SBA administrator Linda McMahon visits the new Flowfold location in Gorham Industrial Park Nov. 9 and speaks with James Morin, left, and Devin McNeill, two of the company’s three owners.

White House Cabinet member Linda McMahon Nov.9 visits Flowfold, a new industry in Gorham.

GORHAM — The newest industry in town, Flowfold, expects to be in full swing in two weeks, producing a variety of minimalist outdoor gear at a renovated plant in Gorham Industrial Park.

The business attracted a White House insider last week.

The innovative Flowfold, founded in 2011, is relocating from Scarborough to a larger facility in Gorham. The company’s 24 products include wallets, apparel,  bags, backpacks, dog leashes and hats. The products are lightweight and are partially made of recycled materials.

Flowfold “ran out of space” in Scarborough, said co-owner James Morin.

Following a year’s search, the company decided on the space at 16 Sanford Drive and bought the building, which has two other tenants.

Morin partners with Devin McNeill and Charley Friedman. Morin and Friedman are from Portland and McNeill, South Portland. “All local boys,” Morin said.

They market products domestically and globally.

Morin said their products are available at 120 outlets in the United States,  including L.L. Bean,  and are exported to six countries. Toyko is its largest foreign  market.

Their product line and business growth, combined with a new headquarters under renovation, drew a visit last week from Linda McMahon, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. McMahon toured the site Nov. 9.

McMahon, who asked McNeill questions about the business and viewed a sampling of its products, saw a renovation in progress. Flowfold’s floor space was a clutter of building supplies, piles of lumber, bags of insulation, table saws, lifts and ladders. On a mission, an electrician hurried through a crowd of SBA officials, Flowfold employees and Gorham’s Code Enforcement Officer Freeman Abbott, Town Planner Tom Poirier, and Economic Development Director Tom Ellsworth.

The ceiling was freshly painted and workers were to begin covering bare, wall studs with sheetrock on Nov. 12. Morin predicted the space would be production-ready by Monday, Dec. 3. “We’re expecting no delay in production,” he said.

Flowfold has seven full-time employees and expects to have 10 to 12 when the operation shifts to Gorham. “They’ve had remarkable growth,” said Bill Card of the SBA’s Maine District Office.

The company started out by turning recycled sailcloth into wallets. Thirty-six percent of the material it uses in its products is recycled. Dog leashes are made from recycled climbing ropes.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 780-9089 or email [email protected]