Company Timeline

1945

Lifetime Cutlery Corporation Founded

1957

Milton Cohen, Sam Siegel and Chester Phillips Found Reo Products

Partners Milton Cohen, Sam Siegel and Chester Phillips establish a knife factory in Brooklyn, New York, named Reo Products. The company primarily focuses on the manufacture of inexpensive steak knives used as premiums by gasoline stations.

1960

Reo Products Acquires Lifetime Cutlery Corporation

The partners purchase one of their major competitors, a larger cutlery company, Lifetime Cutlery, and adopt its name.

1986

Lifetime Acquires Hoan Products Ltd.

Lifetime Cutlery purchases Hoan, a supplier of kitchen tools and gadgets, expanding the breadth of its product assortment. The company changes its name to Lifetime Hoan Corporation following the takeover.

1987

Lifetime Hoan Signs Walt Disney Company License Deal

The company’s first licensing agreement was penned with Disney for the Chef Mickey brand. The line of flatware and kitchen gadgets is marketed to specialty and department stores.

1990

Lifetime Acquires the Farberware^® License

The company procures the license for cutlery, kitchen gadgets and barbecue accessories under the well-known and respected Farberware® brand.

1991

Initial Public Offering

Lifetime Hoan sells 40 percent of the company in an initial public offering strengthening the company’s balance sheet and positioning it for growth.

1994

Lifetime Hoan Moves to Westbury, New York

Having outgrown its space in Brooklyn, Lifetime Hoan moves to a new 40,000-square-foot office in Westbury, New York. The move provides the company with an expansive showroom and access to qualified designers to supplement its product development efforts.

1995

Lifetime Acquires Hoffritz^® Brand

Hoffritz®, a prestige brand known for quality, gives Lifetime Brands entrée into higher price point products and expands its consumer base in department and specialty stores through a “shop within a store” concept.

1996

Farberware^® Brand Acquisition

Lifetime Hoan teams with Syratech Corporation to acquire the Farberware® brand. Lifetime secures rights to the cutlery, kitchen gadgets and barbecue accessories categories.

1998

Lifetime Acquires Roshco Business

The acquisition of the Roshco business broadens Lifetime’s reach into the bakeware category and complements the strong assortment of higher-end products with the addition of the Roshco® and Baker’s Advantage® brands.

2000

Lifetime Acquires M. Kamenstein Business

Lifetime acquires privately held M. Kamenstein, Inc., founded in Brooklyn in 1893 by Meyer Kamenstein. Primarily a manufacturer of spice racks, pantryware, tea kettles and home organization accessories, Kamenstein® also owns and operates a spice bottling facility in Winchendon, Massachusetts, which is still in use today.

KitchenAid® License Secured

Lifetime Hoan enters into a licensing agreement with Whirlpool Corporation to design, manufacture and market a line of high-end kitchen utensils under the premium KitchenAid® brand. The line quickly became one of the company’s most successful endeavors.

2002

Cuisinart^® License Secured

Buoyed by the success of the KitchenAid® license, the Company signs an agreement with Conair Corporation to market Cuisinart® cutlery to department and specialty stores.

CasaMODA Division Established

Originally started with a focus on moderately priced barware and serveware, today the brand is used for bakeware and cookware offerings as well as dinnerware and giftware.

2003

Expanded Warehousing Facility Opens

The new facility in Robbinsville, New Jersey, which today boasts more than 700,000 square feet, consolidates three separate warehousing facilities into one more efficient operation.

2004

Lifetime Acquires Excel Business

Lifetime Hoan enters the tabletop category with the acquisition of Excel Importing Corp., based in Westbury, New York. Licenses for the Sabatier®, Joseph AbboudTM and expanded categories under the Farberware® brand also were part of the agreement.

2005

Company Name Changed to Lifetime Brands

Changing the Company’s name to Lifetime Brands emphasizes the growing portfolio of well-respected brands. The new name reinforces one of Lifetime’s most successful business strategies.

Lifetime Acquires the Pfaltzgraff Company

Lifetime added to its portfolio one of the oldest and most trusted names in the casual tabletop market. Established in 1811, Pfaltzgraff® remains a consumer favorite for its highly decorated, hand-painted tableware and accessories.

Lifetime Acquires Tabletop Assets from Salton, Inc.

The acquisition includes the Block® and Sasaki® brands and the licensed rights to Calvin Klein® dinnerware, crystal and giftware, further solidifying Lifetime’s status as a key resource in the tabletop product category.

2006

Lifetime Acquires Business and Certain Assets of Syratech Corporation

The transaction furthered the Company’s expansion into the better tabletop category and gave it access to flatware brands with long, rich histories such as Wallace®, Towle™ Silversmiths and International® Silver. Lifetime also acquired the largest sterling silver manufacturing plant in the United States, located in Puerto Rico, under the Syratech agreement. Additionally, the deal also gave Lifetime entrée into the growing home décor and picture frame categories.

Lifetime Secures Exclusive Rights to Pedrini® Brand in the United States

The advanced design and quality of Pedrini® products made it a natural fit for Lifetime Brands. Founded in Italy in 1942, Pedrini® had great consumer recognition as an upscale brand that had not yet reached its full potential in the United States when it was acquired.

2007

Lifetime Brands Triples Size of Its International Headquarters

Expanding the size of its headquarters was an integral part of Lifetime’s long-term plan for strategic growth and in 2007 the Company moved its headquarters into a new building in Garden City, New York with more than 158,000 square feet in total, including a 45,000-square-foot Expo Center Showroom.

Lifetime Acquires Pomerantz^® and Design for Living^®

The acquisition represented another step in the strategy of expanding Lifetime’s portfolio of high-quality, innovative brands. Both brands have helped to increase the Company’s market share in pantryware and expansion into new categories of business, including the exploding hydration category.

Lifetime Acquires Gorham Silver Businesses

Enabling Lifetime to leverage its existing sterling manufacturing infrastructure with incremental cost, this acquisition provided the Company access to the Gorham®, Kirk Stieff®, Whiting® and Durgin® brands of sterling silver.

Lifetime Acquires 30% Interest in Mexico’s Largest Housewares Company

Ekco, S.A.B. (since renamed Grupo Vasconia, S.A.B.) was the ideal company for Lifetime to partner with to expand in Mexico and other Latin American markets. The deal also allowed the Company to work globally with many of its multinational retail customers.

2008

Lifetime Opens New West Coast Distribution Center

Lifetime expands its warehouse capacity with the opening of a new 753,000-square-foot facility in Fontana, California. The distribution center utilizes state-of-the-art technology and gives Lifetime a total of 1.6 million square feet of space.

Forms Strategic Alliance with Accent-Fairchild Group

The strategic alliance with Accent-Fairchild Group, Inc., positions Lifetime for increased penetration in the Canadian market.

Acquires Mikasa Business

The Company further solidifies its leadership in the tabletop category with the acquisition of Mikasa®, one of the premier brands in bridal and upstairs tabletop. The renowned brand dynamically expands Lifetime’s market share within the category.

2011

Lifetime Forms Housewares Corporation of Asia Limited

Lifetime, Accent-Fairchild, Grupo Vasconia and Fackelmann GmbH Co. KG form Housewares Corporation of Asia Limited to design and manufacture kitchenware products in Asia for sale to customers in North and South America.

Lifetime Acquires Creative Tops Limited and Creative Tops Far East

Creative Tops is a leading wholesale provider of tableware, kitchenware and giftware products in the United Kingdom. Together with Lifetime's established partnerships in North and Central America, this strategic combination creates a global leader in the housewares business with a focus on quality and innovation.

Lifetime Acquires a 40% equity interest in GS Internacional S/A (“GSI”)

TGS Internacional S/A (“GSI”) is a leading wholesale distributor of branded housewares products in Brazil that dinnerware, glassware, home décor, kitchenware and barware to over 7,000 customers, including major department stores, housewares retailers and independent shops throughout Brazil.

By partnering with Lifetime and thereby gaining access to our brands, product development capability and global sourcing infrastructure, GSI will have the opportunity to become the leading supplier of high quality, innovative housewares products to retailers in Brazil and other parts of South America.

2012

Lifetime Signs Licensing Deal with Guy Fieri

Lifetime Brands signs licensing deal with celebrity chef Guy Fieri to design, market, and manufacture an exciting line of cookware, kitchen gadgets, cutting boards, pantryware, and tabletop items .