Kolmar History

1921

Mr. Lessing L. Kole started Kolmar in October 1921 in a small store on Johnson Street in Milwaukee, WI with Dr. Frederick Marsek, who had been the Chief Chemist at Palmolive in Milwaukee. The name of "KOLMAR" was derived from their names.

1939

A small plant was established in Hoboken, New Jersey, and as space requirements increased, a move was made to larger quarters in Newark, New Jersey.

1943

A search for a new location resulted in a site on Skyline Drive in Port Jervis, New York.

1946

Kolmar's growth in the United States includes the establishment of a plant on the West Coast. The initial site was in Burbank, California. This was moved to Hollywood in 1953, to Riverside in 1966 and finally to Corona, California in 1988.

1965

The King Street site opened to provide additional manufacturing and warehousing facilities to Port Jervis. Expansion occurred in 1968, 1979, 1985 and 1992. In 1995 the Skyline Division operation consolidated with the King Street facility.

1981

We closed our original facility in Milwaukee, incorporating the activities into our other locations. The expansion of the cosmetic industry over the years went to Kolmar-owned plants located in Barrie, Ontario, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico. Kolmar technology is also licensed in other parts of the world with licensees in Japan, Thailand and Korea.

1991

Kolmar is purchased by CCL Industries.

1998

Kolmar is purchased by Outsourcing Services Group, Inc.

2002

Corona is consolidated into Port Jervis.

2007

OSG restructures to focus on the Kolmar and Acupac businesses. Renamed parent organization to Kolmar Labs Group.

2008

Kolmar is still the largest contract manufacturer of color cosmetics in the world.