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Worse on Purpose

Farberware

Bronx-made cookware for 96 years. Now a name rented out by product category.

Status: Avoid
Founded
1900
Website
farberware.com
HQ
USA
Manufacturing
China,Indonesia
Ownership type
Licensed
Parent
Farberware Licensing Group (Meyer + Lifetime Brands)
Acquired
1996
Status since
2026-07-13

Ownership

Split in 1996: Syratech took cookware rights and closed the Bronx plant the same year; Lifetime took cutlery and gadgets on a 99-year royalty-free license. Meyer bought a 200-year exclusive worldwide cookware license for a one-time $25.5M (Syratech 10-K405). Farberware Licensing Group (Meyer + Lifetime) now rents the name by category.

Why Avoid

The purest licensing shell in the kitchen. The name is leased until the year 2196. Two landlords, zero factories, one dead founder's name.

Sister brands under Farberware Licensing Group (Meyer + Lifetime Brands)

See all 4 sister brands

Read the full investigation

Investigation · July 15, 2026

Your Cookware got Worse on Purpose

One buyout firm quietly collected Pyrex, Corelle, Instant Pot, and Oneida. Farberware is a name on a 200-year lease. And the pans still worth buying.

Read the full investigation

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