The thing people have to remember is that Craftsman was the Sears store brand. They were not a tool manufacturer. Other companies made tools for them and put the Craftsman logo on them. Companies like Western Forge, Pratt-Read, Wilde, Easco, etc were making the tools, and in some cases were simply re-branding existing models.
What made Craftsman so popular was availability, cost, quality, and the warranty. Sure, you could find better tools, but it wasn't as easy. There wasn't always an internet with review videos, etc. to help compare and contrast. Generally speaking though, Craftsman tools would do the job. They may not do the job as well as Snap-On, but Snap-On was never meant for the DIY crowd.
Sears made a huge mistake by sourcing production from Chinese suppliers. The quality was visibly different, and they lost their reputation. They tried to make tools to a certain price point instead of sticking with higher quality. People quickly realized that low quality tools could be bought from places like Harbor Freight (back before HF had Taiwan-made options) for a lot less.
I'm not sure how SBD will restore glory to the Craftsman name, but I hope they succeed, especially if they are going to be making more USA-made products. It's going to be a hard fight, now that HF covers the low (and even medium end) while other companies cover the medium to high end of the tool spectrum. For me, Tekton is kind of what Craftsman used to be.
Another issue is that SBD has a lot of brands, with a lot of overlap. I get that some brands may be store-exclusives, but I often wonder if the brands need to focus on particular tool types or tiers. Do we really need Stanley, Craftsman, Irwin, and Lenox branded versions of the same tool?
