Dulux

Dulux International

Product type	Paint
Owner	AkzoNobel PPG Industries (North America only)
Country	United Kingdom
Introduced	1931; 93 years ago (in UK)
Markets	Worldwide
Website	Dulux UK Dulux India Dulux Pakistan Dulux Indonesia Dulux Malaysia Dulux South Africa

Dulux is an internationally-available brand of architectural paint that originated from the United Kingdom. The brand name Dulux has been used by both Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and DuPont since 1931 and was one of the first alkyd-based paints. It is produced by AkzoNobel (originally produced by ICI prior to 2008) although the North American market is now served by PPG Industries.

Contents

• History
• Dulux dog
• Dulux in Australia and New Zealand
• Dulux in Canada
• Dulux Decorator Centre
• Dulux Select Decorators
• Dulux Trade Contract Partnership
• Color of the Year
• References
• External links

On October 17, 2024, PPG announced its plan to sell its Dulux brand in Canada to American Industrial Partners as part of a broader $550 million deal. ^[1]

History

ICI Paints was formed in 1926. The Dulux paint brand was introduced in 1931. ^[2] The name Dulux is derived from the words Durable and Luxury.

In the early days of its existence, decorators and their suppliers were the main customers for Dulux, with Say Dulux to your decorator used as an advertising slogan in the 1950s. By 1953, Dulux was available in the retail market and ten years later an Old English Sheepdog was used in advertisements, to the point where "Dulux dog" has become a common nickname for the breed.

Dulux had a market share in the United Kingdom of around 25 percent according to research by Kantar Group. ^[3]

Dulux dog

The Old English Sheepdog is the brand mascot for Dulux paint. The dog was first introduced in advertising campaigns in 1961. Since then they have been a constant and highly popular feature of Dulux television and print adverts wherever the paint is sold. So much so, that many people in those markets refer to the breed as a 'Dulux dog' rather than a Sheepdog. Over the years, different dogs have appeared in the adverts. However, they all look very similar, due to the carefully managed selection process carried out by ICI's advertising agency. The first Dulux dog was Shepton Daphnis Horsa, pet name Dash, who held the role for eight years. ^[4]

His successor, Fernville Lord Digby, was the most famous Dulux dog and also made his owners, Cynthia and Norman Harrison, famous. When filming advertisements, Digby was treated like a star, being driven to the studio in a chauffeur driven car. Barbara Woodhouse was employed to train Digby and his three stunt doubles, who were used whenever specific tricks or actions needed to be filmed. Digby's popularity led him to play the title role in the 1973 British comedy film Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World . ^[5]

King Hotspur of Amblegait was used from 1974 to 1979 and appeared in over fifty television programmes as well as his public appearances for ICI/Dulux. ^[4]

Dulux in Australia and New Zealand

In Australia and New Zealand, Dulux has been involved with the manufacture and marketing of paint and related products since 1904 and is the largest manufacturer of paint products in Australia.

Dulux had its origins in H. L. Vosz, a large glass fabrication business and Australia's first major paint manufacturer. In 1912, the Australasian United Paint Company Limited was founded in South Australia, with an office in Lipson Street, Port Adelaide, to take over the paint business of H. L. Vosz as a going concern, ^[6] and over the next few years the factory underwent significant modernization. ^[7] The glass business continued independently under the Vosz name (although its founder had died nearly 30 years previously), but became Clarkson Ltd in 1915, in response to anti-German sentiment.

In 1919, the Australasian United Paint Co was purchased for £40,000 by British Australian Lead Manufacturers, a consortium of British white lead manufacturers, with their Australian office in Melbourne ^[8] or in Sydney. ^[9] The company became BALM Paints In the 1950s, it opened a new factory and Central Research Labs in Clayton, Victoria.

Taking its cue from survey evidence that the Australian public had no idea what BALM Paints was, but that everyone knew Dulux, the company changed its name in 1971 to Dulux Australia.

By the 1990s, the Australian paint market was dominated by Wattyl, Taubmans and Dulux. ^[10]

Until 1997, Dulux Australia was a key player in the ICI Paints World Group, after which ICI informed ICI Australia of its intention to sell its 62% share in the company as part of raising the capital needed for acquisition of part of Unilever. The former ICI Australia became an independent company on 2 February 1998 and was named Orica. In Australia and New Zealand, Dulux was wholly owned by Orica until July 2010, when DuluxGroup was spun off as a separate company on the Australian Securities Exchange. Fairground Attraction's song "Perfect" was used for an advertisement on television.

Dulux Australia was formerly a major player in all paint markets (decorative, automotive, refinish, industrial, powder coatings), but sold off the technical markets (and the Clayton site) to PPG Industries, concentrating on decorative, woodcare and powder coatings, and moving to a new site on Dandenong Road, Clayton, previously owned by Pond's.

Television advertisements featured the Dulux Dog (Penny), and several hundred other Old English Sheepdogs, racing around collecting cricket stumps, drumsticks, wooden spoons, sticks, and other items, to stir a newly opened pot of Dulux "Wash and Wear" paint. ^[11] The accompanying music was "I Woke Up Today", by American band Port O'Brien, from the album "All We Could Do Was Sing". ^[12]

In August 2019, Dulux Group was acquired by Nippon Paint and delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange. ^{[13] [14]}

Dulux in Canada

The Dulux decorative paint business In Canada was sold to the PPG Architectural Coatings division of PPG Industries in December 2012.

Dulux Decorator Centre

In the United Kingdom, AkzoNobel operates the trade and retail store chain of Dulux Decorator Centre. There are now over 200 branches, predominantly in England, though there are also branches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ^[15]

Dulux Select Decorators

The Dulux Select Decorators scheme is a nationwide network of professional decorators. The concept was originated by Dulux in 1996 to assure consumers of high-quality work including a two-year guarantee supported by the leading paint manufacturing brand. ^[16]

Dulux Trade Contract Partnership

Dulux Trade Contract Partnership is a scheme for independently assessed, quality assured contractors. Dulux Trade Contract Partners undergo regular site visits by independent scheme assessors to monitor standards and to identify opportunities for improvement. ^[17]

Color of the Year

For more than 20 years, Dulux color experts have been studying global trends and creating the Color of the Year:

• 2025 - True Joy™ - Uplifting bright yellow colour ^[18]
• 2024 - Sweet Embrace™ - Delicate, soft pink colour ^[19]

Related Research Articles

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices.

Akzo Nobel N.V., stylised as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 150 countries. AkzoNobel is the world's third-largest paint manufacturer by revenue after Sherwin-Williams and PPG Industries.

The Old English Sheepdog is a large breed of dog that emerged in England from early types of herding dog. Obsolete names for the breed include Shepherd's Dog and bob-tailed sheep-dog. The nickname Bob-tail originates from how dogs of the breed traditionally had their tails docked. Old English Sheepdogs can grow very long coats with fur covering the face and eyes and do not shed unless brushed.

PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By revenue it is the largest coatings company in the world followed by Sherwin-Williams. It is headquartered in PPG Place, an office and retail complex in downtown Pittsburgh, and is known for its glass facade designed by Postmodern architect Philip Johnson.

Orica Limited is an Australian-based multinational corporation that is one of the world's largest providers of commercial explosives and blasting systems to the mining, quarrying, oil and gas, and construction markets, a supplier of sodium cyanide for gold extraction, and a specialist provider of ground support services in mining and tunnelling.

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Canadian Industries Limited, also known as C-I-L, is a Canadian chemicals manufacturer. Products include paints, fertilizers and pesticides, and explosives. It was formed in 1910 by the merger of five Canadian explosives companies. It was until recently a subsidiary of Imperial Chemical Industries until ICI was purchased by AkzoNobel.

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Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World is a 1973 British children's fantasy-adventure comedy film starring Jim Dale, and directed by Joseph McGrath. A large supporting cast of British movie stalwarts includes Spike Milligan, Angela Douglas, Norman Rossington, Milo O'Shea, Dinsdale Landen and Victor Spinetti. The production included composer Edwin Astley and cinematographer Harry Waxman. The film was based on the 1960 novel The Biggest Dog in the World by Ted Key.

Lucky Core Industries Limited, formerly known as ICI Pakistan, is a Pakistani conglomerate company headquartered in Karachi. It manufactures polyester, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, soda ash, and veterinary medicine.

Crown Paints is a major paint manufacturer based in Darwen, Lancashire. It is owned by Hempel Group.

Paint is a recyclable item. Latex paint is collected at collection facilities in many countries and shipped to paint-recycling facilities.

Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. is a Japanese paint and paint products manufacturing company. It is the world's fourth largest paint manufacturer, as measured by revenue in 2020.

Herbol is one of the oldest German brands for professional coatings. It has its origins in the Lackfabrik Herbig-Haarhaus that was founded in Cologne in 1844. The product range contains façade paints, interior wall paints, lacquers and glazing, crack reinforcement as well as concrete and floor system. The coatings systems are used for renovation, maintenance and new constructions. Since 1999 the brand Herbol is part of the Akzo Nobel Deco GmbH, an affiliate of the Dutch concern AkzoNobel, the world's biggest coatings manufacturer.

International Paint, abbreviated as International, is a brand of the Marine & Protective Coatings business unit of AkzoNobel.

Royal Talens is a Dutch company located in Apeldoorn that specializes in art materials. The company produces and markets its own products, apart from commercializing other licensed brands, such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Bruynzeel. Products commercialised include acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor paintings, brushes, markers, inks, pastels, pencils, pens, gouache, canvas, papers.

Glidden is an American paint brand, manufactured by PPG Industries.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., also known as simply Axalta, is an American company specializing in coatings in a wide variety of industrial applications, materials and sectors, including automotive paints. The company is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and incorporated in Bermuda. Axalta develops and manufactures coatings for light and commercial vehicles, industrial, and refinish applications. The firm does business in 130 countries, has nearly 13,000 employees, and has more than 100,000 customers.

The Stowmarket Guncotton Company was an explosives company established in the 19th century by Messrs Prentice that operated a gun-cotton factory in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England. The factory was the scene of an explosion in 1871 that claimed the lives of 28 people.

ResenePaints LTD is a New Zealand paint and building materials manufacturer and retailer.

References

External links

• Media related to Dulux at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website