FULLER BRUSH HISTORY

Presented by Roland Rhoades, Fuller Brush Division Director, & Head of The DownEast Winning Team

A RICH PROUD AMERICAN TRADITION

A Century of Superior Home Cleaning Solutions

Alfred C Fuller On a cold, crisp winter day...New Year's 1906...a 21-year-old entrepreneur from Nova Scotia, Alfred C. Fuller, began an enterprise which has become known worldwide as The Fuller Brush Company. From a bench between the furnace and the coal bin in his sister's Massachusetts home, young Fuller set out to make, in his own words:

"...the best products of their kind in the world.”

Mr. Fuller quickly moved out of his sister's home to set up shop in Hartford, CT where they stayed until 1973. Through the years, The Fuller Brush Company has grown from one man's fiber suitcase, filled with unique custom-made brushes, to an exciting collection of home and business care, car care, and personal care products, all crafted with the same quality and precision that have made The Fuller Brush Company a name welcomed everywhere.

From the beginning Fuller established three basic rules:

Make it work!

Make it last!

Guarantee it!

Today, a century later, these words still guide The Fuller Brush Company.

A SLEEPING GIANT BEGINS TO AWAKE

Fuller's 500,000 square foot plant was completed in 1973, and today Fuller remains the major employer in the Barton County, Kansas area. After a couple ownership changes, in 1994 CPAC Inc of NY bought the Fuller Brush Company and has increased productivity by increasing manufacturing in the much under-utilized plant with an ever-expanding product line. They also purchased Stanley Home Products and manufacture most of those products now. And Fuller has even expanded their facilities by another 100,000 square feet. Fuller Brush has run profitably ever since CPAC took over. Fuller's Research & Development team is constantly coming up with new specialty cleaning products.

The Fuller Brush Company's Sales Force continues to grow and to answer the need for unique quality products and personal service. One salesman's utilitarian idea, acted upon at the beginning of the 20th century, has become the livelihood for thousands of dedicated men and women who are leading Fuller Brush into the 21st century.

1992 and 1993 saw Fuller's direct sales force transformed into a modern network marketing independent distributor force. Territories were eliminated and distributors can now sell nationwide using the "Fuller Direct" mailorder system set up for them, on the web to all of the US and Canada via the company provided fullerdirect websites, and they can recruit other people as new distributors anywhere in the country, as "word of mouth sales" takes on new meaning with distributorships also becoming a product. Distributor kit prices are kept extremely low to encourage more new distributors to join, so over-ride commissions are paid only on actual subsequent product sales. Fuller's modern Fuller Gold program eliminates the middleman syndrome with every distributor ordering directly from the Company and commission checks are also processed directly by the Company.

Entering the Twenty-first Century, the modern and flexible manufacturing facility in Great Bend, Kansas, continues a tradition of excellence by producing the world-famous quality products associated with The Fuller Brush Company. State-of-the-art automated equipment is mixed with many operations completed entirely and lovingly by skilled hands, so customers receive value without sacrificing beauty.

More than 2,000 items are formed within the bustling twelve-acre plant including:

• Household Cleaning Aids
• Industrial Cleaners
• Polishes & Wax Products
• Cotton & Synthetic Mops
• Floor Brushes & Brooms
• Stainless Steel Sponges
• Twisted Wire Brushes & Swabs
• Personal Care Brushes
• Lotions and Fragrances
• Hair Care Aids
• Made-to-order Products...
• Industrial Brushes
• Plastics, Wood-Shaped
• Formed Metal
• Silk-screened Graphics
• Aerosols, Chemicals

The Fuller Brush Quest for Excellence:

To offer Customers Unique Products of the Highest Quality...

That Last... That Work

To Offer Associates and Representatives Real Opportunity...

To Grow... To Learn... To Earn

To Accept the Responsibility of Leadership...

In Service... In Our Community... In Our Environment

A QUEST TRUE OVER 100 YEARS AGO,

STILL HOLDS TRUE TODAY...

TO BE...AND TO GIVE...OUR VERY BEST

HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS

1909

The first appearance of Fuller Brush in print came in 1909, in an interview with Alexander Graham Bell for American Magazine.

1915

After six years, feeling confident that his company was doing well, Alfred Fuller bought a new pair of work overalls to replace the pair he always wore with one leg missing. When he put these on in the shop, one craftsman pointed to him and announced, “Boys, the business is on two legs at last. We’ll never be fired. Dad Fuller has a new pair of overalls!” From that day on, everyone in the company called the company’s founder “Dad” Fuller.

1922

The phrase “Fuller Brush Man” was coined by a salesman for The Saturday Evening Post. Until then, members of the Fuller Brush sales force weren’t sure whether to call themselves salesmen, dealers, representatives or distributors. Within the month, every Fuller salesman was approaching customers with a new introduction: “I’m your Fuller Brush Man!”

The Fuller Brush Man

He had become a national celebrity by the early 1920s, having made regular appearances in popular comic strips with Mickey Mouse, Dagwood and Blondie, Mutt and Jeff and Donald Duck. He even made a guest appearance in Walt Disney’s Three Little Pigs.

The Pledge

Insisting on uncompromising integrity, Alfred Fuller made each distributor sign what was called The Pledge of the Fuller Brush Man. Among the promises they made by signing the Pledge was the vow to “realize that my obligation is one of service to the customer, to the company I represent and to the community in which I live and work.” Each Fuller Brush Man also swore: “I will be courteous; I will be kind; I will be sincere; I will be helpful.”

1924

Alfred Fuller hired Henry Cave - the English Inventor of an internal combustion engine, acetylene welding equipment, ball bearings and the original flame thrower - to develop additional products for his company. Cave invented the famous Fullergript principle for making superior brushes in 1934. In all, he developed and assigned to Fuller 80 patents which, according to the company founder, “revolutionized the technical phases of our industry.”

1940s

Fuller Brush went to war, supplying the military with 40 million brushes to clean weapons. Also, Fuller’s “Noble Combs” were absolutely essential for the production of uniforms. Getting the oriental hog bristles for these combs was a major objective of the famous airlift from China to India - known as “Flying the Hump.” The workers of the Fuller Brush Hartford CT Plant received an award for high achievement in the production of war materials in 1945.

1948

Red Skelton appeared with Alfred Fuller on Eddie Cantor’s radio show to talk about the soon-to-be-released movie, The Fuller Brush Man. The hilarious comedy-mystery movie, starring Red Skelton, was a box office smash, drawing movie-goers in record numbers.

1950

Lucille Ball starred in the movie, The Fuller Brush Girl. The film met with the same overwhelming success The Fuller Brush Man had enjoyed.

Focus on Character

One of the keys to the enduring success of The Fuller Brush Company was its emphasis on people. Yes, Fuller products were superior. But companies with excellent products fail every day. Alfred and his management team focused on the salesmen and created one of the most successful and popular businesses in the history of commerce.

Growth and Transition

In 1968, Fuller became a part of one of the world’s strongest and largest business entities: the Sara Lee Corporation. For over a decade, Fuller Brush matured and grew into the technological age under the influence of this multi-billion dollar giant. Fuller’s capabilities in the areas of manufacturing, research and development and computerization greatly increased during this period of time.

1989

A private group led by Mr. H. Lee Turner, a successful Kansas trial lawyer and business investor, purchased Fuller’s manufacturing facility from Sara Lee. His intention was simply to insure that Fuller Brush survived with its own identity and remained an American Company. Finances to properly run the company were a problem, however.

1991 - A Fresh Direction

The world had changed radically since Alfred Fuller launched his brush company in 1906. Yet the new owners were determined to carry the Fuller tradition of quality, service and integrity into a new century of growth.

In 1992, the door-to-door sales method was replaced with an innovative new direct marketing plan called Fullshare. This plan gave distributors of Fuller products the chance to generate unlimited incomes by sharing those products with others and developing their own marketing networks. In the same way Alfred Fuller made door-to-door selling an art and a science, today’s Fuller Company has raised to new heights the process of marketing products through sharing. Just as The Fuller Brush Man of yesterday was the acknowledged leader in direct sales, so are today’s Fuller distributors the leaders in profitably sharing products with others. The DownEast Winning Team was established in 1992 and has become a nationwide support and training group for a large segment of Fuller Brush distributors and affiliates.

Today and Beyond

The Fullshare marketing program was completely overhauled in 1993. It is now called Fuller Gold and offers an even better earning opportunity for Fuller Distributors in both sales and network marketing (my checks immediately increased - R). And the Fuller Direct program now allows independent distributors the ability to offer complete mail order and internet service to their customers. The Fuller Brush Company is now entirely owned by CPAC, Inc., a world-wide leader in the field of imaging, cleaning and janitorial supplies. They were also concerned with keeping the heart and nostalgia of the Fuller Legend alive and well, and in 1994 pumped millions of dollars into Fuller for raw materials, inventory, and new manufacturing equipment. CPAC also purchased Stanley Home Products in 1995 and moved them into the Fuller Brush plant, giving Fuller dealers the added product line of this 70-year old company. In 2007, CPAC and Fuller Brush restructured back to a privately held corporation.

In March 2001 in its 95th year of operation, Fuller Brush ensured its viability in the 21st century, blending the new with the old. The Company established a secure sales website for its distributor force and opened up the web affiliate opportunity for individuals and fundraising organizations. In August 2003 this website was enhanced for better navigability, monthly sales, and the inclusion of the Stanley Home Products line. In 2004 Fuller gave us a "back office website" to check our monthly volume stats, place wholesale orders, and gain access to any new promotional materials. In 2008 Fuller gave us an on-line distributor application so we could recruit from a website without any paper applications.

In 2012 Fuller Brush and Stanley Home Products completely merged their product lines, with some of the same equivalent products being dropped in favor of one brand or the other. It has made business much simpler, and more economical for inventory control. We have new owners; instead of NY-based CPAC, a group of Great Bend Kansas area investors including the President of Fuller Brush, bought the factory, land and business, which should improve local control of business decisions.