News

A Calgary company is modernizing trillium trailers for contemporary RVers

Published in RV West magazine and written by Amber Cowie, March/April 2007

If Joe Thoen, owner of International RV Parts and Team Trillium Trailer Manufacturing Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta, had known just how popular the newly redesigned trailer was going to be when he agreed to purchase the rights from an independent operator, he may have taken a few more steps to prepare for the onslaught of orders that were about to barrage his business. Instead, Thoen has been working around the clock to fulfil his Trillium obligations.

Flower power
The Trillium trailer, name after Ontario’s provincial flower, has an illustrious history, and has long been a popular economical alternative to full-size recreational vehicles. The trailers were first introduced in the early [...]

Trillium trailer from 1970s reborn as the Outback with new colours, upgraded interior design

Published in the Edmonton Journal and written by Dave Halliday, Friday, March 12, 2007

In the 1970s, a small fibreglass travel trailer with Ontario’s floral emblem embossed on both sides won the hearts of many campers.

A revamped version of the Trillium trailer is making a successful comeback, although the factory now is located in Calgary.

Joe Thoen of Team Trillium Manufacturing calls his new version the Outback. Externally the trailer is little changed – except for updated colours – since Team Trillium is using the moulds used to build the 1970s trailers. However, the interior has been revamped to accommodate modern appliances and to add a feature the originals never had – [...]

Published in the Edmonton Journal and written by Dave Halliday, Friday, November 30, 2007

When Joe Thoen began building Outback travel trailers, he had one floor plan.

Now Thoen has expanded to four for the moulded fibreglass trailer, an updated version of the Trillium that was built for decades in southern Ontario. A stylized trillium flower still graces the trailer entrance door.

The additional floor plans include a layout with a bathroom and another with a front dinette. The two-seat front dinette gives campers the option of leaving the rear dinette made into a bed all the time.

The basic floor plan offers a rear dinette with bunk beds at the front of the unit – enough space to sleep four. The other variations sleep two or three people.

But Team Trillium Manufacturing has undergone other changes.

The business has moved from northeast Calgary to a [...]