Kiwi (shoe polish)

Kiwi is a shoe polish brand, now owned by S. C. Johnson. Originally made by an Australian company, which first marketed the product there in 1906, , it was sold in about 180 countries.

Kiwi is the dominant shoe polish in some countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, where it has about two-thirds of the market. In Malaysia and Singapore, Kiwi has become such a household name for shoe polish that the word "kiwi" has been genericized into a verb in the Malay language, meaning "to polish one's shoes".

The polish was developed in Australia by William Ramsay, grandfather of actor Robin Ramsay, who named it "Kiwi" after the flightless bird native to New Zealand, the home country of his wife, Annie Elizabeth Meek. Its success in Australia was matched overseas after it was adopted by both the British and United States armies in World War I.

In the UK, Kiwi polish was manufactured for many years at the company's British headquarters in Ealing. That facility manufactured for the UK market and exported the Kiwi brand to much of Europe and the Middle East. In the mid-1970s, as part of a major streamlining, the UK factory was closed, and production was switched to France. The UK operation moved to Yateley becoming, effectively, a sales and marketing office, with distribution contracted to a third party.

In 1980, production for the UK market moved back to the UK, and was housed in a factory near Huddersfield. The UK head office was relocated to Maidstone, in Kent, where Kiwi had other product interests. Following a global merger with Nicholas Laboratories, the UK head office was again relocated to Slough, at the Nicholas building on the Bath Road.

Development

While a number of older leather preserving products existed, including the Irish brand "Punch", which was first made in 1851, and the German brand, "Erdal", which went on sale in 1901, Kiwi's introduction in 1906 made it the first shoe polish to resemble modern varieties, aimed primarily at inducing shine. Ramsay and fellow Scottish expatriate, Hamilton McKellar, began making boot polish, and other products, in a small factory in Melbourne in 1904. Ramsay and McKellar launched an improved formula, marketing it in Melbourne as "Kiwi Boot Polish". Ramsay loaded boxes of the product on to his horse and cart and sold it to farmers to protect their boots.

Kiwi was a major improvement on previous brands. It preserved shoe leather, made it shine, and restored colour. By the time Kiwi Dark Tan was released in 1908, it incorporated agents that added suppleness and water resistance. Australian-made boot polish was then considered the world's best. A range of colours became available, and exports began to Britain, continental Europe, and New Zealand .

A rival brand at the time was "Cobra Boot Polish", based in Sydney. Cobra was noted for a series of cartoon advertisements in '' The Sydney Bulletin'', starting in 1909, using a character called "Chunder Loo of Akim Foo". (The Australian slang word ''chunder'', meaning "to vomit", possibly originated through the rhyming slang of ''Chunder Loo'' and ''spew''.)

The spread of Kiwi shoe polish around the world enhanced the popular appeal of the kiwi as New Zealand's national symbol.

Corporate history

Over the years, Kiwi has been owned by a variety of corporations. For the first six decades of its existence, it was one of the iterations of an Australian corporation with Kiwi in its name, all based in the state of Victoria, including Kiwi Boot Polish Co. (1913–1916) and Kiwi Polish Co. (1916–1971). The company then joined with Nicholas International Ltd., a Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company producing international brands such as "Aspro" and Rennie. The new company was renamed Nicholas Kiwi. In 1984, it was acquired by American-based Sara Lee, at the time known as Consolidated Foods Corporation, who eventually sold the Nicholas pharmaceutical products to Roche of Switzerland but kept the Kiwi range.

In 1991, a subsidiary of the Sara Lee Corporation (Sara Lee) acquired part of the shoe care business of Reckitt & Colman, including the Cherry Blossom and Meltonian brands. Sara Lee already owned the Kiwi brand, among others. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ruled that Sara Lee had to divest its ownership of these companies in 1994, to prevent it from becoming a monopoly. Since that ruling, Sara Lee has been prevented from acquiring any further assets or firms associated with chemical shoe care products in the United States without prior commission approval. The Competition Commission in the United Kingdom also investigated the potential monopoly of Sara Lee in the shoe care industry. On April 4, 2011, Sara Lee announced that it had completed its sale of its global shoe care business, in a majority of countries, to S. C. Johnson.

Kiwi remains the predominant shoe polish brand in most of the world, being sold in over 180 countries and holding a 53% market share worldwide. "World War I led to an enormous demand for 'Kiwi' polish for use by Australian, British and, later, American forces." Today, it is manufactured in Australia, Canada, Honduras, France, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Other leading brands include '' Shinola'', ''Lincoln Shoe Polish'', ''Meltonian'', and ''Cherry Blossom''.

See also

*List of oldest companies in Australia
*Kiwi (people)

References

See also

Australian Government article on Kiwi shoe polish
- PDF file, taken from ''Imagination - 100 Years of Bright Ideas in Australia''
/sup> Available in print form - ().

KiwiPhile - how Kiwi shoe polish helped choose a national symbol


- Introduction to a report on Sara Lee (owners of Kiwi shoe polish) and the shoe polish market in general.

External links

www.kiwicare.com
nbsp;— Kiwi site
www.quimicashandal.com
nbsp;— Kiwi Central America

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiwi (Shoe Polish)
S. C. Johnson & Son brands, Kiwi
Shoe polish
Products introduced in 1906
Australian brands
2011 mergers and acquisitions