The Gillette Company
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| Product type | Safety razors |
|---|---|
| Owner | Procter & Gamble |
| Country | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Introduced | September 28, 1901 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners | The Gillette Company |
| Tagline | "The Best A Man Can Get" |
| Website | www |
Gillette is a brand of men's safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gillette Company, a supplier of products under various brands until that company merged into P&G in 2005. The Gillette Company was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer.
Under the leadership of Colman M. Mockler Jr. as CEO from 1975–91, the company was the target of three takeover attempts, from Ronald Perelman and Coniston Partners. On October 1, 2005, Procter & Gamble finalized its merger with the Gillette Company.
The Gillette Company's assets were incorporated into a P&G unit known internally as "Global Gillette". In July 2007, Global Gillette was dissolved and incorporated into Procter & Gamble's other two main divisions, Procter & Gamble Beauty and Procter & Gamble Household Care. Gillette's brands and products were divided between the two accordingly. The Gillette R&D center in Boston, Massachusetts as, and the Gillette South Boston Manufacturing Center (known as "Gillette World Shaving Headquarters"), still exist as functional working locations under the Procter & Gamble-owned Gillette brand name. Gillette's subsidiaries Braun and Oral-B, among others, have also been retained by P&G.
The first safety razor using the new disposable blade went on sale in 1903. Gillette maintained a limited range of models of this new type razor until 1921 when the original Gillette patent expired. In anticipation of the event, Gillette introduced a redesigned razor and offered it at a variety of prices in different cases and finishes, including the long running “aristocrat". Gillette continued to sell the original razor but instead of pricing it at $5, it was priced at $1, making a Gillette razor truly affordable to every man regardless of economic class. In 1932 the Gillette Blue Blade, so-named because it was dipped in blue lacquer, was introduced. It became one of the most recognizable blades in the world. In 1934 the "Twist to Open" (TTO) design, was intuitionistic. It featured butterfly-like doors that made blade changing much easier than it had been, wherein the razor head had to be detached from the handle.
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