Education

Learn about educational events, informative webinars and special reports, designed and prepared to help members stay up-to- date on current business topics, trends and issues!

Get the Dirt on Vacuum Cleaners: New Book on Vac History Reveals What’s Been Swept Under the Rug

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Brush Up on Your Understanding of Floor Cleaning Ever wonder what or who put the hum in your vacuum cleaner? The just-released book “The Vacuum Cleaner, A History” by Carroll Gantz (McFarland & Company, Inc.) answers that question and many others. Beginning with brooms, rug beaters and a look at carpet weaving…

Protect Against Greenwashing: The Importance of Testing

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Environmental claims: What does green really mean? Sustainability is vital to a company’s performance strategy and brand image. At the 2012 International Home + Housewares Show, we heard from industry insiders at the Innovation Theater and the Going Green display about environmentally sustainable materials, reduced use of…

Claiming Green-ness: Cautions for Packaging and Advertising

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Sustainability is a topic important to any business these days. Consumers read labels carefully and question alternatives as they shop for new products. Governments regulate and stimulate. Manufacturers and retailers aim to satisfy their customers. Costs for materials, energy and water are rising and everyone wants to save…

To Offshore Or To Reshore? How To Objectively Decide

That is the question facing many manufacturers these days, both inside and outside of the housewares industry. As the economic makeup of China changes, so does the financial model that U.S. manufacturers use to determine the feasibility of manufacturing products 8,000 miles away. Together with the decision on financial feasibility, many manufacturers are also taking a hard…

Housewares History: Holiday Histories!

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Ah, December….The biggest shopping month of the year. The race begins with a stampede on a Friday, the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, as shoppers are surrounded by twinkling colorful lights and the jingling sound tracks that echo in our heads as we dash between parking lots. Did you know that retailers have…

Housewares History: Whitmor

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Organizing Homes, Organizing a Business Today’s homes need many products to keep track of shoes, clothes, and toys. While shopping for storage supplies, you were probably thinking about how to squeeze your stuff into a space that could use a few more inches of shelving. The organizing business keeps on growing, as we pack our…

Housewares History: Working Under Pressure in the Kitchen

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Today’s busy families operate under a lot of pressure to keep after-school activities, homework and chores on schedule. Moms may feel they are battling clock and calendar as they rush to get dinner on the table, while worrying that food-on-the-go or a microwaved meal-in-a-bag can’t provide the nutrition or satisfaction of a…

Housewares History: Dishpan Hands No More – Kitchen Sink Tales

Can you guess what this is? How was this item used every day? Chain mail for personal protection or something in a kitchen? It’s a pot scrubber! Back in the “good old days” when cast-iron cookware heated on a wood-fueled cook stove, burnt-on crusts were scoured with such a “dishcloth” made of iron loops. Tough on the hands, such scrubbers were used with salt, sand, lemon…

The Metal Ware Company: Generations of Innovation

By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator Where did key items in the history of kitchen products originate? Look to the rolling landscape of Wisconsin for many chapters of this continuing story. The Metal Ware Company celebrated several anniversaries recently. In 2010, the company marked the 90th year of its founding in Two Rivers, Wis. In 2011, it noted the 30th…