By this time, the long hair fad was largely over, and sales reached $5.2 million in 1976. Wahl also diversified its product range, adding heated foot and back massagers in the mid-1970s. In 1971 the company ’s Electronics Division was launched on the strength of a new rechargeable soldering iron. Thanks in part to the strike, by 1971 annual sales had stagnated at $3.3 million after reaching $4.5 million a couple of years earlier.Īs a response, the company stepped up its efforts in the pet grooming market. (Jack) Wahl in his retrospective on the company. The longer, shaggier men ’s hair styles of the day did not bode well, recalled John F. In 1972, after a much longer strike lasting half a year, most of the plant ’s 88 workers voted to decertify the union, making Wahl an open shop for the first time in 15 years.įashion also conspired to make the 1970s a difficult decade. It was a turbulent year, however, with a labor walkout lasting 11 weeks. The next year, Wahl debuted a rechargeable cordless clipper for salon professionals, a precursor of a best-selling consumer item to come known as the Groomsman. The Clipper Vac, also introduced in 1965, combined a clipper with a vacuum attachment for a very tidy haircut. Disposable electric shaver blades appeared in 1965. However, there was a stream of new haircutting products, some of which introduced enduring technical advances to the industry. Wahl eventually dropped the hair dryer business in the face of price competition from the Far East. In the same year, the company moved its headquarters from downtown Sterling to a new, larger facility just north of town. Leo Wahl died three years later at the age of 63. Leo Wahl took the title of board chairman in 1954 as three of his sons became responsible for operational management. Another factory was soon established in Ontario, Canada. Wahl began the 1950s with about 60 employees at its Sterling plant. The company ’s product line expanded to include hair dryers a variety of hairstyling tools and accessories were added after World War II. However, professionals remained its main emphasis for another 50 years. Wahl began expanded its clipper sales into the consumer market in the 1940s. The company added other items such as a hair dryer. The popularity of Wahl ’s invention spurred more imitators, and more infringement suits, in the 1930s. By this time, he had sold thousands of the devices to barbershops across the country.Īccording to Jack Wahl ’s History of the Wahl Clipper Corporation, the business had 40 employees and was expanding quickly. Orders rolled in.Īfter patenting his new clipper in 1921 and wresting royalties from competitors who had copied his design (specifically Andis, which had been Wahl ’s supplier of clipper blades), Wahl bought the factory and incorporated the business as Wahl Clipper Corporation on January 29, 1924. Wahl had taken over Wahl Manufacturing when his uncle had been called to military service during the Mexican Revolution the company began manufacturing the hair clipper. It represented a considerable improvement over the standard clipper model, the motor for which had to be operated remotely via a cable. His direct sales to barbers had made him aware of a need in that industry for a more practical hair clipper, and in 1919 he produced the first such electromagnet hair clipper. Wahl continued to experiment with the electromagnetic motor concept while he went on to study engineering at the University of Illinois. Wahl ’s uncle, a doctor, started a company to market the massagers, and they soon found a receptive clientele in doctors ’ offices as well as in barbershops. Wahl, still a high school student in Sterling, Illinois, invented a handheld massager with an electromagnetic motor. The history of the company may be traced to 1911, when Leo J. ![]() Based in Sterling, Illinois, Wahl has operations in the United States and ten foreign countries its products are distributed in 150 countries. The company also makes animal grooming devices. At the same time, it broadened its sales appeal by developing trend-setting new products for consumers as well as the professional barbers and beauticians who have been its traditional focus. The company successfully reacted to offshore competition by both setting up its own manufacturing facilities overseas and growing its international markets. ![]() Wahl Clipper Corporation is a leading manufacturer of hair clippers, beard trimmers, and electric razors. NAIC: 335211 Electric Houseware and Fan Manufacturing 333111 Farm Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing 339999 All Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing
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