to view this as a success so far, and hope that the brand's high-quality keycaps can continue to thrive in the market despite growing competition from imitators and counterfeits.