Depression-era dinnerware keeps maker afloat

[Omaha Steve]

Fiesta dinnerware is unionized. Has been for several decades. FYI!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioe6hAEFSkRxpVut6E02a00tBjSgD9AMGIFG0

By VICKI SMITH (AP) – 8 hours ago

NEWELL, W.Va. — Born of the Great Depression, it was a glossy, color-saturated line of cups, bowls and plates meant to affordably brighten lives and dinner tables. Seven decades later, Fiesta dinnerware is still designed to send a subtle message of optimism, but it's no longer quite so cheap.

Yet Fiesta's enduring popularity and strong sales even as consumers cut back are helping to keep struggling Homer Laughlin China Co. afloat. It's the last major dinnerware producer that makes its products in the U.S., as competitors have shut down or moved offshore.

"We're fighting for our lives right now," President Joe Wells III says of the West Virginia company that's battling the ever-rising cost of doing business and the ever-falling prices of foreign competitors. He represents the fourth generation of his family to run the Newell factory that has employed thousands of families in and around West Virginia's Northern Panhandle.

Earlier this year, Ohio-based Libbey Inc. shut down the last U.S. factory producing Syracuse China, ending 137 years of history and 275 jobs in Salina, N.Y. Now, that china is made in China. Only a handful of U.S. dinnerware producers remain, all smaller than Homer Laughlin and most surviving by capitalizing on a niche.

Family-owned Pickard China in Antioch, Ill., for example, concentrates on custom work for clients like the federal government. It's produced china for U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, as well as the Bush White House, Air Force One and Camp David.

Privately held Homer Laughlin — founded in 1871 across the Ohio River in East Liverpool, Ohio, but in Newell since 1905 — won't share financial data. Standard & Poor's estimates it does about $50 million a year in sales.

FULL story at link.

[corpseratemedia]

1. I have a bunch of their serving plates, all different colors

I'm so glad they're Union, hope they won't go out of business.

[mzmolly]

2. Their products can be ordered here:

http://www.dinnerwareusa.com/shop/

I'm going to place items on my holiday wish list! ;)

[jwirr]

3. Buy American.

[QC]

4. I have a couple cabinets full of Fiesta. It's great stuff. n/t

[Garbo 2004]

5. Cool. Thanks for posting. I've always meant to get some "Depression ware."

(My parents and grandmother still had some pieces from that era while I was growing up.) Info about the company provides an added incentive. :-)

[-..__...]

9. Any of it radioactive red?

:scared: :smoke:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/994/is-red-fiestaware-radioactive

Harmless, but it is an interesting bit of trivia.

[Garbo 2004]

12. Interesting. Not any red...that I recall. That would be a cool collectors' item, though. nt

[Omaha Steve]

6. Even the AFL-CIO sells them

https://unionshop.aflcio.org/pitchers_c59.cfm

[Deja Q]

7. It's "not so cheap" because the workers are paid a fair wage; the system not exploited.

Depending on how one wants to spin things...

which isn't even worth the time, as what comes from other countries is so cheap and of low quality, when not being toxic outright, that it's not even a laughing matter.

[Hepburn]

8. I love my Fiestaware....

...some belonged to my Mom and some to my Dad's mother.

My Mom's stuff was all one color ~~ aqua ~~ but Gramma's is the set that has all the dif colors.

Too cool stuff! :hi:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. I have 2 Fiestaware pitchers and love them. My dinnerware for the 22 yrs, is Corning

which was made here in NY.

[FarCenter]

14. Corelle appears to still be made in New York

"The Pressware Manufacturing Plant in Corning, NY is a Corelle production marvel. In just under 15 minutes, plates and bowls go from molten glass to finished product – sealed with an easily removable protective wax coating and placed in a packing case. Due to this incredible speed, the Pressware Plant produces up to 100 million pieces of Corelle VitrelleTM glass dinnerware each year."

http://www.corelle.com/index.asp?pageId=10

But I don't think that they are part of Corning Glass Works anymore. CGW is big in technical glass for fiber optics, LCD screens and other applications.

[surrealAmerican]

25. I imagine they produce more "dinnerware" at Corelle ...

... but it's not technically "china" since it's made of glass, not clay.

[deminks]

11. We have used Fiestaware in our family for decades.

I love it and continue to buy new colors.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. I'm sorry to hear that Syracuse closed.

When I was a kid in the sixties we had a set of everyday china called Nordic:



It was modern and I liked it.

Now I'm using grandma's old avocado green Mikasa set which I don't like because it is 1970s, and I am tired of avocado green, gold and orange. EVERYTHING was in those colors.

Yeah I know I'm old...... :D


Fiestaware is COOL STUFF.

[dgibby]

15. I don't have any Fiesta Ware,

but I collect their Virginia Rose line. We used it for everyday when I was a kid, used to buy repacement cups/saucers for 10-15 cents as I recall. Now a set of it in good condition can go for $400 and up!

[KatyaR]

19. I love the Virgina Rose pattern!

My grandmother had some of it, and I have a few pieces. You're right--it definitely has gotten more expensive over the years!

[Warpy]

16. I started to collect the stuff just before suburbia discovered it

which really cut the collection short. I ended up giving it to a friend when I got divorced.

Whenever I think about chucking the cheap, boring white Corelle, Fiesta Ware is at the top of the list for a replacement.

I guess now I'll have to look for it on Ebay, instead.

[Ilsa]

17. Here's a link to the company and their products:

http://www.hlchina.com/

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Here's more

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=fiestaware&gbv=2

[Ilsa]

24. Their restaurant china is beautiful, also. nt

[Omaha Steve]

20. Kick

[Edith Ann]

21. Dinnie ware

After a long search, I bought Fiesta Ware because it was American made and had no lead paint. At least the new dishes don't have lead paint. They are also less likely to chip. Better quality. 30 years ago, when my friends were picking wedding china from England, France, and Germany, I bought Lenox, the only china made in America. I'm not sure if that is still true.

Anyway, you can always buy the place settings on sale. And occasionally the stores will sell the serving pieces on sale. Fiesta Ware is fun and colorful and you can mix an match everything. It may cost a little more but it will last. Some of these cheaper dishes break easily and require replacement more often. In the long run you will spend more on cheap dishes than Fiesta Ware.

VIVA FIESTA WARE. Let's keep them in business.

[Edith Ann]

22. Dinnerware

Dinnerware. I missed that one.

[slackmaster]

23. It's great as long as you don't serve food on the old yellow-orange stuff

The kind with uranium salts in the glaze.

[Sabien]

26. Wal-Mart

Imagine if Wal-Mart gave priority to American made items...really

instead of killing American jobs to save us pennies.



People are idiots.