Oh I can answer that one. In 1990, Craftsman pretty much dominated and were the best tools out there (barring the truck tools). They were sponsoring NASCAR teams. And side by side, Craftsman had a 32T ratchet and so did Snap On.
For weekend warriors, there were Taiwan tools which were absolute rubbish. But maybe the biggest barrier for asian tools was where they were offered. Maybe you could find them in an auto parts store. When HF started, they had really crappy merchandize. Not like today (honestly).
Some old timers I knew had SK, but they were nothing special. I had a pretty big set of Craftsman and still do. 3/8" sockets were ok. RP wrenches had unusable open ends. Those same 1990s vintage wrenches were tested by TTC and they were comparable to some modern Taiwan wrenches. I think in open ends, there's a pretty big difference between the top tier and the mid tier. 1/4" Drive craftsman was abhorrent. By the late 1990s, mediocre Craftsman tools became much worse Chinese Craftsman. You know the end of that story.
In my youth, Japanese cars like Honda were the WORST. Taiwan tools were terrible. Contrast that with today. Early Japanese made Civics were recalled for body rust.
BTW: I had performance failures with Craftsman that drove me to find better tools (Snap On). I was driving a Porsche to work every day. Swapping cam belts every 30,000 miles as required, yanking CVs, replacing suspension bushings, did an exhaust etc etc. Some sockets like bit sockets just weren't up to the task.
But I kept my Craftsman even after upgrading specific tools. What attracted me to Snap On after that was higher tooth count ratchets, and the hard handle screwdrivers, which were game changers for us. After ratchets I got wobble extensions which I don't recall seeing at Sears, then finally sockets and wrenches.
For f@cks sake.
“Truck tool brands” and “Craftsman” were far from the only “good” or “Great” tool brands available in the 1990s.
“Truck Tool brands” usually only covers brands like Snap-On, Matco, and MAC Tools.
“Craftsman” doesn’t even just cover a dingle tool line, since during the 1990s, Craftsman had different quality levels, from the basic lower level raised panel line of tools, to the higher end “Craftsman Professional” line.
The Craftsman Professional line of tools was made to a large extent by Danagher, which at the time meant production of a number of items was by Armstrong Tools.
In Addition, SK made tools for the Craftsman Pro line, which also included production of some items inFrance by Facom, because at that time, SK was owned by Facom, and the tool lines went by the brand “SK-Facom” in the USA.
In addition, Knipex and Bahco were producing tools for the Craftsman Pro brand, and Wilde, and Vsughan, and a number of other professional brands were producing tools for the Craftsman or Craftsman Pro brands.
Sears also had Facom and Knipex and Starrett, and other top quality brands being sold in their stores and tool catalogs.
If you didn’t have access to a “Tool Truck”, there were other Professional and Industrial tool brands for sale, usually at local Industrial Suppliers and Hardware stores, as well as major Industrial Suppliers like Grainger.
SK Tools is routinely mentioned, but Armstrong, Wright, Williams (yes, owned by Snap-On but distributed differently), Proto, Martin (admittedly a bit more niche), etc.
For pliers, Klein, Channellock, Crescent (back when USA made), and a bunch of other brands were all available.
Quality German screwdriver brands like Wiha and Wera were found at local industrial hardware stores, as were the Swiss made Wiha pliers, which were nice.
As far as “every household owning Craftsman tools”, it was a myth.
Sears didn’t have a store anywhere near where I lived in Philadelphia during the 1990s, and it was therefore easier to go to Grainger, or a half dozen other Industrial suppliers, than to get to a Sears, and while deals could be good at Sears, the company was sort of full of sh!t from my experiences.
