Henkel

Pioneers at heart for the good of generations

The company was founded in 1876 in Aachen as Henkel & Cie by Friedrich Karl Henkel and two other partners who were owners of a factory producing sodium silicate. They marketed his first product, "Universalwaschmittel", a universal detergent based on sodium silicate.

Today Henkel operates worldwide with leading innovations, brands and technologies in two business areas: Adhesive Technologies and Consumer Brands.

The company holds leading positions with its two business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. Henkel, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, and is one of the most internationally aligned German companies in the global marketplace.

Henkel’s purpose is to be “pioneers at heart for the good of generations”.

It describes its organisation as a diverse team of more than 50,000 colleagues worldwide, striving to enrich and improve life every day through our products, services, and solutions.

Some of Henkel’s best known brands include Loctite, Pritt, Schwarzkopf and Persil. (Persil is separately marketed by Unilever is some markets – including the UK, France, China, Australia and most of Latin America, under a license deal in 1931).

Loctite

Loctite is the world’s leading brand for adhesives, sealants and surface treatments. The brand essence (Lock Tight) has stood for top performance in industry and household for decades. Its premium products and solutions impress industrial customers and consumers in over 130 countries around the world with their quick, strong and durable hold. A key factor in Loctite’s success is its power of innovation: It allows the continuous development of new products and formulations for a large number of solutions, particularly in the electronics, automobile, aviation and manufacturing industries. Additionally, Henkel also offers solutions for routine household gluing jobs under the same brand. While Loctite is mainly known as an industrial brand in Germany, consumers the world over place their trust in its large selection of superglues, all-purpose adhesives and special glues.

3 grams + 45 minutes = 200 tons: The Loctite moment

Loctite caused a stir during the market launch of its hybrid adhesives, which have applications in production as well as maintenance and repairs. The patented technology combines all the main properties of structural, super and epoxy glues: strong hold, quick hardening and long durability. To demonstrate the performance of these products, customers, sales partners and media from various countries were invited to special Loctite events. First, the guests watched as three grams of hybrid glue were applied on two steel blocks in an S-shaped pattern. After a hardening time of 45 minutes, the blocks were tensioned between a locomotive and a wagon as their sole connection. With this glue joint of just about 230 square centimetres, the locomotive hauled a total weight of more than 200 tons over the rails.

  • Loctite adhesives are used in the wings of passenger planes. They act as a liquid washer to even out minor irregularities and serve to connect the two wing halves.
  • In modern cars, glue is increasingly substituted for welding. Loctite solutions make it possible to create a durably strong bond between lightweight construction materials, like aluminum or plastic, and steel.
  • Smartphones contain a whole series of Loctite products. In addition to adhesives, a display for example also contains anti-reflective, dirt-repelling and anti-glare coatings.
  • In the late 1980s, a fire broke out in a soccer stadium in the UK and many people suffered burns. A doctor used superglue to stick together skin for transplants.
  • A turtle’s broken shell was patched back together using Loctite superglue after the animal fell out of a second-floor window. The glue also succeeded in reattaching the fin on a koi carp.
  • Loctite materials are increasingly used in 3D printing, which enable the additive production of functional types and components.
  • Henkel is driving digitalization in industry with its Loctite Pulse brand. Sensors continuously monitor the condition of key components such as pipelines and prevent unplanned plant shutdowns.

Schwarzkopf

Successful innovations and consistent geographic expansion make Henkel’s top brand Schwarzkopf one of the world’s leading brands for hair-related products. In its five global research centers, hair experts develop products and services that create a world of vibrant color, beautiful styling and properly cared for, healthy hair.

The brand’s success has its foundation in two key elements: a gradual, steady brand development in all hair categories of the consumer and salon businesses, and the successful, even geographic expansion in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Schwarzkopf provides every day more than two million people around the world the confidence to craft their own beauty. The brand has earned high trust among both hairdressers and consumers.

From a small drugstore to a global brand

More than 120 years ago, the opening of a small drugstore became the foundation for the global brand Schwarzkopf. Attention to detail and an obsession with brilliant results have always been the pinnacle of the brand’s world since the chemist and pharmacist Hans Schwarzkopf opened a “color, drug and perfume shop” in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1898.

  • Schwarzkopf has brought numerous innovations to the market: 1903 the first powder shampoo, 1955 the first hairspray and 1972 the first hair care system including shampoo, conditioner, and deep conditioners.
  • In 1921, Martha Schwarzkopf, wife of Schwarzkopf founder Hans Schwarzkopf, took over the company after his death and became one of the first women to become managing director herself, two years after women’s suffrage was introduced in Germany. A woman at the top: this not only marks a milestone in the history of the company. The entrepreneur, mother, wife and visionary Martha is also a role model for an entire generation of women and entrepreneurs in Germany. As from 2022, Henkel presents the “Martha Schwarzkopf Award,” a tribute to Martha Schwarzkopf, to support women in science, especially in hair research.
  • The word “taften” is synonymous with “to spray the hair with hairspray”.

Persil

Persil can look back on more than 115 years of success: from its revolutionary beginnings as the first self-activating detergent, to its great advances in areas of energy use and environmental protection, its significant contributions to sustainable business conduct, and its advancements in dosing and packaging. As a forerunner in the sustainability area, Persil plays an important role in promoting sustainable business.

A detergent makes history

Persil’s history is inseparable from Henkel’s success story. At the beginning of the 20th century, doing laundry meant hours – if not days – of physically-demanding labor for women. Fritz Henkel wanted to lighten women’s laundry day burden, and in 1876, founded the company Henkel & Cie, which developed Persil, the world’s first self-activating laundry detergent, in 1907. Strenuous washing as the world knew it, had come to an end, and riding on Persil’s triumph, the family company’s own success story began.

The name Persil is derived from the two most important chemical materials in the product: Perborat and Silicat. Henkel developed an innovative combination washing-and-bleaching agent in powder form. This meant that laundry could be cleaned and sanitized just by boiling it in water with Persil, eliminating the need for chlorine bleach. In 1908, Henkel produced 4,700 metric tons of Persil. By 1915, that amount had already tripled.

  • Persil was the world’s first self-activating laundry detergent.
  • On November 3, 1956, the first-ever spot for the laundry detergent aired on German TV.
  • From the very beginning, Persil was an advertising pioneer: On June 6, 1907, the first Persil ad appeared in a Düsseldorf newspaper. In 1908, Henkel unleashed a promotional team dressed in brilliant white and carrying oversized white screens onto the streets of Berlin. From 1922 and into the 1960s, the “Weiße Dame” (woman in white) was featured on billboards and enamel signs to promote the laundry detergent. Another spectacular promotion was the skywriting planes that wrote Persil’s name in white Persil-lettering in the skies of European cities.
  • Persil is sold in more than 60 countries worldwide. The premium quality product is also sold in some countries under local brand names, for example, “Le Chat” in France or “Dixan” in Italy. Since 2015, the famous detergent is also available in the USA.
  • In Germany, 5.2 million loads of laundry are washed with Persil daily.
  • The brand awareness of Persil lies at nearly 100 percent in Germany.

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