Craftsman tools, once synonymous with Sears, are now under the ownership of Stanley Black & Decker, following Sears’ bankruptcy in March 2017. However, the transition hasn’t been without its legal battles. Shortly after Stanley acquired the brand, they filed a lawsuit against Sears over the launch of the Craftsman Ultimate Collection brand.
Sears, however, retained a limited license to sell Craftsman tools exclusively within their stores. Meanwhile, Stanley controlled the distribution of the brand elsewhere. The cause for concern arose when Sears claimed to be “the real home of the broadest assortment of Craftsman,” which Stanley interpreted as an implication that their products were somehow inferior. A swift settlement ensued, and as of now, the Craftsman Ultimate Collection is no longer listed on Sears.com.
Stanley’s efforts to revive Craftsman as an American-made brand led them to establish a manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas in 2019. However, due to challenges with cost-effective machinery, the facility had to be shut down in March 2023, leading to a return to manufacturing in China. Despite these changes, Stanley still upholds the lifetime warranty on legacy Craftsman hand tools.
Reviews of Stanley’s current lineup of Craftsman tools are rather mixed. A notable article by ToolGuyd in 2020 shed light on this subject. While the author didn’t perceive Stanley’s Craftsman tools to match the quality of the older, American-made Sears versions, they did acknowledge that they fared better than the later, Chinese-made Sears versions.
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