Lifetime Brands Acquires Fred & Friends Housewares Brand

Lifetime Brands Inc., a global provider of branded housewares products, has acquired the business and certain assets of Easy Aces Inc., which operates under the name Fred & Friends (F&F) and designs and markets novelty housewares and other products under the Fred brand.

Fred products include innovative and fun kitchen tools, tabletop accessories, party goods, personal accessories and desk and tech products. Fred products are primarily distributed through independent specialty stores, selected major retailers and small chains, primarily in the United States and Canada.

Jeffrey Siegel, Lifetime’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, commented in a prepared statement that “Lifetime’s access to international markets in Europe, Mexico, Brazil and China provides opportunities to introduce Fred products into new markets and distribution channels. At the same time, Lifetime will benefit from F&F’s strong relationships with independent specialty stores, which should enable Lifetime to increase distribution of our recently introduced Savora line of unique upscale kitchen tools and gadgets, which is targeted to this retail segment.”

Frederick A. Roses, F&F’s founder, said, “Our very motivated and talented team looks forward to becoming a part of Lifetime. We’ll get to keep doing what we’re best at – designing products that put smiles on peoples’ faces and working with our designers, suppliers and customers – and let the folks at Lifetime take care of the rest.”

F&F is located in Cumberland, R.I. Lifetime Brands, Garden City, N.J., markets its products under such well-known kitchenware brands as Farberware, KitchenAid, CasaModa, Cuisinart, Cuisine de France, Guy Fieri, Hoffritz, Kizmos, Misto, Pedrini, Roshco, Sabatier, Savora and Vasconia; respected tabletop brands such as Mikasa, Pfaltzgraff, Creative Tops, Gorham, International Silver, Kirk Stieff, Sasaki, Towle Silversmiths, Tuttle, Wallace, V&A and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; and home solutions brands, including Fred, Elements, Melannco, Kamenstein and Design for Living. The company also provides exclusive private-label products to leading retailers worldwide.