Safety1st

Safety 1st is a maker of affordably priced umbrella strollers (often sold under the Disney Baby branding) as well as a series of travel systems that pair strollers with infant car seats.

Safety 1st sold millions of these signs to parents in 1980's, who put them in the back of their vehicle's to alert drivers.

Safety 1st was founded in 1984 with the launch of a single product: a baby on board sign. Founder Michael Lerner was inspired to sell the signs, which hung in the back of a vehicle, after hearing about the concept from a couple who saw them in Europe.

The 30-year-old was running an executive search firm with his father when he encountered a couple who had recently returned from Europe with an unusual idea. The two had noticed drivers in Germany who had hung safety signs from their car windows in hopes of encouraging others to be cautious behind the wheel. The couple had sought to market similar signs in the United States but had so far been unsuccessful. Lerner purchased the rights to the concept and, with $30,000 of his own money, began to produce and package bright yellow "Baby on Board" signs. Lerner had not anticipated that he would spark a national phenomenon and was astounded by his success. He sold 10,000 of the signs in September 1984 and by the end of the following year was selling half a million of them each month.

Even though Lerner didn't have kids himself, he told the Wall Street Journal he was inspired to sell the signs after driving his nephew (then an infant) on the streets of Boston.

Michael Lerner's journey to entrepreneurial stardom began with a white-knuckled ride down Storrow Drive in Boston.

Mr. Lerner had agreed to drive his 18-month-old nephew home after a Sunday gathering at his parents' house in 1984. Childless himself, he soon realized he had failed to account for the hell-bent traffic on Storrow, a notoriously busy expressway along the Charles River. "People were tailgating me and cutting me off," he says. "For the first time, I felt like a parent feels when they have a kid in the car."

Soon after that nerve-wracking trip, a friend called with a tip for Mr. Lerner, who was looking to move out of the executive-search business and into consumer products. Two sisters wanted to sell a safety sign for car windows; they had seen it in Europe but didn't know how to market it.

It was kismet. Mr. Lerner struck a licensing deal for what would become the Baby on Board sign. "I believe things happen for a reason," says Mr. Lerner.

After the Baby On Board sign fad faded, Lerner spied another opportunity: child-safety products.

At the time, gadgets like outlet covers and drawer locks were consigned to odd corners of hardware stores and other hard-to-find spots. Starting in 1987, Mr. Lerner began transforming the sales niche with more colorful packaging, new designs and lower prices. "We had a really good, innovative team," Mr. Lerner says. "We were very nimble." Safety 1st also capitalized on the rise of the big-box stores, developing strong bonds with companies such as Toys 'R' Us, Wal-Mart and Kmart. Between 1989 and 1996, sales grew to $105.8 million from $7.7 million, according to regulatory filings. By 1999, with sales at $158 million, the company began fielding buyout offers—and ultimately agreed to be acquired by Canadian company Dorel Industries Inc. in June 2000.

Safety 1st first entered the stroller category by licensing its name to other juvenile product makers such as Delta. Once acquired by Dorel, Safety 1st rolled out a line of its own strollers and car seats. (Dorel has been in the car seat and stroller business since the 1970's). Dorel makes strollers under the Safety 1st brand name, as well as Cosco and Maxi Cosi.

All Safety 1st strollers are made in China, although the company did introduce one model in 2018 that was assembled (with imported parts) in Dorel's Columbus, Indiana factory. That model is now discontinued.