Totes Isotoner Corporation, stylized totes»ISOTONER and often abbreviated to Totes, is an international umbrella, footwear, and cold weather accessory supplier, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Totes is regularly billed in press reports as "the world's largest marketer of umbrellas". The company has divisions in the United States, Canada, UK, and France.
The company sells products under totes, ISOTONER, and ESNY brands. Totes branded products include umbrellas, rubber footwear, ponchos, rain hats, and travel bags. Several licensed gift and boot products also carry the totes brand name. Mostly known for private label footwear, ESNY, now part of Totes Isotoner, is associated with branded products such as flip-flops, sandals, and ESNY Occasions wedding footwear. Totes Isotoner and ESNY branded products are carried by most national retailers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Totes Isotoner itself has several sub-brands, including Cirrus, SolBounce, Zenz and Toasties.
History
Totes Isotoner traces its roots back to the Roll-O-Radio Company, a mail-order radio kit supplier, which was incorporated in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1924. In 1931, Roll-O-Radio Co. became "Perfect Manufacturing Company (Inc.)", whose So-Lo Works in Oakley, Ohio developed a popular shoe-resoling product. Perfect Manufacturing Company moved to Loveland, Ohio in 1942 with a name change to "So-Lo Works, Incorporated". From the mid-1940s to the late 1950s, company president Joe J. Marx designed, manufactured and marketed his successful "totes" line of foldable waterproof apparel, starting with "totes" women's slip-on overshoes for rainy days and culminating in Skooba-"totes" full-length dry exposure suits for diving and water-skiing. Bradford E. Phillips purchased So-Lo Works Inc. in 1961, renamed the company "Totes Incorporated" in 1965 and included "totes" collapsible umbrellas in the firm's repertoire in 1970, By the mid-1980s, Totes Inc. had become the world's largest supplier of such umbrellas. In 1994, Phillips sold Totes Inc. to Boston investment firm Bain Capital.
In 1997, Totes Inc. merged with ARIS»ISOTONER Incorporated, a producer of leather gloves. Aris Isotoner traced its roots to 1918, when French glovemaker Paul Chanut and American glove reseller Larry Stanton founded the Aris Glove Company, developing the first stretchable nylon glove with leather coverings and naming their design "ISOTONER" (a portmanteau of "isometric" and "toning") to highlight the glove's selling points. The American Sara Lee Corporation purchased Aris in 1974, changing the firm's name to Aris Isotoner. After the 1997 merger, the successor company was named "Totes Isotoner Corporation" to showcase the respective flagship products of Totes Inc. and Aris Isotoner. In 2001, Bain Capital sold Totes Isotoner to private equity fund Swander Pace Capital, which resold it in 2007 to MidOcean Partners. In 2014, Totes Isotoner was acquired by Investcorp and Freeman Spogli & Co. Thus far in the new millennium, Totes Isotoner has increased its product range, overseas presence and monetary value.
1920s
9 April 1924 sees the incorporation of Roll-O-Radio Co. as a new business in Cincinnati, Ohio, with premises on Pearl and Race Streets in 1925 and on Third and Sycamore Streets from 1926 to 1930. As its name suggests, the company specializes in selling radio kits, including crystal sets and power supplies.
1930s
On 1 June 1931, Roll-O-Radio Co. changes its name by charter amendment to "Perfect Manufacturing Company (Inc.)". After their Marx-Flarsheim advertising agency merges with the Archer Company in Cincinnati, president Joe J. Marx and treasurer Henry B. Flarsheim enter the manufacturing business with Roland R. Bollman of the Perfect Manufacturing Company in Cincinnati. Both Flarsheim and Bollman retire in 1935, when Marx, president, purchases the entire stock of the Perfect Manufacturing Company, now based in Oakley, Ohio. The firm’s So-Lo Works division makes a rubber salve for resoling worn-out shoes during the Great Depression. The advertising slogan "Millions now use SO-LO to fix shoes for as low as 1¢ a repair" hints at the name’s possible origin.