Borrowings (Other Borrowings Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands, € in Millions	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total borrowings	$ 400,068		$ 387,685
Libbey Portugal \| AICEP Loan \| Loans Payable
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total borrowings	$ 0		3,085
Interest rate	0.00%	0.00%
Notes Payable
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Total borrowings	$ 0		$ 0
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity \| €		€ 0.8
Line of credit facility, interest rate at period end	1.50%	1.50%

Debt, Long-term and Short-term, Gross

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	lby_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The effective interest rate at the end of the reporting period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: