Sherwin-Williams

In 1930, Sherwin-Williams moved its headquarters to Cleveland's Midland Building, where it would stay for over 75 years.[3]

In September 2019, the company said it would move its headquarters to a larger site,[6] and in February 2020, confirmed it would remain in the Cleveland area.[7] That month, the company also began work on a new R&D center in Brecksville, OH.[8] The new headquarters's location was clarified in March 2020, with the building expected to open in 2023.[9]

In 1875, Sherwin-Williams started selling ready-mixed paint.[3] Previously, consumers bought paint ingredients that they themselves would mix together.[3]

In the 1940s, Sherwin-Williams introduced Kem-Tone, a water-based fast-drying interior paint.[3] In 1996, the American Chemical Society named the product a National Historic Chemical Landmark.[10]

In 2016, the first paint registered as microbicidal with the United States Environmental Protection Agency was brought to market by Sherwin-Williams.[11][12][13]

Americas Group was the first section of the company to be established, in 1866. These stores market and sell Sherwin-Williams branded architectural paints and coatings, industrial and marine products, floorcovering, and related equipment and supplies. As of the end of 2019, the Americas Group had expanded to 4,758 stores, including more than 135 floorcovering centers.[15][16]

The Consumer Brands Group develops, manufactures, and distributes various paints, coatings, and related products, under the brand names of Anthony Angelillo, Bestt Liebco, Cabot, Dupli-Color, Duron, Dutch Boy, Frazee, Geocel, Guangdong Huarun Paints, H&C, HGTV Home, Kool Seal, Krylon, MAB, Martin-Senour, Mautz, Minwax, Pratt & Lambert, Purdy, Ronseal, Thompson's WaterSeal, Uniflex, Valspar, Wattyl, and White Lightning to third party customers in addition to overseeing the operations maintained by The Americas Group.[17][15][18][19][20][21][22]

On August 28, 2007, Sherwin Williams purchased Columbia Paint & Coatings.[23] On July 6, 2011, Sherwin-Williams acquired Leighs Paints, based in Bolton UK, manufacturers of intumescent and high performance industrial coatings.[24] In late 2012, Sherwin Williams began the process of purchasing the Comex Group. Comex was the 4th largest paint manufacturer in North America.[25] After Mexican antitrust regulators voted against the deal twice, Sherwin-Williams bought Comex's US and Canadian divisions for $165 million on September 16, 2013.[26] PPG, US-based paint and coating company, acquired Comex's Mexican division for $2.3 billion. In March 2016, it was announced that Valspar would be acquired for $9.3 billion U.S. dollars. The merger was finalized 1 June 2017.[27]

The Performance Coatings Group sells coatings and finishes to industrial, wood furniture manufacturing, marine, packaging, and automotive markets in more than 110 countries.[28] The Group also contains Valspar's automotive refinishes business.[29]

In January 2014, the Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled that Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and ConAgra were jointly and severally liable for $1.15 billion, to be paid into a lead paint abatement fund to be used to remove lead paint from older housing.[30][31] The judge ruled that the paint companies manufactured, marketed, and sold lead paint without disclosing the health risks to the consumers in spite of "actual and constructive knowledge that it was harmful."[32][33] In March 2014 Sherwin-Williams was denied a new trial.[34]

As per their 2013 annual report, Sherwin-Williams considers this case without merit and will appeal the decision. The process may take another two years.[35] The disposition of The People v. ConAgra Grocery Products Company et al. in the California 6th Appellate District Court on November 14, 2017 is that

... the judgment is reversed, and the matter is remanded to the trial court with directions to (1) recalculate the amount of the abatement fund to limit it to the amount necessary to cover the cost of remediating pre-1951 homes, and (2) hold an evidentiary hearing regarding the appointment of a suitable receiver. The Plaintiff shall recover its costs on appeal.[36]

On February 14, 2019 the California Supreme Court denied the defendants' request for review, sending the case back to the trial court as ordered by the Appellate Court.[37]

In July 2019, a $305 million settlement was reached.[38]

In 2018, multiple counties in Pennsylvania sued Sherwin-Williams over lead pollution from paint products.[39][40] Sherwin-Williams attempted to counter-sue, but that attempt was denied in October 2019,[41][42] and the denial was upheld in July 2020.[43]

Starting in 2008, businessman John Tyczki entered into an agreement with Sherwin-Williams on the basis of assurances provided by Sherwin-Williams about its water-based paint products. When the products failed to live up to these assurances, causing ongoing problems for his business, Tyczki sued Sherwin-Williams and was awarded $2.88M.[44]

On April 9, 2018, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and representing attorneys uncovered that Sherwin-Williams tried to ”shift the blame to contaminated water in an effort” to avoid tens of millions of dollars in settlements.[45][46] As many as 170 children have been affected by the potentially fatal lead poisoning.

On June 28, 2018 Consumer Watchdog declared a national boycott of paint from Sherwin-Williams “stores after the paint maker said it was going forward with a deceptive California ballot measure to erase its liability to the public for poisoning families with lead in its paint.”[47] Sherwin-Williams has allegedly been evading accountability resulting in severe damage to its company brand.

In 2014, a charity promotion was created indicating that $1 million would be contributed to the Angels Baseball Foundation “any time an Angels batter parked a home run ball in the can. Well, left-fielder Justin Upton did just that last Tuesday, September 19, 2017 in the ninth inning. That’s when it transpired that there was a catch all along: The ball had to enter the can on the fly. Upton’s homer ball bounced at least once before caroming into the can. So, no contribution.”[48][49][50]

In late 2017, a lawsuit was filed against Sherwin-Williams, claiming it was responsible for eighty of its major coating products for being defective. Customers have repeatedly claimed that the quality of the products have failed a few months after applying the coating by peeling and chipping away.[51] In May 2020, Sherwin-Williams was reported to have asked for the suit to be dismissed due to the fact that the plaintiffs only used one of the 16 products named in the lawsuit.[52]

In December 2019, Sherwin-Williams was sued by the State of New Jersey for discharging industrial waste from three sites and failing to disclose the pollution to the state's Department of Environmental Protection.[53]

In May 2020, Sherwin-Williams agreed to pay $3.6M to settle a lawsuit brought by workers in California alleging underpayment of wages and failure to provide obligatory meal or rest breaks.[54][55]

In July 2020, Sherwin-Williams was sued in Ohio for breaching the Fair Labor Standards Act by underpaying staff.[56][57]

• McDemott, Kathleen; Dyer, Davis (1991). America's Paint Company: A History of Sherwin-Williams. Sherwin-Williams. LCCN 91-62014. OCLC 24646956.
• The Sherwin Williams Home Decorator and Color Guide (1939) Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Digital Library.
• Rabin, R (December 1989). "Warnings unheeded: a history of child lead poisoning". American Journal of Public Health. 79 (12): 1668–1674. doi:10.2105/ajph.79.12.1668. PMC 1349776. PMID 2683817.