Borrowings (ABL Credit Agreement Narrative) (Details) (USD $)			6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012 ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	May 18, 2012 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member] entity	Dec. 31, 2011 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Letter of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiary, Libbey Glass [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiary, Libbey Glass [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries, Present and Future Direct and Indirect Domestic Subsidiaries of Libbey Glass [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries, First-tier Present and Future Foreign Subsidiaries of Libbey Glass [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiary, Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiary, Libbey Europe [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries, Dutch Subsidiaries of Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 CB Floating Rate [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Netherlands Swing Line Rate [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member] Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Maximum [Member] Subsidiaries, First-Tier Subsidiaries of Libbey Europe and its Dutch Subsidiaries [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of financial institutions participating					4
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity					$ 100,000,000		$ 30,000,000		$ 15,000,000				$ 7,500,000
Security, percent of entity stock								100.00%		100.00%		100.00%		100.00%					100.00%
Security, percent of entity stock, non-voting											100.00%
Security, percent of entity stock, voting											65.00%
Applicable rates															0.75%	1.75%
Commitment fee percentage			0.375%
Covenant, fixed charge coverage ratio, unused borrowing capacity below which covenant is applicable				10,000,000
Covenant terms, conditional minimum fixed charge coverage ratio	1
Additional available borrowing capacity				25,000,000
Total borrowings	477,638,000	397,617,000															0	0
Interest period, minimum																	1 month
Interest period, maximum																	6 months
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding							9,500,000
Borrowing base, component of sum, % of eligible accounts receivable				85.00%
Borrowing base, alternative component of sum, % of NOLV of eligible inventory				85.00%
Borrowing base, alternative component of sum, % of eligible inventory				65.00%
Borrowing base, alternative component of sum, amount				75,000,000
Borrowing base, amount of rent reserves offset				700,000
Borrowing base, amount of natural gas contract mark-to-market reserves offset				1,900,000
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity				$ 75,600,000		$ 63,800,000