AVP

Avon Products, Inc.

A maker of beauty, skincare, and fragrance products sold door-to-door by a network of representatives around the world. The company began in 1886 when book salesman David McConnell realized customers cared more for the perfume samples he handed out than for his books, so he founded the California Perfume Company. It took the Avon name in 1939 because the countryside around its New York base reminded him of Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-upon-Avon.