ABU Garcia, originally AB Urfabriken (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: "Watch Factory Ltd."), then ABU Svängsta, is a

fishing reel A fishing reel is a hand- cranked reel used in angling to wind and stow fishing line, typical mounted onto a fishing rod, but may also be used to retrieve a tethered arrow when bowfishing. Modern recreational fishing reels usually have fitting ...

and equipment

manufacturing company Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

founded in Svängsta, Sweden, and is now owned by

Pure Fishing Sycamore Partners is a private equity firm based in New York specializing in retail and consumer investments. The firm has approximately $10 billion in aggregate committed capital. History Founding Sycamore Partners was founded in 2011 by Stefa ...

conglomerate of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Early history

AB Urfabriken began at a factory located near the Mörrum River in Svängsta,

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's secon ...

, Sweden. The company, founded in 1921, originally manufactured

watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached b ...

es,

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

timer A timer is a specialized type of clock used for measuring specific time intervals. Timers can be categorized into two main types. The word "timer" is usually reserved for devices that counts down from a specified time interval, while devices th ...

s and

taximeter A taximeter or fare meter is a mechanical or electronic device installed in taxicabs and auto rickshaws that calculates passenger fares based on a combination of distance travelled and waiting time. Its shortened form, "taxi", is also a metony ...

s. However, the founder's son, Göte Borgström, a fishing enthusiast, soon redirected its focus towards

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, when demand for those traditional products diminished. The leading American outdoor sports participant distributing and manufacturing firm Garcia Corporation (1947-1978) was the largest

fishing tackle Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/ lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/ feeders, nets, stringers/ k ...

company of its time, formerly known under the earlier name Charles Garcia & Company,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The Garcia Corporation started importing and marketing ABU Svängsta's many reels in the 1950s, including the famous "Ambassadeur" reels. Garcia Co. was already involved in the importing, marketing and distributing of the Mitchell 300 spinning reel from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

since 1947. The Garcia Tackle Company of 1979-1980 was a short-lived partnership between ABU Svängsta and Mitchell S.A. of France, and in 1980, ABU Svängsta acquired the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

-based Garcia Tackle Company, and changed their name to ABU Garcia. Mitchell S.A. would go their own way, but the two brands would join together again under the Pure Fishing banner, only again to be sold to the Jarden Corporation in April 2007. In December 2015,

Newell Rubbermaid Newell Brands is an American manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. The company's brands and products include Rubbermaid storage and trash containers; home organization and reusable container products; Conti ...

acquired Jarden Corporation, and in November 2018 sold Pure Fishing to

Sycamore Partners Sycamore Partners is a private equity firm based in New York specializing in retail and consumer investments. The firm has approximately $10 billion in aggregate committed capital. History Founding Sycamore Partners was founded in 2011 by Stefa ...

Modern developments

ABU Garcia introduced a series of fishing reels and related products in the beginning of the 1950s. The Swedish built ABU 444, the company's first spinning reel, was introduced in 1955, followed in 1965 by the first model of the Cardinal series of spinning reels. Beginning in 1957, the company also became known for its advanced spin cast reels (Abumatic) featuring several engineering innovations such as level wind mechanisms (oscillating spools), under rod spin cast reel designs (the Abu 500 series) and improved drags for fighting larger gamefish. The famous Ambassadeur series of bait casting reels, which utilized advanced metal alloys, ball bearing friction interfaces, and precisely cut gears, was introduced at the New York World's Fair in 1954, and subsequent Ambassadeur models are still produced by the company. The professional angler Paul Gustafson worked for seven years as chief angling consultant for ABU Garcia. Today, they still continue the Ambassadeur line, along with a branched off line of low profile cast reels, the Ambassadeur Revo.

Collections

There are collectors of ABU Equipment. ABU Garcia Collectors from all around the world choose to buy, sell and exchange rare items on popular auction sites such as eBay.com and Tradera.com (Swedish). Rare items can fetch thousands of dollars. Specialist sites exist to aid finding these items such as Auction Angler. Publications that aid the collector of merchandise of ABU Garcia include ''The Ambassadeur and I'' and its sequel ''The Ambassadeur and I Final Chapter'' both by Simon Shimomura. There is also a book titled ''Vintage Fishing Reels of Sweden'' by Daniel Skupien, that contains a large amount of valuable information on ABU Garcia fishing tackle, as well as a comprehensive work detailing the history of smaller Ambassadeur reels,´''Small Ambassadeurs: The Legendary Light-line Fishing Reels: The Ambassadeur 2500C, 1500C and related Models'' by authors Espen Sjaastad and Karl-Eric Svensson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Garcia Manufacturing companies of Sweden Purveyors to the Court of Sweden Manufacturing companies established in 1921 Fishing equipment manufacturers 1921 establishments in Sweden 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Blekinge County

Early history

Modern developments

Collections

See also

References