The company was founded in 1989, initially focusing on editorial commissions for publications such as The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Harper's Bazaar, Wired and Condé Nast Portfolio, and commissions for companies such as Tiffany & Co., Nike, Inc., and Hewlett-Packard.

[10] Bloomberg Businessweek commented that Hoefler and Frere-Jones bonded over a dislike of "so-called grunge typography, which trafficked in angst and messiness.

Jonathan Hoefler was the recipient of the 2002 Prix Charles Peignot, awarded by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) for outstanding contributions to typeface design.

[12] On January 16, 2014, designer Tobias Frere-Jones, who had worked with the company since 1999, filed a lawsuit in the courts of New York state against Jonathan Hoefler.

[13] The lawsuit alleged that Frere-Jones was entitled to own half of the type foundry, based on an oral agreement made in 1999.