When William Colgate opened a small soap, starch and candle shop at 6 Dutch Street, just steps from Wall Street in 1806, he had a vision that would reach far beyond a modest storefront. The idea was simple: What if soap — previously either a luxury item or handmade from household scraps — could be standardized with predictable, trustworthy quality and made accessible to everyday people at an affordable price? The answer, William Colgate & Company, was an innovation that would eventually shape an industry.
Today, Colgate-Palmolive Company is a caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet. Focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition, we sell our products in more than 200 countries and territories. As 2026 marks its 220th anniversary, the company's commitment to reimagining healthier futures through science and innovation has never been stronger.
Committed to Building Healthier Lives
For more than two centuries, Colgate-Palmolive has advanced health and wellness by making accessible essential products across oral health, personal and home care, skin health and pet nutrition.
One of the company’s signature breakthroughs came in 1896, when it was one of the first companies to put its toothpaste in a collapsible metal tube. Before the tube, toothpaste was mainly sold in fragile glass jars — messy, breakable, and hard to distribute at scale. The shift to a collapsible tube changed that. Lightweight, portable and inexpensive to produce, it turned toothpaste from a niche product into an accessible health essential for millions, marking an extraordinary leap forward in oral care. Over 100 years later, in 2019, Colgate-Palmolive would introduce the world's first-of-its-kind recyclable tube, extending that legacy of accessibility to environmental responsibility.
The company’s history of growth has been driven by a commitment to reaching more people around the world with products that improve their lives. In the 1920s, Colgate’s operations spanned Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. In 1928, Colgate merged with Palmolive-Peet, a leading soap and detergent company. Throughout the Great Depression, the newly combined company maintained its commitment to affordable household essentials, expanding its reach at a time of global distress. By 1930, Colgate-Palmolive was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, just steps from where it all began. Today, Colgate-Palmolive is the 8th oldest listed company on the Exchange. In 1956, the company opened its global corporate headquarters at 300 Park Avenue — a building that celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2026.
In 1991, the Company established Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, its flagship global children’s oral health education initiative. The program connects children, their families and communities with oral health education, free dental screenings and treatment referrals, and more, including through mobile dental vans. Kids learn healthy habits like brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, as well as proper nutrition and exercise. Since 1991, the program has reached approximately 2 billion children and their families across 100 countries, and program materials are available in more than 40 languages.
A Leading Company Through Major Historical Events
Few companies have navigated as many historical inflection points as Colgate-Palmolive — from the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars to a global pandemic. Throughout its 220-year history, Colgate-Palmolive has consistently mobilized its manufacturing and R&D capabilities in response to consumer health and hygiene needs. After World War II, as millions of displaced families across Europe struggled to rebuild, Colgate toothpaste was among the essential items included in the first CARE Packages — humanitarian aid parcels shipped by the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe beginning in May 1946. One recipient, a student in West Germany, later recalled opening her package and finding Colgate toothpaste and a toothbrush alongside paper and pencils — items that felt extraordinary in the scarcity of postwar life. It was a small but meaningful signal of what the brand represented: not just a product, but a standard of care worth sending across an ocean.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Colgate-Palmolive stepped into action, launching its #SafeHands Initiative, mobilizing five manufacturing plants across three continents to produce soap in just two weeks. The initiative, which sprung into action before vaccines were available, leveraged the company’s manufacturing scale and R&D capabilities to develop, donate and distribute 26.5 million bars of soap across 28 countries facing acute needs. The company also donated $20 million in health and hygiene products to community-based organizations.
How Colgate-Palmolive is Driving Impact Through Innovation
Today, Colgate-Palmolive operates in over 200 countries and territories, making it one of the most widely distributed health and wellness companies in the world, built on a 220-year story of resilience and the constant drive to reimagine a healthier future for all.
That global impact extends to the lives of pets: In 1976, Colgate-Palmolive acquired Hill’s Pet Nutrition — a brand dating back to the Great Depression, when veterinarian Dr. Mark L. Morris developed the first Hill's Prescription Diet pet food to address kidney disease in dogs, saving a guide dog named Buddy in the process. Today, Hill’s is a global leader in veterinary pet nutrition, with recent innovations including ActivBiome+ technology designed to support animals' gut health for overall wellness. And since 2002, the Hill's Food, Shelter & Love program has helped support over 16 million shelter pet adoptions across North America.
What’s the Future Outlook for Colgate-Palmolive?
Colgate-Palmolive is focused on expanding its reach and increasing the household penetration of its health and hygiene products – in turn, making more smiles around the world, deepening its scientific R&D capabilities and leveraging its global talent base of 34,000 employees across 100 countries.
“What's kept us going for more than two centuries is the strength of our culture, focus on cutting-edge science and innovation, dedication to our people and enduring purpose as a caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet.” says Noel Wallace, Colgate-Palmolive’s CEO. “Our future is about building upon the trust we have cultivated over generations to drive continued growth and ensure that Colgate-Palmolive remains a leader name in health and hygiene for the next 220 years."
Hear more from Noel Wallace about our history in a recent interview with CNBC.
