About Gillette

The Gillette Company is the world leader in the men’s grooming product category as well as in certain women’s grooming products. Although more than half of company profits are still derived from shaving equipment—the area in which the company started—Gillette has also attained the top spots worldwide in writing instruments (Paper Mate, Parker, and Waterman brands) and correction products (Liquid Paper), toothbrushes and other oral care products (Oral-B), and alkaline batteries (Duracell products, which generate almost one-fourth of company profits). Gillette maintains 64 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries, and its products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories, with more than 60 percent of sales occurring outside the United States.

Gillette Beginnings

One summer morning in 1895, an ambitious traveling salesman found that the edge of his straight razor had dulled. King Gillette later said that the idea for an entirely new kind of razor, with a disposable blade, flashed into his mind as he looked in irritation at his dull blade.

King Gillette had been searching for the right product, one that had to be used—and replaced—regularly, around which to build a business. His innovation in shaving technology was just such a product. Another safety razor, the Star, was already on the market at the time but, like the straight razor it was meant to replace, its blade needed stropping before each use and eventually had to be professionally honed. Gillette envisioned an inexpensive, double-edged blade that could be clamped over a handle, used until it was dull, and then discarded.

Gillette spent the next six years trying to perfect his safety razor. Scientists and toolmakers he consulted were pessimistic, and thought the idea impractical. Gillette, 40 years old at the time and a successful salesman, inventor, and writer, did not give up. In 1901 he joined forces with William Nickerson, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated machinist. Nickerson developed production processes to make Gillette’s idea a reality, while Gillette formed the American Safety Razor Company to raise the estimated $5,000 they needed to begin manufacturing the razor. Gillette became president of the company and head of a three-man directorate. Production of the razor began early in 1903.

Company Perspectives:

The Gillette Company is a globally focused consumer products company which seeks competitive advantage in quality, value-added personal care and personal use products. We compete in three large, worldwide businesses: personal grooming products, stationery products, and small electrical appliances. As a company, we share skills and resources among business units to optimize performance. We are committed to a plan of sustained sales and profit growth which recognizes and balances both short- and long-term objectives.

During World War II foreign production and sales declined, but domestic production more than made up for those losses. Almost the entire production of razors and blades went to the military. In addition, Gillette manufactured fuel-control units for military-plane carburetors. The backlog of civilian demand after the war led to consecutive record sales until 1957.