Colgate-Palmolive is marking its 220th anniversary in 2026, highlighting a history of product, manufacturing and packaging innovation across oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition.
The company traces its origins to 1806, when William Colgate opened a soap, starch and candle shop at 6 Dutch Street in New York, near Wall Street. From that base, the business expanded into a global consumer goods company whose products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories.
For the packaging sector, one of the company’s key milestones came in 1896, when it was among the first companies to pack toothpaste in a collapsible metal tube. The move replaced fragile glass jars with a lighter, more portable format that supported wider distribution and helped make toothpaste a more accessible oral care product.
Colgate-Palmolive said its packaging development continued in 2019 with the introduction of what it described as the world’s first recyclable toothpaste tube. The company positioned the development as part of its wider move to link product accessibility with environmental responsibility.
The anniversary also reflects Colgate-Palmolive’s wider industrial and brand evolution. The company’s operations spanned Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa by the 1920s. In 1928, Colgate merged with Palmolive-Peet, and by 1930 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company said its Bright Smiles, Bright Futures programme, established in 1991, has reached about 2 billion children and families across 100 countries. In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, it produced and distributed 26.5 million bars of soap across 28 countries and donated $20 million in health and hygiene products.
Noel Wallace, CEO of Colgate-Palmolive, said the company’s future is focused on science, innovation, people and growth.