Kleenex

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Kleenex

Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of products such as facial tissue

Facial tissue

Facial tissue and paper handkerchief refers to a class of soft, absorbent, disposable papers that is suitable for use on the face. They are disposable and more Hygiene alternatives for cloth handkerchiefs....
, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and diapers. Kleenex is a registered trademark

TradeMark

TradeMark is a tall, primarily residential, skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was completed in 2007 and has 28 floors. There are 200 hundred residential units....
of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.

Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an United States corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle" toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes" scientific cleaning wipes, and "Huggies" disposable diapers....
since June 12, 1924. Kleenex products are manufactured in 30 countries and sold in more than 170.

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Encyclopedia

Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of products such as facial tissue

Facial tissue

TradeMark

Kimberly-Clark

List of misused trademarks

As required by trademark law, owners of trademarks are required to make sure their mark is not misused as a List of generic and genericized trademarks#List of generic trademarks for its item, risking the loss of the rights to their trademark if they do not....
, such as Kleenex facial tissue, Kleenex bathroom tissue, Kleenex paper towels, and Kleenex diapers. However, it is often used as a brandnomer

Genericized trademark

History

The material from which Kleenex is made was originally called "Cellucotton," and was designed by Kimberly-Clark during World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. It came to be used in gas mask

Gas mask

A gas mask is a mask worn over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling "airborne pollutants" and toxic gasses. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face....
filters during the war as a replacement for cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
, which was in high demand for use as a surgical dressing.

The Kimberly-Clark Corporation created the first Western facial tissue in 1924 (it had been in use for centuries before in Japan; see History of facial tissue

Facial tissue

Facial tissue and paper handkerchief refers to a class of soft, absorbent, disposable papers that is suitable for use on the face. They are disposable and more Hygiene alternatives for cloth handkerchiefs....
for details) and originally marketed them as a way to remove cold cream

Cold cream

Cold cream is an emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup....
. A few years after the introduction of Kleenex, the company began receiving a large number of letters from customers suggesting its use for colds

Common cold

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, virus infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses or coronaviruses....
and hay fever

Hay Fever

Hay Fever is a comic play written by No?l Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish b...
. By the 1930s, Kleenex was being marketed with the slogan “Don’t Carry a Cold in Your Pocket” and its utilization as a disposable handkerchief

Handkerchief

A handkerchief is a form of a kerchief, typically a square of Textile that can be carried in the pocket, for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or blowing one's nose, but also used as a decorative accessory in a suit pocket....
replacement became predominant.

In the USA, the Kleenex name has become, or as a legal matter nearly has become, genericized

Genericized trademark

A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquialism or generic description for a general class of Good or Service , rather than the specific meaning intended by the trademark's holder....
: the popularity of the product has led to the use of its name to refer to any facial tissue, regardless of the brand. Many dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster, and Oxford, now include definitions in their publications defining it as such.

Kleenex

History

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