Fuller Brush Files Chapter 11

It appears Fuller Brush Company’s “reboot” didn’t kick the company into high gear fast enough. The venerable firm has filed bankruptcy just weeks after press announcements proclaiming 2012 would be a “landmark year.”

The cleaning-products maker entered Chapter 11 to eliminate less-profitable products and cut operating costs in an effort to return to profit, according to reports.

Founded in 1906, Fuller Brush grew to become one of most respected names in the household and personal care space, selling brushes and cleaning products to the masses via an army of door-to-door salesmen.

The Fuller Brush Man—a term coined by the Saturday Evening Post in 1922—was part of pop culture, enjoying media placement everywhere from radio shows to the silver screen.Movies goers even headed out to see “The Fuller Brush Man,” a 1948 action/adventure/comedy starring Red Skelton, and the 1950 follow-up, “The Fuller Brush Girl,” featuring Lucille Ball.

By the mid 1960s, the number of Fuller Brush salesmen and women hit 7,000 and its catalog business distribution stretched to 5 million.

But since then there have been a lot of changes—not only in how Americans shop for products and clean their homes—but for the company. Ownership bounced a round a bit; first to Consolidated Foods (later known as Sara Lee) in 1968, followed by a reacquisition by private investors in 1989. In 1995, Fuller Brush had became part of CPAC, based in Leicester, NY, and in 2007, CPAC was acquired by Buckingham Capital Partners, a private investment firm.

In January, Fuller said it planned bulk up its product roster among other initiatives to reinvigorate.

“We already have over 30 new products in the process of coming to market,
with several other initiatives planned for the end of the year. In addition, we have a robust PR and social marketing strategy, that we will be expanding in 2012 that has helped us relaunch our website and e-commerce initiatives,” chief marketing officer for Fuller Brands, Vincent D’Alleva, told HAPPI on an email interview.

The privately held Great Bend, KS firm wouldn’t discuss specifics on its financial performance with HAPPI.