Empire Plastics, also known as Empire Industries, or Empire of Carolina, was an american company that specialized in the manufacture of blow molded products and toys. Founded in 1953, Empire was a sister brand of Carolina Enterprises, and many of their blow molds were stamped under Carolina Ent.'s name.
History[]
The Empire company was founded in 1953. It was a sister company of the larger Carolina Enterprises, and during its run many of its blow molds were stamped 'Carolina Enterprises' rather than Empire. Many of their products were also distributed by their own Judith Novelty Sales division. Empire went on to manufacture hundreds of different blow mold designs and rose to become one of the most prominent leaders in the yard decorating industry, alongside Union Products, Poloron, Beco and others of the time.
Due to dramatically decreasing sales in the 90s, Empire downsized in 2001 and subsequently sold their molds and machinery to General Foam Plastics. After their purchase of Empire’s assets, General Foam rose to become the top manufacturer in blow molding.
After General Foam's closing in 2017, the Empire molds were auctioned off yet again, but this time not many buyers claimed a lot of them. Cado Products, the company responsible for buying defunct Union products in 2012, purchased a handful of General Foam and Empire molds, and independent buyers claimed many others. However, hundreds of molds were likely scrapped unfortunately.