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.
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.