Updated: 2026.11.04

Please note: The information in this article is compiled from various online sources, which occasionally contain conflicting or contradictory details. While I have done my best to fact-check and corroborate the historical record, some errors or inaccuracies may still exist.

Rather than building its own factories, Sears partnered with established builders like White, Maruzen, and Janome, specified the features it wanted, and sold the finished machines under its own house brands. That badge-engineering model allowed Sears to offer well-appointed machines at prices that undercut competitors like Singer.

Sears sold sewing machines under several brands, including Minnesota, Franklin, and later Kenmore.

The trade term is badge engineering. Sears picked the manufacturer, specified the features, and sold the finished machine under a house brand.

That gave Sears two advantages:

• Lower prices than Singer and other name brands
• The freedom to switch suppliers without changing the name on the machine

Early Years: 1890s to 1920s

Richard Sears was selling sewing machines by mail as early as 1889, under the name Henry Hoverson and Co. By the 1894 catalog, Sears had an organized sewing machine department, headed Sewing Machine Headquarters, and Minnesota was its own brand name machine, named for his native state. Minnesota remained the primary trade name for many years.

Alongside Minnesota, Sears early models included Iowa and Burdick. Burdick ran from spring 1899 to spring 1903, and Edgemere ran from fall 1900 to spring 1903. The Acme, added in 1897, was made by Free of Rockford, Illinois.

Price was the pitch. Sears treadle machines ran about $15 to $20, while dealers charged $40 to $60 for comparable machines. Sears even sold a Singer Model 12 copy for $9.

Suppliers changed in the early years, then steadied for a time. The Singer copies in the 1894 catalog were made by National of Belvidere, Illinois. From 1899 to about 1912, Davis of Dayton, Ohio, was Sears near sole supplier, with a few exceptions.

In 1911, Sears introduced Franklin, a near copy of the Singer 27/127 class. It is usually credited to Domestic, but the King factory in Buffalo is a strong alternative. Domestic at that time was not yet in Buffalo. Sears had funded King in 1909 with a contract for its entire output, and King was listed as completely owned by Sears in 1920. Domestic was an older independent maker that Sears bought in 1915, after which its production was folded into the King plant in Buffalo, though the Domestic name continued on machines. The Franklin vibrating shuttle model made it into the 1930s. The Franklin Rotary, a badged White, arrived in spring 1926 as the premium model, and regular and deluxe rotaries were offered through spring 1942.

Kenmore first appeared in the fall 1913 catalog, on a four-drawer drop head machine. In the 1910s it was a low end name. A Kenmore portable in that first catalog sold for $6.75, with accessories and a wood cover. The name was dropped in fall 1919 and did not return until 1934, 15 years later.

The White Era: 1920s to 1958

White Sewing Machine Company acquired Domestic and King in 1924 and became Sears main supplier. It reorganized in 1926 as the White Sewing Machine Corporation. White was the main supplier from the mid 1920s and the sole supplier by the early 1930s. By the 1930s, nearly every Sears machine was a White, whether it said Kenmore, Franklin, or Minnesota.

Kenmore returned in 1934 and sold alongside Minnesota until World War II. After the war, Minnesota was dropped and Kenmore became the only Sears sewing machine name.

A 117 model prefix usually means a White-built machine. The Kenmore 117.95 Rotary is a good example. There were a handful of late 1950s exceptions, when a few zigzag and automatic models with 117 prefix numbers were built in Germany by Gritzner-Kayser.

These machines were predominantly all-metal and built to last. Many still run today.

White’s hold loosened in the 1950s, but not all at once. New Process Gear began building the 120 series in 1950, and that series ran in the Kenmore Model Chart to 1966. German-built 117 models appeared from 1954 onward. White-built 117 models in the Kenmore Model Chart run to 1957, and the 117 prefix itself ends in 1958 with the Gritzner-built 117.841.

The WWII Gap

Sears dropped sewing machines after spring 1942 because materials were scarce and White had moved to war production. Machines did not return until the late 1940s. Among the first postwar models was the Kenmore 95 rotary, dated 1948 in the Kenmore Model Chart and appearing in the fall 1949 catalog.

The Big Shift – Late 1950s

Sears moved from White to Japanese manufacturers in the late 1950s. Japanese Kenmores appear in the Kenmore Model Chart from 1956, with the 148 and 158 lines expanding in 1957. Sears ended the White contract in 1958. Japanese makers then became dominant, though the change was not overnight. German-built 516 models and American-built 120 models overlapped the shift into the early 1960s.

The Kenmore 158.521 (1962) is a good early example. The Kenmore 148.15600 comes from the same Soryu 148 series, but it is a late one, built from 1976 to 1978.

Cost was a major reason. Japanese factories could build feature-rich machines for less, and buyers wanted zigzag, buttonholes, and decorative stitches. Sears went from a handful of models to dozens.

Who Built Kenmore Machines After 1958

You identify the builder by the three-digit prefix. This list covers the post-White period, not only makers who started after 1958. The 120 series, for example, started in 1950 and overlapped the shift.

• 148: Soryu (Japan), 1957 to 1978
• 158: Maruzen / Jaguar (Japan, later Taiwan), 1956 to 1986, with a single Kenmore Model Chart entry extending to 1991
• 385: Janome (mostly Taiwan, some Japan, with the final dated models from Thailand), 1981 to 2008
• 516: Gritzner-Kayser (West Germany), 1958 to 1960
• 120: New Process Gear (USA), 1950 to 1966
• 153: Riccar (Japan), 1958 to 1959

The 158 series stands out. Early 1960s models are all-metal, gear driven, and widely considered some of the best Kenmores ever made. By the 1980s, many 158s came from Taiwan, and later models used more plastic, so not every 158 is equal.

Peak Years: 1960s and 1970s

This was Kenmore’s high point. Sears offered everything from basic straight stitchers to machines with decorative stitch cams and free arms. Kenmore became one of the best-known sewing machine names in North America. You could walk into a Sears almost anywhere and find a machine that worked and did not cost much.

Decline: 1980s to 2013

Ready-made clothing got cheaper, home sewing declined, and Sears sold fewer machines.

Janome supplied the 385 series. Many later 385 models were built to hit a lower price, with more plastic in the drivetrain and stitch pattern parts. The plastic is better quality than much of what competitors used, so these machines have often held up better than expected, though plastic gears remain a known weak point on some models. The Kenmore 385.15516 is a nice example: Janome, made in Taiwan, with a metal frame, plastic stitch cams and cam drive, and a textolite hook drive gear.

The Kenmore sewing machine line is generally reported to have ended in 2013. Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, years after the sewing machines were gone.

What “Kenmore” Actually Means

A Kenmore is not one type of machine.

• A 1950 Kenmore 117 is a White-built, all-metal rotary
• A typical 1965 Kenmore is a Japanese zigzag with cams
• A 1990s Kenmore is a Janome built mostly in Taiwan, with mixed materials

Same name, completely different machines. To know what you have, check the model prefix.

Bottom Line

Sears sewing machine history is the story of a retailer managing suppliers, not a company building machines.

Would you like to know more?

• History of Sears Sewing Machines (Kenmore, Minnesota, Franklin Explained)
• ISMACS – Sears Roebuck
• Sears Kenmore Sewing Machines
• Facebook Group – Vintage Sewing Machines
• Facebook Group – Vintage Sears Kenmore and White Sewing Machines
• Facebook Group – Vintage Kenmore Sears Sewing Machine Adoration and Restoration