Kleenex was a cold cream remover nobody wanted — customers used it as a tissue

During World War I, the Cellucotton company developed a crepe paper gas mask filter made from wood pulp. After the war, they modified the material into Kotex, a disposable menstrual pad. A further refinement made the paper thinner and softer. In 1924, Kimberly-Clark launched this new product as Kleenex — a disposable cold cream remover. Women could use it once and throw it away, eliminating the need to wash face towels.

The cold cream remover positioning was not a success. Women did not see the need to buy a disposable product for removing makeup when washcloths worked fine. Kimberly-Clark's head researcher noticed that customers were using Kleenex for something else entirely — blowing their noses. He tried to persuade the head of advertising to market the tissue for colds and hay fever, but the administrator initially declined.

The advertising head eventually committed a small amount of ad space to mention using Kleenex as a handkerchief. The response was overwhelming. By the 1930s, the company had fully pivoted with the slogan 'Don't Carry a Cold in Your Pocket.' Kleenex became the dominant facial tissue brand, sold in 78 countries. The product that failed as a makeup remover had become a household staple.

Kleenex became a genericized trademark — the name itself is now used for any facial tissue. The product that was designed for one purpose and found another by accident had generated billions in revenue for Kimberly-Clark over the following century. The company's mistake was not understanding what customers actually wanted — and customers fixed it for them.