Product & Innovation

Since bottle innovator William Stanley introduced the first all steel vacuum bottle in 1913, the name Stanley has come to mean a trusted and reliable friend to generations. Whether it's the thermos that your granddad got for his 15th birthday that he still uses to this day, or the Trigger Action Mug you picked up for a long weekend camping trip, our bottles are made for life and for a lifetime. And when we say a #BUILTFORLIFE it truly is: we’ve got a Stanley vacuum bottle at our HQ that was run over by a truck decades ago and still has coffee in it. Not a single leak. When you get to be 100 years old and you make bottles as tough and beloved as ours, you hear some fantastic stories about how people use our products. It’s more than just having an old bottle kicking around that you break out for a sip now and then, it’s a way of a life. And to the people who cherish our bottles like a member of the family, the essence of #BUILTFORLIFE is about adventure, fun, and pushing things to the limit. These are the stories that define #BUILTFORLIFE, gathered straight from 100 years of real history from real customers. These are the story of the Unbreakables. 13,435ft - Hot Coffee At Low’s Peak, Mount Kinabalu “It was 1.30AM, the temperature had been near freezing for most of the night. I put on my jacket and long johns, headed out to the camp pantry with my Stanley outdoor vacuum bottle. Honestly it was the first time I’ve ever tried using it. “I poured in a few packets of coffee and sugar, added boiling water, locked it up tight and placed it in my bag and got ready for the hike to the summit at 2.30AM. By the time we were on the mountain, pretty much everything I froze. The warm water I brought in a separate - non Stanley bottle - was ice cold halfway up, so I had doubts as to whether my Stanley bottle filled with the hot coffee I made earlier could withstand what the mountain had to offer. My team reached the summit at approximately 6:00AM, by that time the sun was almost up and the temperature was at freezing point. We snapped a few pictures, and I finally took out my Stanley bottle, shared a cup with my buddy and I dare say the coffee was still boiling hot. Instant coffee never tasted as good as it did 13,435ft up in the sky. My Stanley bottle has proven its worth, no doubt.” -Mohamad Adam Bin Mohamad Yakob Like A Phoenix From The Ashes “My mother bought me my Stanley thermos in 1979 when I joined the plumbing trade. I was working in Maryland years ago and the hotel I was staying at had a freak gas explosion and burnt down to the ground. I was not there at the time, but all my belongings were. I lost everything I had on me there. After the fire was put out and the rubble sifted through, the only thing left standing, basically untouched? My Stanley thermos. “I’ve used that thermos every day since then. It’s not green anymore and has quite a few dents, but still keeps my coffee piping hot all day, every day. I use it at work and when I am hunting or fishing. It is very seldom not with me. It joined the workforce with me and it is going to retire with me!” -Greg Gillard A 1600 Foot Bounce “In 1978, I worked in an underground mine. While waiting to go down to working level, my Stanley was knocked from my hand and rolled into the shaft. I wrote it off, but later that day when checking the sump pumps, I found it floating in the sump. It was banged up from falling 1600 feet and the cup was missing, but otherwise completely solid. I’m still using the same thermos to this day!” -Monte L. Generation To Generation “As a young boy, I can remember with warm feelings my father getting up early in the morning much before dawn. Sometimes I would get up and see the Stanley sitting on the counter next to my father’s huge lunch box. I can remember dad mentioning that there was only one thermos worth packing into the woods - Stanley. He used to say that there was nothing worse than lukewarm coffee. I could remember thinking that one day I would grow up and proudly pack my Stanley into the woods. I soon grew up and went off to college. During the summers I worked in woods. I bought my first Stanley that first summer and proudly carried it off to the woods. When you had a Stanley it was a status symbol. “Now 35 year later, my own son has gone off to college and is working construction during the summer. I get up each morning at 5AM and pack his lunch and fill his first Stanley. He said that it is an amazing thermos. He too proudly carries it onto the job site. My grandfather, my father, myself and now my son all packed Stanley thermoses. From generation to generation, Stanley thermoses remain a family institution. Someday, my grandchildren will pack a Stanley.” -Dennis H. A Badge Of Honor, A Bullet Graze “My Stanley classic bottle has endured 10 years of extreme abuse across the US, Mexico, Central America, Chile, and Peru. While it is now officially the ugliest thermal bottle on the planet, it works like the day it was purchased. Its badge of honor is a bullet graze obtained on a construction site in Guatemala during a robbery attempt. I plan to be buried with Stanley.” -Dave Moreno Stanley Vs. An 18 Wheeler “This is short and sweet: My husband unknowingly dropped his thermos under his truck. He then rolled over it with all 18 wheels, loaded at 80,000 lbs. When he noticed it was gone, he backed up to find it - rolling over it again! “When he got out of the truck, he pulled out the thermos - which only had minor scratches on it! He poured out steaming hot coffee that had been there for at least 8 hours.” -Anonymous Have you had a life changing experience with your trusty Stanley bottle? Let us know! You can tag us on your favorite social media platform or just shoot an email to info@stanley-pmi.com! ABOUT STANLEY The Stanley brand has a rich 100+ year history. Born from inventor William Stanley Jr. who forever changed the way hot drinks were consumed, in 1913 he fused vacuum insulation and the strength of steel in one portable bottle, inventing the all-steel vacuum bottle we know and love today.

The Stanley brand has been in the business a long time. Over a hundred years, to be exact. It was 1913 when William Stanley invented the all-steel, double-wall vacuum bottle and stuck his name on it. Rumor has it, that he wanted his coffee hot all day while he was working, and was inspired to apply some of his theories learned while developing transformers. As it turns out, necessity really is the mother of invention. Since then, the Stanley name has become synonymous for ultra-durable, super reliable products made with an eye for sleek design and real life uses. Generations of people have come to rely on their Stanley bottles, mugs, lunchboxes, cook sets, flasks, growlers, coolers, and more every single day, knowing that they’ll keep their food and drink at temperature longer, all while standing up to life’s wear and tear. Today, Stanley’s Built For Life™ promisemeans that your grandad’s thermos that supported pilots in World War II could very well get set beside that brand new Classic Vacuum Insulated Bottle you picked up for your weekend camping trip. At first glance, you might be hard-pressed to notice a difference: Same tough construction, same classic look, same Stanley hammertone green finish, although once you pick them up, you’ll be able to tell which is which. So when you’ve been the gold standard for “Unbreakable” for literally generations, one question keeps coming up from our customers who have seen the way Stanley bottles seem to last and last: What’s changed over the years? The answer? Everything and nothing. The Beginning To start out, you have to understand what makes a Stanley a Stanley. When William Stanley invented double-wall steel vacuum insulation all the way back in 1913, he set the fundamental groundwork for the technology that would define the company’s reputation for unparalleled performance. At the time vacuum insulated bottles were lined with glass, and they did a fine job keeping coffee hot. That is until one of those got damaged. Glass in your cup of Joe may ruin your day, but in 1913, the equivalent of having to fork out $150-$200 for a new bottle could ruin your entire month or more. This is where Stanley really came to save the day — with value and durability. One of Stanley’s key innovations was Char-Vac™, where charcoal dust was packed between two stainless steel walls while the vacuum insulation was created. This method made the bottles tougher and more resilient, albeit heavier and bulkier. Stanleys from the time of Char-Vac™ were much coveted and are still in use to this day, with some Stanley fanatics still obsessed with the decades old bottles they bought as teenagers. Stanley discontinued use of Char-Vac™ in 2009, opting instead to thicken the outer steel wall. This resulted in a bottle that was significantly lighter weight and built to the same industry- leading specs. But if we’re keeping it real, then we have to say that the old bottles were built to handle some damn good abuse. A level of tough that our newer Classic Series bottles can’t always compete with. This is why we introduced the Master Series in 2017. It’s designed for the people who need the over-the-top durability of the previous Char-Vac™ model and, the new Quad-Vac™ technology means it’ll keep your drinks hot for days. Other innovations were implemented over the years as we constantly tweaked our formula. Bottle necks were widened for easier filling and cleaning. We switched up the kind of stainless steel we use to make our bottles far more resistant to corrosion. We found ways to reduce body welds, reduce the number of potential fail points. Old Vs. New: Which Bottle Is Better? All of these little changes were and are part of the same obsessive hunt for perfection we’ve had from the beginning. William Stanley invented something amazing all the way back in 1913- and we’ve continued to improve on what made our bottles great to begin with, thermal insulation and unprecedented durability. The Quad-Vac™ technology used in the Master Series collection is unrivaled in a marketplace of look-a-likes. The conversation of which bottle is better - the new Stanley bottle or the old Stanley bottle - is always coming up. The truth: neither is better than the other, because they’re both Stanleys. The new bottles are part of a constant evolution, of never being satisfied. Like every great inventor the pursuit of perfection never stops. The Stanley name is more than a single product or process, it’s a promise to the people who have come to rely on us for years: we make bottles that last a lifetime. That’s why, whether it's a Stanley you bought in 1965 or one you picked up just yesterday, we will always honor our lifetime warranty to make sure that every product is as reliable and durable as the day you bought it. Have you had a life changing experience with your trusty Stanley bottle? Let us know! You can tag us on your favorite social media platform or just shoot an email to info@stanley-pmi.com! ABOUT STANLEY The Stanley brand has a rich 100+ year history. Born from inventor William Stanley Jr. who forever changed the way hot drinks were consumed, in 1913 he fused vacuum insulation and the strength of steel in one portable bottle, inventing the all-steel vacuum bottle we know and love today.