King C. Gillette: Founder of the Gillette Safety Razor Company
Business Owner · Consumer Goods
King Gillette took his friend William Painter's advice to invent something disposable and created the thin, inexpensive stamped-steel razor blade that founded Gillette.
About King C. Gillette: Founder of the Gillette Safety Razor Company
King Camp Gillette (January 5, 1855 to July 9, 1932) was an American businessman who invented a bestselling safety razor and founded the Gillette razor company. His innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel. Gillette is often erroneously credited with inventing the "razor-and-blades" business model, in which razors are sold cheaply to increase the market for blades, but the Gillette Safety Razor Company adopted that model from its competitors. The Gillette paternal ancestors were French Huguenots who sought refuge in England in the late sixteenth century; in 1630 Nathan Gillette sailed to the newly founded Massachusetts Bay Colony. King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and raised in Chicago, where his family survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1891 he joined the Baltimore Crown Cork and Seal Company and became close friends with its founder, William Painter, inventor of the disposable metal bottle cap. Painter advised him, "King, you are always thinking and inventing something. Why don't you try to think of something like the Crown Cork which, when once used, is thrown away, and the customer keeps coming back for more?" Sources: English Wikipedia (King C. Gillette, accessed September 2026).
Basic Information
Founder, Gillette Safety Razor Company (1855-1932)
Company Details
Gillette Safety Razor Company
Razors, Personal Care
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