Mark Hendriksen

To jump straight to the quick quiz, scroll to the end of the post…

When it comes to toilet paper certain influences or advertising trends tend to set a preference. Which is your favourite brand, why did you choose it, and have you been faithful during the times tp went short? We’ll check your answers at the end of the article, and will publish the results in a couple of weeks from now. We’ll also look at the eco-friendly contenders such as Bamboo toilet paper and let us know if you’re now using one of the recent list of start-up’s who are emerging and catching people’s attention. There are a vast number of brands out there and, depending on which country you live in, brand names can specifically selected for your local market. Who are the big players and which of their brands may be familiar to you or the ones you’re using? This week we thought we’d take a look and get your feedback.

In terms of the biggest, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark are two of the best known (in the USA add Georgia-Pacific to that mix.) Although we’ll focus on toilet paper manufacturers and suppliers, they also have vast numbers of subsidiaries of which we’ll highlight those of particular interest associated to TP. Procter & Gamble are most famous for their Charmin® Brand, which interestingly is their global brand (not differing names in various markets.) But they’re the company that also do; Pampers®, All Good® and Luvs® diapers. Bounty® paper towels and Puffs® facial tissues, and then for personal hygiene; Always®, Always Discreet®, Just®, Tampax® and This is L®.

Whereas, Kimberly-Clark have a number of well-known brand names which, as mentioned earlier, you’d recognise depending on where you live; Andrex®, Hakle®, Cottonelle®, Scottex®, Page®, Neve®, Petalo®, Wondersoft®, Tela®, Scott® and Viva®, add Kleenex® in the professional list. Adult and feminine care products include; Depend®, Poise® and Plenitud®, various Kotex® products, Intimus® and Camelia®. When it comes to kids there’s; Huggies® + Pull-Ups® and Little Swimmers® and also Goodnites® & DryNites®.

Let’s now stick solely to toilet paper brands as we run through a number of other big players.

SCA in Sweden and their sister company Essity produce an array of famous names. Essity is the world’s second largest supplier of consumer tissue. Their brand portfolio comprises many strong brands; Lotus, Tempo and Zewa are the leading ones (France, Germany and Russia.) Cushelle, Velvet and Plenty (UK and Ireland), and Edet (Nordic region and the Netherlands.) Essity is the market leader in China through its majority shareholding in Vinda (see below.) Familia and Regio (Colombia and Mexico), respectively.  Georgia-Pacific are the most famous in the USA for their Quilted Northern® and AngelSoft® rolls. Metsä Tissue in Finland makes the following toilet tissue brands; Lambi, Serla, Mola and Tento, Metsä Tissue is a notable supplier of tissue papers tailored for our customers’ own brands. In China the tp biggies include Hengan, with their Cha Yu Si Xiang series and Vinda‘s ‘Vinda‘ tp range (oddly enough same name as the co.) has been recognised as one of China’s most famous brands. Sofidel has a wide range of brands, again varying depending on country; Regina (their most famous), Softis (big in Germany and Austria), Le Trèfle, KittenSoft, Cosynel (Belgium), Nalys (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg) and Lycke eco-care (Sweden.) We could go on, but let’s wrap this up before you glaze over, Nevertheless let us know if there are any of ‘your favourites’ that we’ve missed!

Finally let’s throw some new eco-brands into the mix. We’ve tried and tested the ones we can access in the UK, but can you see one you recognise (or have started using?) These disruptors and direct to consumer brands include; Who Gives A Crap, The Cheeky Panda, No. 2, Peach, Reel Paper, Bumboo, EcoLeaf and Greencane. After all of that, maybe your answer is, ‘None of the above, I just bought myself a bidet/bumwash?’ Well that’s good to know too.

If you could spare 1 minute we’d love your feedback on the following 3 quick questions… Please reply here with your answer to 1. and then choosing for 2. & 3. just choose between (a), (b) or (c). [We will not share your details and will delete all of the replies immediately they’re received and added to the survey.] Thank you.

1. What’s your favourite Toilet paper brand?
2. Did you choose it because of (a) an advert or (b) ‘always been used by or in our family’.
3. Since the coronavirus have you (a) ‘been faithful to your brand’, (b) ‘switched and not gone back to it’ or (c) ‘converted to some type of bidet/bumwash?’

Have a great weekend and we’ll be back next week…