FASHION BRANDS LICENSING AGENCY

Admiral’s History & Heritage

• Admiral Corporation was founded in 1934.

• Founded by Ross Siragusa, an Italian immigrant who was mesmerized by the inventions of Guglielmo Marconi (radio) and Nihkola Tesla (TV).

• Admiral’s beginnings were humble but built on Siragusa’s passion to bring these products into the homes of every American family.

• The Great Depression of the 1930s was his window to success. Having returned from the 1933 World’s Fair where he saw the prototype for the television, he embarked on establishing a company that would manufacture portable radios that were affordable while keeping his eyes on the new technology.

• His dream was seeing success and his factories were growing in the radio trade which allowed them to take on some profitable government contracts during WWII.

• In 1948, Admiral added TV’s to their product offering, and in just a year and a half of entering the category Admiral was producing 15,000 sets a day at multiple factories across the country and claimed a quarter share of the entire industries production.

• Admiral was one of the first companies to produce color TV’s.

• Success in television sales enabled the company to branch out into major appliances such as refrigerators by the 1950s.

• In the mid-1950’s they began to expand into foreign markets and acquired the Marconi factory in England to help with the expansion.

• General Electric and Admiral have the distinction of being the only American brands to establish themselves in both home appliances and consumer electronics.

• 1971 – Admiral is acquired by Rockwell and subsequently sold to Magic Chef (1979) then acquired by Maytag (1986) and subsequently acquired by Whirlpool (2006).

• 2019 – Admiral Corporation of America was established to license the global rights to the Admiral Brand.

• Throughout its 85-year history, Admiral home appliance, and consumer electronics continued to address the needs of both domestic and international consumers.