The venerable lighting company, Strand Lighting, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 11. According to parent company, Signify, the move is aimed at consolidating entertainment fixtures under the Vari-Lite brand. Previously, the Showline and Selecon brands were gradually eliminated in order to centralize products under the Vari-Lite brand.
The 100-year-old company began in 1914 when two theatre electricians, Arthur Earnshaw and Philip Sheridan, designed a unique housing for a luminaire and began working in London's West End. The company went on to create the first remote control mechanism for lighting, The Clutch, a rotating wheel that moved dimmer switches.
Going forward, Signify will release all new entertainment products under the Vari-Lite brand.
As the company has noted:
"Signify’s entertainment lighting business has included the industry’s most iconic entertainment lighting brands, including Vari-Lite, Showline, Selecon, and Strand. In 2019, Signify phased out the Showline and Selecon brands, while Vari-Lite and Strand continued to operate in their own business-focused brands.
In 2020, Signify decided to centralize its investments in entertainment lighting, moving forward in Vari-Lite LLC with the intention that, over time, Vari-Lite LLC would continue as the sole legal entity to conduct and coordinate business for all Signify entertainment lighting.
In 2021, Zero 88, the well-known entertainment lighting controls and power management brand, joined the Signify entertainment business unit.
As of August 2022, we will continue our simplification journey and focus on one entertainment brand—Vari-Lite—to reflect the way we operate our business. This means that all new entertainment products will only be branded as Vari-Lite. To avoid customer confusion, we will not re-brand existing legacy products.
This move creates a significantly stronger, more competitive global brand and provides our customers with a clearer message and greatly improved and simplified experience. Vari-Lite is globally renown for quality, reliability, expertise, and innovation in entertainment lighting and has earned deep brand loyalty.
Customers will not notice any change in their interactions with Signify’s entertainment group, as the existing Vari-Lite, Strand, and Zero 88 brands are already supported by one operational team, cumulating the strong experience inherited from all the brands.
These changes will begin to roll out in phases over the coming months."