When Amir Loloi immigrated to the U.S. from Iran at age 16 in 1976, he planned to receive an education abroad and return to his home country. However, Loloi’s life path took a very different turn: He stayed in the U.S. and founded his namesake rug company, Loloi, ultimately turning the business into an industry favorite with numerous high-profile collaborations.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. Amir Loloi and his sons, Steven and Cyrus (left to right).
Loloi’s journey to entrepreneurship began with a strong desire to work during his teenage years. He asked his parents to stop supporting him so he could gain experience and pay his own way. So, as Loloi pursued an education in the U.S., he took on a variety of jobs. He worked at Burger King, waited tables, sold ice cream and bartended.
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“I thought I’d start a very small company with a dream of making the best product.”
Loloi also had a part-time job working at a rug company in college. On the weekends, he would help with the business’s traveling road shows, loading carpets on and off the truck. “I got a job offer to become a full-time employee while I was going to school,” Loloi recalls, “and the rest was history.”
For the next 25 years, Loloi stayed with the company, climbing the ranks from salesperson to sales manager, VP roles and, eventually, president. At that point, Loloi decided it was time to strike out on his own; he wanted to start a business-to-business (B2B) rug company.
“I thought, Perhaps it’s time I have something as a legacy for my children down the road,” Loloi says. “But I thought I’d start a very small company with a dream of making the best product, bringing in new fashion and ideas that I always had a passion for, and just doing it on my own.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. The Heritage Collection.
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Despite being told he was the highest-paid person in his industry at the time, Loloi was determined to become a business owner, and he had his family’s full support. Loloi officially launched in 2004. The founder says the decision was the best he’s ever made.
Considered a “young industry sweetheart” in those days, Loloi enjoyed widespread support from the jump. Of course, that didn’t stop his business from experiencing the “growing pains” that so many new ventures do; in Loloi’s case, the issue was never the product itself but some of the logistics. Loloi recalls attending trade shows where customers expressed their enthusiasm for the brand — and frustration with delayed shipping and deliveries.
Fueled by the fact that customers loved his product, Loloi vowed to do whatever was necessary to offer a high level of customer service to match. Ultimately, that meant bringing in more talent; expanding his team was the only way to keep pace with the company’s rapid growth. Today, Loloi employs more than 500 people.
“You have to [consider], what value can they bring to the picture?”
The investment in Loloi’s team paid off; the company’s star kept rising over the decades. In 2023, Loloi sold approximately 2.3 million rugs, and the brand continues to sell about 6,000 units per day, with price tags ranging from $250 to $25,000. To date, Loloi has created more than 800 collections, which include collaborations with designers such as Joanna Gaines and Amber Lewis.
When it comes to doing business and establishing successful partnerships, Loloi says that trust is always a top consideration. “You can do someone harm, or you can get hurt by somebody’s decisions because you’re already in it together,” he explains. “So you have to be very cautious. You have to [consider], what value can they bring to the picture? How are they related to the industry? Are they meaningful in terms of our customer base?”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. Loloi x Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines Winter 2024 Collection.
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Additionally, any potential partner has to mesh well with Loloi’s company culture. Even though the business has grown considerably over the past 20-plus years, it’s held on to “that little touch of the family business” that’s defined it from the start. In Loloi’s view, that means taking care of his employees.
The company boasts nearly no layoffs in its history, even in challenging years. During the holidays, Loloi hosts all-company luncheons where the founder thanks employees for their service and gives special awards for tenure; he also invests in staff-endorsed charitable initiatives. Some other nice-to-haves include a complimentary artisan coffee cart that visits headquarters almost daily and free mini manicures and massages.
Loloi’s support for its employees comes back in the form of their passion and commitment to the job, the founder says.
Loloi will remain a family business in the years to come as Loloi’s sons, Cyrus and Steven Loloi, take the helm. “Generally speaking, the home furnishing industry is not the sexiest industry,” Loloi says. “It doesn’t excite the younger generation.” But the Loloi brothers are embracing the industry — and the chance to build a wider audience for the brand.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Loloi. The Heritage Collection.
Although Loloi remains a major player in the B2B space, the Loloi brothers co-founded the company’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, Joon Loloi, in December 2024; its offerings span furniture, rugs and décor.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” Cyrus Loloi, principal and CMO at Loloi Rugs, says. “We aspire to reach a consumer that values their life at home and sees home as a vehicle for shaping a life they want to live. Joon Loloi is for the people, but we approach every product as design experts — so we know that our collections will also delight the designer trade audience, and we have a trade program for that reason.”
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As Loloi’s family-run company enters its next era, it’s already grown far beyond the small operation the founder first envisioned. The business’s success offers an invaluable lesson for any aspiring entrepreneur who wants to launch a venture of their own.
“If you dream big and work hard, no one is there to stop you,” Loloi says. “It’s not about the color of your skin. It’s not about your background. It’s not about your religion. It’s not about anything except about you personally: What are you willing to do? When you are given a task, how much more are you willing to add to it to deliver so much more? If you want to be someone in life, step out of the boundaries.”
