Wilkinson Sword - Merger To Form: Wilkinson Match

Merger To Form: Wilkinson Match

In 1973 Wilkinson Sword merged with The British Match Corporation to form a new company Wilkinson Match. This was intended to create a bigger company, with a bigger advertising budget, to enable the company to fight its American rival in the consumer shaving market: The Gillette Company; and its British subsidiary, Gillette. In this advertising war, Wilkinson Sword made full use of its long and proud tradition of sword making in its television commercials.

Wilkinson Match was then bought by an American company Allegheny Ludlum Industries, of Pittsburgh, who later as Allegheny International, Inc went bankrupt. Allegheny sold Wilkinson Match in 1986 to Swedish Match which 2 years later was merged with Stora Group. In 1989 Gillette helped finance a buyout of the Swedish Match consumer products division, which included Wilkinson Sword, to the Netherlands based Eemland Holdings, giving Gillette a 22% stake in Eemland. After Gillette was ordered by the European Community Commission in 1992 to sell its interest in Eemland, Eemland sold Wilkinson Sword to Warner-Lambert, owner of Schick razor brand forming Schick-Wilkinson Sword. The Schick name was used on its products in North America and Japan, and the Wilkinson Sword name in Europe.

Most of the former Bryant and May half of Wilkinson Match was closed down or sold off in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Bryant and May Factory, Bow and the Bryant and May Factory, Melbourne. The gardening tools division was sold to Fiskars in the 1990s.

During this time Wilkinson Sword continued to make swords, even crafting the ceremonial sword for the Queen Mother's Jubilee celebration.