Kleenex tissues will soon be gone from stores in Canada

Longtime tissue brand, Kleenex, will no longer be sold in Canada.

The brand is so well-known that many Canadians refer to a tissue as a “Kleenex.”

But Kimberly-Clark, the parent company of Kleenex, announced on its website that, after decades in Canada, they won’t be selling the tissues here any longer.

“Thank you so much for your loyalty to our Kleenex brand facial tissues for the past few decades,” reads a statement on the company’s website. “We appreciate you allowing us in your households and want you to know how difficult it was for us to end our sales in Canada.”

The company told news outlets that the decision was difficult but they faced challenges with supply and “unique complexities” in the tissue business.

The decision will allow the company to focus on other brands in Canada.

Kleenex brand hand towels and other Kimberly-Clark brands, including Contonelle, U by Kotex, Poise, Depend, Huggies, Pull-Ups, and Goodnites will continue to be available to Canadian customers, according to the website.

Kleenex got its start in the United States in the 1920s, according to the website. During the First World War Kimberly-Clark developed a crepe paper used as a filter within gas masks.

Then in the early 1920s that same crepe paper was adapted into Kotex Brand menstrual products.

In 1924, Kimberly-Clark changed the product’s composition making it thinner and softer and re-naming it Kleenex Brand. The tissues were first sold in the United States as a cold cream and makeup remover.

It wasn’t until 1929 that the tissues were thought of as an alternative to cloth handkerchiefs. The head researcher at Kimberly-Clark suffered from hay fever and started using the tissues.

“This idea really took off and sales doubled in the first year,” according to the website.