Zippo

Beginning with the first lighter in 1933, every Zippo lighter has been backed by our lifetime guarantee, "it works or we fix it free." Zippo lighters are uniquely positioned as valuable and timeless classics that should never be thrown away. Whether used in everyday life, taken on uncommon adventures as a reliable companion, or simply collected for its charm and character, the Zippo lighter continues to be respected and treasured around the world. After an attempt to sell lighters imported from Austria fails, Blaisdell designs his own lighter, which he christens the "Zippo," and begins manufacturing in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Following U.S. entry into World War II, Zippo continues to produce lighters but all are now destined for the U.S. military, through which the brand will achieve fame. Blaisdell establishes his own sales force; first foreign subsidiary is established in Canada. George B. Duke, grandson of the founder, gains control of the company. DDM Italia S.r.l., maker of Zippo brand leather goods, is acquired and renamed Zippo Fashion Italia S.r.l. Zippo Manufacturing Company is world famous for its Zippo windproof lighter, its lifetime guarantee, and the distinctive "click" it makes when opened. The company has sold more than 400 million lighters since its founding in 1932 and each year produces thousands of different designs, including ones aimed specifically at collectors. In addition to its trademark rectangular pocket lighter, the design of which has been little changed since its early 1930s launch, Zippo in 2002 introduced the MPL (or Multi-Purpose Lighter), a long, slender model designed to light candles, grills, fireplaces, and the like--a break from the traditional idea of the "cigarette lighter." The dominant maker of refillable lighters in the United States, with an estimated market share of 40 percent, Zippo also sells its lighters in more than 120 other countries, with Japan being its largest export market. Following the launch of a big overseas push in the mid-1980s, Zippo began to derive 60 percent of its sales from exports. Since diversifying for the first time in 1962 (when a tape measure was introduced), Zippo manufacturers and sells such items as pocket knives, money clips, and writing instruments. The company owns W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company, a venerable maker of high-quality pocket, hunting, fishing, camping, and utility knives that, like Zippo, is based in the small Allegheny Mountain town of Bradford, Pennsylvania. Another subsidiary, Zippo Fashion Italia S.r.l., based in Vicenza, Italy, produces a variety of Zippo-branded leather goods, including handbags, belts, wallets, and briefcases, for sale through more than 1,500 boutiques and shops in Europe. George Grant Blaisdell, Zippo's founder, had a checkered career in business prior to focusing on lighters. His father ran a machine shop in Blaisdell's hometown of Bradford, Pennsylvania, where Blaisdell started work as a machinist at age 16 (working a 56-hour week at 10 cents an hour), then became a salesman, and at age 20 took over the business. He managed to keep the business afloat during World War I through government contracts, then sold out in 1920. Blaisdell headed for New York; having failed to strike it rich playing the stock market, he returned to Bradford and invested what money remained in local oil wells (through his co-ownership, with his brother Walter, of Blaisdell Oil Company), making a modest living over the next ten years from the proceeds. Thereupon, in the early 1930s he was waiting for the right business opportunity. On a muggy summer night in Bradford in 1932, Blaisdell and a friend stepped out on the terrace of the Pennhill Country Club. Blaisdell's friend used a cumbersome-looking Austrian lighter with a removable brass top to light a cigarette. Blaisdell proceeded to chide his friend: "You're all dressed up. Why don't you get a lighter that looks decent?" In an enthusiastic reply, his friend said: "Well, Georg