History
Stanley® Personal Protection
In 2005, Sperian Protection entered into a licensing agreement with The Stanley Works. The partnership between Sperian Protection and Stanley resulted in an all new, premium class of safety products that hit the market in late 2006. The Stanley® Personal Protection line combines the leading brand name in the Do-It-Yourself channel with the expertise from the leading worldwide manufacturer of personal protective equipment.
The History of The Stanley Works
In 1843, an enterprising businessman named Frederick Trent Stanley established a little shop in New Britain, Connecticut to manufacture door bolts and other hardware from wrought iron. Stanley's Bolt Manufactory was only one of dozens of small foundries and other backyard industries in town struggling to make a go of it by turning out metal products. But Stanley possessed a special innovative spirit and an uncommon passion for doing things right and his modest enterprise prospered and grew as The Stanley Works.
Today, 164 years after the company's founding, The Stanley Works is a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of tools, hardware and specialty hardware products for home improvement, consumer, industrial and professional use. The company stills bears not only Frederick Stanley's name but also the spirit and passion that drove him to succeed where others failed. The essence of that drive was summed up in 1877 by a widely read trade publication, Asher & Adam’s Pictorial Album of American History:
“The secret of this company’s success is an open one — all who will may avail themselves of it, and all who do so will succeed — one word tells it all and that one word is — Excellence.”
The History of Sperian Protection
Christian Dalloz
The Christian Dalloz group was created in France in 1957 by Christian Dalloz to manufacture industrial components produced using injection-molded plastics. By 1980, the Group had become a leader among producers of polycarbonate injection-molded eyewear. The company Christian Dalloz S.A. was introduced on the stock market in 1986. The same year, it entered the North American market and, in 1989, acquired the WGM Safety Corp., a manufacturer of fall protection and head protection equipment which also distributed eye protection equipment in the United States.
After the death of its founder in 1991, the group pursued its worldwide growth in the head protection industry through the acquisition of several companies: the Swedish company Bilsom (hearing) in 1994, the British companies Pulsafe (eye and face) and Troll (fall protection) in 1996, the French company Komet (fall protection) in 1997, the Australian company Moxham (fall protection) in 1998, the US company Fendall (portable emergency eye-wash equipment) as well as the German company Söll in Germany (fall protection) in the year 2000.
Bacou
The Bacou group was founded by Henri Bacou in 1974, initially as a manufacturer of safety footwear in France. In the years following its creation, the Group made a succession of acquisitions in France: Fernez (respiratory) in 1997, Comoditex and Commeinhes-Remco (clothing) in 1980, Sofraf (gloves) in 1984, Delta Protection and Mutexil (clothing) in 1986, Antec (fall protection) in 1989, Ox’bridge (clothing) in 1993, Fenzy (respiratory) in 1997, and Optrel (welding) in 1998. Over the same period, the Group gradually acquired distributors which were consolidated in 1999 under the name Bacou Développement.
Bacou-Dalloz
In March 1993, the Group created the subsidiary Bacou USA and, in 1994, Bacou USA acquired Uvex Safety Inc. (eye protection). In 1996, Bacou USA was listed on the New York stock exchange where it remained listed until the merger with Christian Dalloz in September 2001. Despite the death of its founder in 1996, the company continued its external growth strategy in the USA with the acquisitions of Survivair (respiratory) and Biosystems (gas detection equipment) in 1997, Howard Leight (hearing) in 1998, Perfect Fit (gloves) in 1999 and Whiting & Davis and Platinum (gloves) in the year 2000.
Sperian Protection
On August 20, 2007, Bacou-Dalloz became Sperian Protection and adopted a new unifying identity. As a symbol of the Group’s strategy of international expansion and new momentum, Sperian will be the umbrella brand name bringing together the entire brand portfolio around shared values. Sperian also reflects the Group’s desire to adopt effective advertising and marketing tools in order to consolidate its position as the world’s market leader in PPE.