Coleco Industries
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Formerly called
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The Connecticut Leather Company |
|---|---|
| Industry |
Toy industry Video game industry |
| Fate | Closed, properties sold |
| Founded | February 29, 1932 |
| Founder | Maurice Greenberg |
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Headquarters | West Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
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Key people
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Maurice Greenberg Leonard Greenberg Arnold Greenberg |
| Products |
Leather goods Toys Above ground swimming pools Video games Consumer electronics Telstar (game console) ColecoVision Coleco ADAM Coleco Gemini Cabbage Patch Kids |
Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar dedicated consoles and ColecoVision. While the company disappeared in 1988 as a result of bankruptcy, the Coleco brand was revived in 2005, and remains active to this day.
Coleco Industries, Inc. started life in 1932 as The Connecticut Leather Company. Initially the business supplied leather and "shoe findings" to shoe repairers. Shoe findings are the supplies and paraphernalia of a shoe repair shop. The company later (1938) branched out into selling rubber footwear. With the advent of World War II the demand for the basic supplies that the company produced dramatically increased demand. By the end of the war the company was much bigger and on a stable financial ground and had branched out into new and used shoe machinery, hat cleaning equipment and even marble shoeshine stands.
By the early 1950s, and thanks to Maurice Greenberg's son, Leonard Greenberg, the company had diversified further and was making leather lacing and leathercraft kits. In 1954, at the New York Toy Fair, the leather moccasin kit was selected as a Child Guidance Prestige Toy, and Connecticut Leather Company decided to go wholeheartedly into the toy business. In 1956, Leonard read of an emerging technology, the vacuum forming of plastic, which led the company to become very successful, producing an enormous array of different plastic toys and wading pools.
In 1961 the leather and shoe findings portion of the business was sold, and Connecticut Leather Company became Coleco Industries, Inc. On January 9, 1962 Coleco went public, offering stock at $5.00 a share.
In 1963 the company acquired the Kestral Corporation of Springfield, Massachusetts, a manufacturer of inflatable vinyl pools and toys. This led to Coleco becoming the largest manufacturer of above ground swimming pools in the world.
By 1966, the company had grown massively so Leonard persuaded his brother Arnold Greenberg to join the company. Further acquisitions added to the company's growth, namely Playtime Products (1966) and Eagle Toys of Canada (1968). By the end of the 1960s, Coleco ran ten manufacturing facilities and had a new corporate headquarters in Hartford, Connecticut.
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