Private company

Durex

Logo: Durex - upload: Giov.c, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

British condom brand

Durex is a British brand of condoms and personal lubricants owned by Reckitt Benckiser. It was initially developed in London under the purview of the London Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured between 1932 and 1994. The London Rubber Company was formed in 1915, and the Durex brand name ("Durability, reliability, and excellence") was launched in 1929, although London Rubber did not begin manufacturing own-brand condoms until 1932, in collaboration with a rubber technology student from Poland named Lucian Lundau.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Feb 20, 2005Founded1

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Condom box durex
Photo: Tomhannen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons5

Durex is a British brand of condoms and personal lubricants owned by Reckitt Benckiser. It was initially developed in London under the purview of the London Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured between 1932 and 1994. The London Rubber Company was formed in 1915, and the Durex brand name ("Durability, reliability, and excellence") was launched in 1929, although London Rubber did not begin manufacturing own-brand condoms until 1932, in collaboration with a rubber technology student from Poland named Lucian Lundau.2

Products and brands

China

Although condoms are not a widely used form of contraception in China, with only around 10% of sexually active people using them, among Chinese condom users Durex has a dominant market share of 45% as of 2015. Due to a relatively conservative culture surrounding sex, Durex's marketing in China is often indirect and subtle, often involving lighthearted humour. Marketing is done almost exclusively on social media. Durex has operated an account on the microblogging site Weibo in 2011, which had 2.65 million followers and more than 20,000 posts as of 2018. Durex targets Chinese users on Sina Weibo aged from 20 to 40, and primarily men under 35 years old. In 2011, Durex began cross-industry advertising tie-ins with the antivirus software company Trend Micro, using the common themes of "antivirus" and "security".

From Wikipedia’s article on Durex, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Jul 2010Acquired Acquired by Reckitt1
  2. Feb 20, 2005Founded Founded1

Sources

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