Imperial Leather

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imperial Leather is a brand of soaps, toiletries and healthcare products manufactured by PZ Cussons.

The brand goes all the way back to 1768 when a Russian nobleman called Count Orlof commissioned a brand of perfume from Bayley's of Bond Street, it was called 'Eau de Cologne Imperiale Russe'. In 1921 Bayley's was acquired by Cussons & Sons, chaired by Alexander Tomlinson Cussons. It was not until some years later in 1938 that Alex Cussons used the original perfume and created Cussons Imperial Leather soap and other toiletries. The soap was initially called 'Imperiale Russian Leather', but was soon renamed to Imperial Leather. In 1975 the Cussons Group was itself acquired by Paterson Zochonis, recently renamed to PZ Cussons.

In the 1950's Cussons manufactured Disney figure soaps, made out of Imperial Leather. The Disney soaps included Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, Lady and the Tramp, Thumper and Bambi. Non-Disney figure soaps were also manufactured, this range included the Archie Andrews puppet.

Television has been an important part of Imperial Leather advertising for decades. Recent Imperial Leather adverts include the rose tattoo (1999), the firemen fantasy (2002), the dancing duck (2002) and the secret shower advert (2005).

In 2001 Imperial Leather was relaunched under the 'release the lather' slogan. An Imperial Leather yellow duck beanie was produced as part of the promotion. Cussons Imperial Leather also sponsored the XVII Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester in 2002. In 2004 an Imperial Leather theme park ride called The Flume was opened at Alton Towers. In 2006 an Imperial Leather theme park ride called The Bubbleworks was also opened at Chessington World of Adventures.