Borrowings (ABL Credit Agreement Narrative) (Details) (USD $)			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe ABL Facility Line of Credit	May 18, 2012 Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe ABL Facility Line of Credit entity	Dec. 31, 2011 Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe ABL Facility Letter of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Libbey Glass ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Libbey Glass Line of Credit, Swingline Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiaries, Present and Future Direct and Indirect Domestic Subsidiaries of Libbey Glass ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiaries, First-tier Present and Future Foreign Subsidiaries of Libbey Glass ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiary, Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiary, Libbey Europe [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiaries, Dutch Subsidiaries of Libbey Europe ABL Facility Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 CB Floating Rate Line of Credit, Swingline Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Netherlands Swing Line Rate Line of Credit, Swingline Line of Credit	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe ABL Facility	Dec. 31, 2011 Line of Credit Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe ABL Facility	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Subsidiaries, First-Tier Subsidiaries of Libbey Europe and its Dutch Subsidiaries ABL Facility Line of Credit
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															0.50%	1.50%
Commitment fee percentage			0.38%
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	466,059,000	397,617,000															0	0
Interest period, minimum																	1 month
Interest period, maximum																	6 months
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				400,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding							8,500,000
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity				$ 68,600,000		$ 63,800,000