Izola was one of the most historic brand names in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

industrial history. The company was founded in 1930 as a manufacturer of metal products (mostly metal tubing) and in 1934 was taken over by Panagiotis Drakos who since 1906 owned a company involved in hydraulic equipment trading. Panagiotis and his son Georgios are connected with the spectacular rise of this company that became a dominant manufacturer of home appliances in Greece after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Izola produced equipment for the Greek military during preparations after the outbreak of World War II, while during the Axis occupation its facilities were used by the occupying powers for vehicle repair and maintenance. It recovered soon after the war and in 1951 it introduced its first electric home appliances. Soon an extended range of products was introduced (kitchen ovens, refrigerators, freezers, heaters, TV sets etc.) and the company became a legendary success story in Greek industrial history. These were the times of the

Greek economic miracle The Greek economic miracle describes a period of rapid and sustained economic growth in Greece from 1950 to 1973. At its height, the Greek economy grew by an average of 7.7 percent, second in the world only to Japan.Angus Maddison"Monitoring the Wo ...

and industries like Izola benefited greatly from improving living standards. Izola was a classic case of a brand name associated in people's minds with progress, modernity and a more comfortable life. Its demise, however, is equally spectacular and is in a way representative of the sad evolutions in Greek industry in general, after 1980. The beginning of the end came with the disastrous merger with

Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...

, a former competitor, in 1977, after the company had already started facing some economic problems. The new company (''Elinda'', for llenic Industry of Appliances) was a financial ruin only a few years later, and in 1991 it effectively went out of business altogether. Today, a huge, idle and run-down factory near

Thiva Thebes (; ell, Θήβα, ''Thíva'' ; grc, Θῆβαι, ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. Archaeolo ...

bears testimony to the downfall of one of Greece's most beloved and (once) successful brand names.

References/External links

''A Greek fairy tale without a happy end'', article in ''Imerisia'' newspaper (in Greek)L.S. Skartsis, "Greek Vehicle & Machine Manufacturers 1800 to present: A Pictorial History", Marathon (2012)
{{ISBN, 978-960-93-4452-4 (eBook) Greek brands Home appliance manufacturers of Greece Defunct manufacturing companies of Greece Greek companies established in 1930 Manufacturing companies established in 1930