L.G. Balfour Company
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| Private | |
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| Founded | Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA (May 13, 1913) |
| Founder | Lloyd Garfield Balfour |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas, United States |
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Area served
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United States |
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| Parent | Commemorative Brands, Inc. |
| Website | balfour |
Founded as the L.G. Balfour Company, Balfour is an operating unit of Commemorative Brands, Inc., a subsidiary of American Achievement Corporation. Balfour produces high school, college, military, and championship rings, yearbooks, caps and gowns, and graduation announcements.
Lloyd Garfield "Bally" Balfour was a native of Kentucky, where he earned his B.A. degree at the University of Louisville. He went on to obtain an LL.B. degree from Indiana University, where he became a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity in 1907. Business was of greater attraction to Balfour rather than the legal profession, and he spent five years as a traveling representative for a maker of fraternity jewelry. During that time Balfour noticed several trends in the business, including lack of standardization, poor workmanship, inferior materials, and fictitious guarantees. These issues drove Mr. Balfour to establish his own company, and he founded the L.G. Balfour Company on Friday, June 13, 1913. The business grew from a small nucleus of skilled craftsmen led by Mr. Balfour in a facility in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Lloyd Balfour's wives, Ruth who died a few years after they married and Mildred, were members of Pi Beta Phi and the L.G. Balfour Company landed Pi Beta Phi as their first sorority account when the company became the official jeweler after a vote at the 1913 Pi Beta Phi Convention. In the early years, business was concentrated on quality fraternity and sorority products and the company earned a reputation for quality, integrity, and service. Eventually Balfour held contracts with ninety percent of all national fraternal societies.
In 1922, Balfour set up a new department to manufacture and sell high school class rings and insignia. In 1923, Balfour introduced the first multi-year contract plans for schools.
During World War II, Balfour produced a variety of war-time medals and other products in support of our armed services. Shortly thereafter, Balfour manufactured the first press badge for the Boston Red Sox, beginning forty successive years of making ninety percent of all the baseball World Series press badges. Also, DuPont became the company's first major recognition products account.
In June 1961, Balfour was accused by the federal government of monopolizing the sale and distribution of fraternity and sorority jewelry and rings. The Federal Trade Commission charged that Balfour "unreasonably foreclosed competitors and potential competitors from markets, and employed other illegal practices which have restrained trade." Company president Lloyd Balfour was named in the FTC complaint, along with the Burr, Patterson & Auld Company of Detroit, Michigan. Balfour owned nearly all of the stock in the Detroit-based company. The complaint charged that the two companies had negotiated "sole official jeweler" contracts with nearly all national Greek-letter organizations, including social organizations, professional organizations, and honor societies. As a result of the exclusive contracts, Balfour controlled 99 percent of jewelry sales to members of those organizations. The complaint also charged Balfour with enticing personnel away from competitors and selling or bidding below cost to drive competitors out of markets.
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Wikipedia