Faultless Brands

Faultless Brands is a Kansas City household-products manufacturer that has been owned by the same family since 1887 — one of the longest continuous family ownerships of any company in the city. Major Thomas G. Beaham bought into a Kansas City coffee, tea and spice house that became Beaham & Moffit, then acquired the formula for a dry laundry starch called Faultless. The company still makes Faultless Starch in Kansas City, along with Bon Ami cleanser, which it bought in 1971, and it still carries the Beaham name in its ownership after five generations.

Description

Faultless Brands is a household-products manufacturer headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and the maker of two products with unusually long shelf lives in the American home: Faultless Starch, the laundry starch the company has made since the 1880s, and Bon Ami, the powdered cleanser it acquired in 1971.¹²

It belongs in the Registry for a reason distinct from most entries. This is not a storefront but a factory and a corporate headquarters, and its claim is tenure and ownership: founded in Kansas City in 1887 and continuously owned by the founding Beaham family ever since.¹² Very few American companies of any size can make that claim, and it is a substantial fact about Kansas City’s industrial history that one of them is still operating here.

The company describes its product categories as fabric care, fragrance and home care, and its brand portfolio now runs to Faultless Starch, Niagara Starch, Bon Ami Cleanser, Kleen King and The Garden Weasel.¹ It operates its headquarters, manufacturing plant, research laboratory and distribution center in Kansas City, and a second factory at Humansville in southwest Missouri.¹²

The company changed its name from Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company to Faultless Brands in 2018, reflecting a portfolio that had grown well past its two founding products.¹³

Goods and services

• Faultless Starch — laundry starch and sizing products, sold across the United States and in some 30 countries¹²
• Niagara Starch — fabric care¹
• Bon Ami Cleanser — powdered household cleanser, acquired 1971¹²
• Kleen King — cleansers¹
• The Garden Weasel — garden tools¹
• Product categories: fabric care, fragrance, home care¹
• Contract and own-brand manufacturing at the Kansas City plant and the Humansville, MO factory¹²

History

Major Thomas G. Beaham moved to Kansas City from Zanesville, Ohio in 1886 and bought into a company selling coffee, tea and spices; it was incorporated in 1887 as Beaham & Moffit.¹² The firm then bought the formula for a dry laundry starch called Faultless Starch from the Bosworth Manufacturing Company, and that product came to define the business.²

The company has been operated continuously by members of the founding Beaham family since incorporation.² Gordon T. Beaham III joined in 1960 as the fourth generation of Beahams to lead it, and is credited with transforming laundry starch from a dry powder into an aerosol spray — the innovation that carried the product through the second half of the twentieth century.¹²

The company bought the Bon Ami Company in 1971 for one million dollars, adding the cleanser brand that has since shared the company’s identity.² It changed its name to the Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company in 1974, later adding Kleen King cleansers and The Garden Weasel.¹

In 2018 the company renamed itself Faultless Brands and appointed Sean Williams as president and chief executive — the first CEO recruited from outside the company, and the second non-family member to hold the role.¹³ The Beaham family remains the founding and shareholding family.¹

Sources

Links

• Website: https://faultlessbrands.com/
• About: https://faultlessbrands.com/about-us/
• Corporate history (FundingUniverse): https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/faultless-starch-bon-ami-company-history/

Footnotes

1. Faultless Brands — official “About Us” page — asserts: founded in 1887 by Major Thomas G. Beaham, who “came to Kansas City and bought into a company selling coffee, tea, and spices, which was to become Beaham & Moffit”; the business evolved from a coffee, tea and spice merchant into a starch manufacturer after acquiring the Faultless Starch formula; Gordon T. Beaham III led the company from 1960 and “pioneered the transformation of laundry starch from dry powder to an aerosol can”; expansion through acquisition of Bon Ami and Kleen King cleansers; name changed to Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company in 1974 and to Faultless Brands in 2018; Sean Williams became the first CEO from outside the company in 2018 and is the second non-family member to serve as president and CEO; the Beaham family remains the founding and shareholding family; headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, housing headquarters, manufacturing plant, research laboratory and distribution center; brands Faultless Starch, Niagara Starch, Bon Ami Cleanser, Kleen King and The Garden Weasel; product categories fabric care, fragrance and home care; described as “a 130-year-old privately-owned business.” Primary first-party source. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

2. FundingUniverse — “History of Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company” — asserts: Major Thomas G. Beaham moved to Kansas City from Zanesville, Ohio in 1886; the company was incorporated in 1887 as Beaham & Moffit; Beaham & Moffit bought the formula for a dry laundry starch called Faultless Starch from the Bosworth Manufacturing Company; the company has been continuously operated by members of the founding Beaham family since that time; Gordon T. Beaham III joined in 1960 as the fourth generation of Beahams to lead; Faultless Starch is sold across the United States and in 30 countries; Faultless bought Bon Ami Co. for $1 million in 1971; the company operates manufacturing plants and a distribution center in Kansas City, Missouri and one factory in Humansville, Missouri. Primary source for the founding and acquisition detail. Parallel copies of the same corporate history are carried at referenceforbusiness.com and company-histories.com (Content accessed via search-surfaced summary — see method note.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

3. Textile Care Allied Trades Association — “Faultless Starch Rebrands as Faultless Brands” — asserts: the 2018 rebrand from Faultless Starch to Faultless Brands, as reported in the trade association’s news. ↩ ↩²