C-Thru Sells Non-Scrapbooking Brands, Renames Company

The C-Thru Ruler Company announced this week that it has sold it's non-crafting assets to focus on its Little Yellow Bicycle, Deja Views, and Art-C brands.

C-Thru was founded in 1939 by the Zachs family that still runs it today. In addition to the scrapbook supplies it is known for in the crafts industry, C-Thru has long been a well-known supplier of art materials and drafting tools. C-Thru has sold all of its non crafts assets - its ruler, lettering and drafting portions of its business - to Acme United Corporation of Fairfield, Connecticut. Terms were not disclosed.

While it is notable that C-Thru is swimming against the industry trend and choosing to focus on their papercrafting industry business at a time when many companies are either exiting the industry or diversifying into other areas of crafting (such as fabrics and jewelry), there is an important factor to consider at play in this decision: technology. The drafting tools market has suffered in recent years as most drafting and engineering is now done digitally. Of the two businesses that C-Thru was engaged in, scrapbooking was the one with potential for future growth.

Having divested itself of its original business, C-Thru is getting more than a new focus. It's getting a new name as well. The company is re-forming under the name Little Yellow Bicycle, Inc. The new company will continue to be managed by the Zachs family that founded C-Thru. Senior Creative Director Sharon Ann Kropp will remain with Little Yellow Bicycle as well.

Ted Zachs, president of the Little Yellow Bicycle, described the transition:

We are excited about this new opportunity for our Company. After 73 years serving the measurement and art materials industry, we want to thank our customers for their business and support, and we believe they will be well-served by Acme United Corporation. We will now focus our creative efforts exclusively on our design and paper crafting business, and will continue to deliver the quality and creativity that our customers have come to expect.

According to Executive Vice President Ross Zachs, Little Yellow Bicycle's crafting customers won't notice many changes with the transition to the company devoting itself solely to its craft division:

On the paper crafting side of the business, it's business as usual. We expect to continue our tradition of bringing unique and innovative collections to the paper crafting industry approximately once a month, while continuously seeking new ways to innovate across all areas of the crafting spectrum.