Improving quality of life for over 30 years

“In the early days of Rifton, while visiting a school that used our equipment, I saw a therapist help a child into a walker that we had just come out with, and watched as he propelled himself across a floor. Everyone was speechless—it was the first time the child had ever done such a thing! The radiance on that boy’s face is unforgettable to me.”
- Jerry Voll, Rifton Product Designer

Rifton began in 1977 as an offshoot of Community Playthings, a leading manufacturer of furniture and equipment for early childhood settings. When our designers paid a neighborly visit to a Connecticut home for children with disabilities, a therapist asked if they could custom-build a chair for one of their residents.

In the next months similar requests trickled in, and before long designers and workers at Community Playthings were dreaming about an entirely different and new line of equipment. And so Rifton Equipment began.

Those same early years saw society's growing sensitivity to people with special needs and their right to be treated with dignity and respect. At Rifton, we believe every child is entitled to a high quality of life. We hope our equipment can play a small, yet vital, role in the improvement of their daily lives.

Both Rifton Equipment and sister company Community Playthings are based in the USA (NY and PA). Community Playthings started in 1947, making furniture and toys for schools and child care centers.