The Testor Corporation Revenue and Competitors

The Testor Corporation has been manufacturing products for hobby, craft, and home decorating for more than seven decades. Since 1929, the oval Testor logo has been associated with quality and integrity. Testor hobby finishing materials and accessories, plastic model kits, craft paints and supplies, and airbrushes are sold world-wide, satisfying the demand for these fine products. Testor currently staffs two large manufacturing facilities in Rockford, Illinois, and one in Toronto, Canada. Testor molds and packages its own plastic model kits; formulates and packages a broad range of paints and adhesives; designs and manufactures airbrushes and accessories; and employs a well-trained sales staff for distribution of Testor products around the world. Back in 1929, however, things were a bit different. Nils F. Testor, a young Swedish immigrant, had recently purchased the assets of a small Rockford company making an adhesive product called "Karlson's Klister." Klister was an adhesive made for mending women's stockings. As the glue became more popular other applications were developed and, shortly before Testor became involved, Klister was chiefly used by local cobblers for making and repairing shoes. As the result of poor management and growing debt the young company fell on hard times. Axel Karlson, the founder, sold his interest in the firm and returned to Sweden. Nils Testor recognized the need for this kind of adhesive, stepped in and took over what was soon to become the Testor Chemical Company. Testor quickly realized that this product would be useful in a wide variety of applications and began to market the glue as "Crystal Clear Household Cement." The adhesive was still sold in bulk to the shoe repairmen, but it was now beginning to carve a niche for itself on the home front. Household Cement was-and still is-used to mend china, glassware, leather goods, and any number of common household products. Glue sales increased dramatically and became so popular that, for many years, Testor and glue were virtually synonymous. Even now, the Testor Consumer Relations Department frequently receives mail from folks who have been using Household Cement for decades. Technologies may evolve over time but good ones survive and the demand for this cement is as strong as ever before! From 1929 to 1936, cement was the only Testor product, but the Testor Chemical Company began to prosper. With this new-found financial security came new goods. In 1936, the company became directly involved with the hobby industry for the first time. The introduction of model cement and butyrate dope manufactured specifically for the hobbyist was the beginning of an involvement with the hobby industry that was to grow and solidify over the years. The Hobby Industry of America was formed in 1940 and the Testor Chemical Company was a founding member. Testor products were now selling very well-the company was building a solid base and a complete product line.