America’s only flatware manufacturer celebrates the unique advantages of U.S. manufacturing.
When Oneida Ltd. abandoned its legacy flatware manufacturing facility in Sherrill, N.Y., in 2005 to offshore production, Greg Owens and Matt Roberts swept in. The two former Oneida employees co-founded Sherrill Manufacturing in the factory and resolved to preserve the American craftsmanship that had made Oneida world-famous. Over a decade later, there’s no question that Owens and Roberts have succeeded.
Since reopening Sherrill’s flatware factory, Owens and Roberts have firmly established Sherrill Manufacturing’s flatware, sold under the brand name Liberty Tabletop, within the market, producing the only flatware still made in America. In embracing the stringent sourcing and quality control that uniquely advantages American manufacturing, Liberty has been able to produce flatware of the highest quality but remain competitive with other companies by selling directly to consumers online. This “factory to table” business model is a key component of their success.
In contrast to other flatware companies, Liberty’s direct link between consumers and the factory ensures that its products uniquely address consumers’ tastes, offering flatware designs that break with convention.
“A central part of our marketing campaign, of course, is the ‘Made in America’ theme,” Owens said, “but we wanted to go beyond that and start offering things that weren’t common in a very sort of stodgy, dull flatware market. How many flatware patterns can have flowers on them, honestly?”
Indeed, Liberty went the exact opposite route of traditional flatware designs and introduced a skull design for its flatware.
“I have to tell you, there were a lot of skeptics, myself included, until I started looking at how many people just identify with skulls, and they love them. It’s the Harley riders. It’s the Day of the Dead people. It’s folks that love tattoos. So, we did it,” Owens said. “And it was a wild success.”
Since then, Liberty has introduced several other unique patterns, appealing to their potential consumers’ passions, including a Celtic design and Earth design – for which Liberty has promised to plant one tree for every set sold, in partnership with One Tree Planted.
Celebrating Liberty’s unique ability to lead to exponential growth in 2018 – the company ushered in its best year yet in terms of sales and profits in 2018, and the future looks just as bright.
For more on how Liberty has achieved such great success and how Owens predicts his company and other American manufacturers will continue to grow, listen to his interview on The Manufacturing Report podcast below.