Usglass, Inc. Acquires 107-year-old American Company, Fenton Art Glass Of Williamstown W. Va.

Sept. 19, 2012 - PRLog -- WILLIAMSTOWN, West Virginia – USGlass, Inc., a newly formed corporation, announced today that it has acquired the assets of the 107-year-old Fenton Art Glass Company in the town of Williamstown, West Virginia. The company’s primary intentions are to revitalize the American glass art craft while sustaining the town’s industrial community by saving and creating crucial American manufacturing jobs – furthering the trend of small town growth as a generator and booster in the nation’s economic recovery. For more then 100 years, Fenton designed and manufactured art glass for the American home out of Williamstown, West Virginia glass making factory.  The Fenton Family has been the sole proprietor and management of the factory for several generations, provided jobs for a majority of local citizens.  However, over the past five years, the factory has been crippled by its outmoded product design and a distribution strategy that did not fit the modern customer.  The lack of innovation was jeopardizing the company’s sustainability. “It has been a gradual hardship for the town,” expressed Williamstown Mayor Jean Ford. “Fenton was one of the nicest things to happen to the community. The prospect of losing an industry that has been a part of our town for so long was earth shattering,” she added.

USGlass has stepped in to rejuvenate the company with plans to introduce new branding and designers to create modernized product lines, expand operations and distribution channels and attract the level of talent and expertise that will allow for Fenton Glass to continue producing world class American art glass and consumer glassware for more generations to come.   “It’s a unique opportunity to have a one hundred year old glass company that is loaded with history and Americana and blend it with the dream team of consumer and artisanal glass,” explained Jeff Rich, a TouchStone merger and acquisitions advisor.

To maintain the Fenton traditions of glassmaking and secure crucial American manufacturing
jobs, USGlass will also collaborate with the local craftsmen.  The benefits of keeping production in America are astronomical. Overseas production is a constant struggle for American companies. High shipping costs, long shipment periods, and purchasing limitations burden many companies’ production efficiency.

Instead, USGlass is betting on a recent trend with small towns becoming the new generator of the economic growth within the nation. "We see the Williamstown plant as a special place because you have labor and expertise in the glass-making process you don't find other places," said Gene Bem, founder and CEO of USGlass, Inc.  Williamstown, being an industrial town, economically benefits the most when its expertise is fully utilized. “The commitment of the board was to tap into the skills and craftsmen that already existed in America rather than go find it somewhere else,” said USGlass board member, Ed White.

Numerous Fenton collectors feared that a foreign company purchasing the Fenton assets would lead to the mass-production of collectables and degrade the value of the Fenton product. Knowing an American company with ties to West Virginia is acquiring the assets eases those concerns among many Fenton community members.  “I can’t imagine how the Williamstown community must feel knowing that Fenton won’t be lost,” said Mayor Ford. We are so pleased that the right suitor came along to help keep this very important industry player going.”

Small town revivals are not the only major business trend driving this deal. There has also been an increasing interest in fine glass art, like the pieces created by artist Dale Chihuly, whose glass art works are exhibited in major museums, public installations and galleries across the country and the world; and the ever-notable Tiffany & Company, whose spectacular glass panels have been installed everywhere from the White House to numerous churches world wide, as well as in exhibits such as the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City, which will be featuring some of the company’s oldest glass creations this October.

“As director, I am looking forward to giving Americans the opportunity to acquire world class glass art made in America,” explained White. USGlass hopes to open factory operations in October of this year. “You always hope that when an industry comes into your town it will become part of the town,” said Mayor Ford. “We look forward to a great relationship with USGlass and we will certainly welcome them with open arms.”

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