History
The company began in Los Angeles in 1935. It was started by Ray Stanton Avery and his wife, and was first called Kum Kleen Products. The name changed many times over the years. It became Avery Adhesives in 1937, Avery Products Corporation in 1964, and Avery International Corporation in 1976.
H. Russell Smith, a friend of Avery from college, joined in 1946 and became part-owner. He helped the company grow for almost 40 years. At different times he was president, chief executive officer, and chairman. He helped the company sell shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1990, the company joined together with the Dennison Manufacturing Company. After this merger, it took the name Avery Dennison.
The Dennison Manufacturing Company was started in 1844 in Brunswick, Maine, by Andrew Dennison and his son Aaron Lufkin Dennison. At first it made boxes for jewelry and watches. Five years later, Aaron gave the company to his younger brother, Eliphalet Whorf Dennison, who made it much bigger. In 1898 the company moved to Framingham, Massachusetts. Aaron Dennison later helped start the Waltham Watch Company in 1850.
In 1982, Avery Dennison started a new part of the company to make office products. These included binders, file labels, and name badges. They were sold under the Avery name. This part of the company grew as more people used home computers to print their own labels. Later, people sent less mail and more email, so fewer office products were sold. On July 1, 2013, Avery Dennison sold this business to CCL Industries.
In 2021 the company started atma.io. This is a computer system that gives products a digital identity, so they can be followed from the factory to the shop.
