America’s Only Exclusive Keyboard Cover Maker Could Be Saved

Signature Plastics, a Custer, Washington-based company known for its specialized mechanical keyboard keycaps, announced on Wednesday that it has been acquired by a Portland-based investment group that intends to keep the company afloat while retaining all of its employees. This comes after majority owner Bob Guenser announced in January his plans to retire and find a new owner.

Signature Plastics is well-respected in the mechanical keyboard community for its high-quality, vintage-looking PBT SA and DSA profiles, such as the DSA creamsicle and SA nuclear data, often selling series of keycap sets in limited-edition group purchases with long lead times that 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’ rescue is led by Will Clark, a self-proclaimed keyboard enthusiast who previously worked in e-commerce and co-founded software-as-a-service startups. Although Clark has already joined SP’s management team, the acquisition isn’t expected to close until 2025.

Clark gave a short video interview to 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 assure fans that important pillars of the company, like minority owner Melissa Petersen, are remaining with the company.

It’s not uncommon for acquisitions to be chaotic, and changes to products or staffing can be felt shortly thereafter. Signature Plastics fans in the community seem to see this as a victory, and hopefully the brand’s high-quality keycaps will be able to continue to operate in the face of increasing competition from counterfeits and imitators in the marketplace.