For centuries in the West, ladies tucked their neatly pressed and embroidered handkerchiefs into their sleeve or purse. And, eventually, men arranged their monogrammed squares into their suit pockets.
Everyone, everywhere carried handkerchiefs, a necessity that had become a craft and a style. But, in the 1900s that changed.
By 1914, cotton was in short supply and it was desperately needed for the wounded in World War I. Kimberly-Clark, a paper manufacturing company in Wisconsin, developed a soft, disposal paper made of cellulose from wood fiber. The product neatly fit the needs of the wounded, and worked as wadding for gas masks. And, by the way, an unintended market arose: Army nurses began using the absorbent product for sanitary napkins.
After the war, Kimberly-Clark had to find a market for its abundant stockpile of cellulose fiber cloths. They thought wealthy ladies could afford the 100-count napkins to remove cold cream — a little luxury since the product cost the equivalent of $9 a pack.
So, Kimberly-Clark hired actresses to demonstrate how this beauty product kept their skin soft. They even added a neat popup tissue so the glamorous would never have to touch the actual box. Sales were mainly disappointing.
By 1930, the company was desperate for a market for its 'cellucotton' wipes. So they sent marketing guys to Peoria, Illinois, to find out why tissues weren't playing well. They found that Kleenex did have a market, just not the one they thought. Of the people who bought Kleenex, most used them for a disposable handkerchief, not makeup remover.
Out went the slogan 'the scientific way to remove cold cream' and in came the fantastic marketing hook: Don't put a cold in your pocket!
Boom. In two years, sales increased four-fold.
Kimberly-Clark actually offered $5 (about $73 today) for ideas on how to use the tissues. People had many: coffee filters, baby bibs, shoe cleaner. But in the end, Kleenex became that essential wintertime survival item.
The cellucotton fiber went on to find markets as sanitary napkins, diapers, and bath tissue.
