Vim is the name of a range of household cleaning products originally produced by Lever Brothers (later Unilever). [1] The Vim brand is currently owned by the German multinational company Henkel, while Unilever retains ownership in Canada and Vietnam.
Vim scouring powder, one of the first products created by William Lever, first appeared on the market in 1904, an offshoot of Monkey Brand scouring soap. The name is thought to derive from the colloquial English word "vim" which has the same meaning as the Latin vis, vim ("force", "vigour"). [2]
Vim was produced at Port Sunlight near Liverpool, England. The name Vim remained solely associated with the scouring powder until 1993, when a range of associated products were released. Vim was also the name of a detergent tablet manufactured by Lever Brothers, and sold in the United States during the 1960s. It was the sponsor of the sitcom on CBS, The Lucy Show , starring Lucille Ball .
Former owner Unilever abandoned Vim in favour of rival product Jif, although it was still sold in some other countries in Europe.
In December 2004, it was sold to the group Guaber, based in Italy. [3] Vim is currently owned by Henkel Group [4] after its acquisition of Spotless Group in 2015, although it is still marketed by Unilever in Canada [5] and Sri Lanka, where it has a 90% market share. [1] [6] Vim is also sold as a Unilever brand in South Africa and India. [7]
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Unilever is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. It is currently headquartered in London.
Horlicks is a sweet malted milk hot drink powder developed by founders James and William Horlick. It was first sold as "Horlick's Infant and Invalids Food", soon adding "aged and travellers" to their label. In the early 20th century, it was sold as a powdered meal replacement drink mix.
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson. Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895 and acquired Mac Fisheries, owner of T. Wall & Sons, in 1925. Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees. Its brands included "Lifebuoy", "Lux" and "Vim". Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Unie to form Unilever in 1929.
Rinso is a brand name of laundry soap and detergent marketed by Unilever. The brand was created by Robert Spear Hudson and originally branded Hudson's Soap, which was sold to Lever Brothers of Port Sunlight, England, in 1908. It was introduced in the United States by Lever Brothers Company in 1918.
Surf is a British brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed around the world by Unilever, except in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, where it has been owned by Sun Products since 2008.
Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the British company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries.
Persil is a German brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed by Henkel around the world except in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Latin America, China, Australia and New Zealand, where it is manufactured and marketed by Unilever. Persil was introduced in 1907 by Henkel. It was the first commercially available laundry detergent that combined bleach with the detergent. The name was derived from two of its original ingredients, sodium perborate and sodium silicate.
Sunlight is a brand of laundry soap, laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent manufactured and marketed around the world by Unilever, except in the United States and Canada, where it has been owned by Sun Products since 2010.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Wall's is a British ice cream and frozen dessert brand in the United Kingdom owned by Unilever and is part of the Heartbrand global frozen dessert brand.
Domestos is a British brand of household cleaning range which contains bleach. It is manufactured by Unilever. Domestos contains 100,000 ppm (10%) of the active component, available chlorine; many other bleaches contain 50,000 or less.
LUX is a global brand developed by Unilever.
Lifebuoy is a brand of soap marketed by Unilever. Lifebuoy was originally, and for much of its history, a carbolic soap containing phenol. The soaps manufactured today under the Lifebuoy brand do not contain phenol. Currently, there are many varieties of Lifebuoy.
Lipton is a British-American brand of tea, owned by Lipton Teas and Infusions. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, later sold to Argyll Foods, after which the company sold only tea. The company is named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, who founded it in 1890. The Lipton ready-to-drink beverages are sold by "Pepsi Lipton International", a company jointly owned by Unilever and PepsiCo.
Spotless Group SAS was a pan-European manufacturer of insect control and laundry products, based in Paris, France. In 2015, it became part of Germany's Henkel group.
Scouring powder is a household cleaning product consisting of an abrasive powder mixed with a dry soap or detergent, soda, and possibly dry bleach.
Skip is a brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed by Unilever in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Argentina and South Africa. In the past it was also marketed in Germany, but it was discontinued in 2009. It is Unilever's top-of-line detergent brand in the countries where it is marketed and features the splodge-like logo similar to British Persil.
Unilever Sri Lanka is a Sri Lankan consumer goods company located in Colombo. It is wholly owned by Unilever, a British multinational consumer goods company. Its products include food, beauty products, personal care, pharmaceuticals, and baby products. Unilever Sri Lanka was established in 1938 as Lever Brother Ceylon Limited. In 1972, it was renamed Unilever Sri Lanka. The company has been ranked as Most Valuable and Strongest Brand and Most Respected Entity. The company has over two dozen brands that are market leaders in Sri Lanka since the 1940s. Unilever operates from a factory complex in an industrial zone of Horana since 2012. About 96% of the company's products are manufactured locally, and more than twenty of its brands are exported outside Sri Lanka.
