Top-level protection and design

LEONHARD KURZ joined forces with Kimberly-Clark Professional™ and an international team to develop a new design collection for hygiene dispensers. KURZ worked on the concept and design of the individual front panels for two years. Kimberly-Clark Professional™ hygiene dispensers set new standards in surface design and convenience with innovations and sustainability concepts.

Fighting bacteria and viruses

The front panels of the hand towel and soap dispensers can be provided with long-term antibacterial and antiviral protection. BIOFENSE^® AntiViral is used for this purpose. This innovative transparent coating is suitable for all plastic surfaces and gives bacteria and viruses no chance. The coating is integrated during the manufacturing process via In-Mold Decoration (IMD).

Highly efficient and cost-effective manufacturing using IMD

Conventional technologies usually mean compromising on costs, energy consumption, and carbon emissions - but not with the IMD process:

Producing a component using In-Mold Decoration is cheaper and more efficient compared to conventional technologies. Injection molding and finishing take place in a single work step in the IMD process. This makes the IMD process more sustainable, as energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and material amounts are kept as low as possible.

For the world of tomorrow

The front panels of the hygiene dispensers from the Kimberly-Clark Professional™ ICON™ system can be made from ABS plastic or recycled material

The paper used to fill the towel dispensers is plastic-free, comes from sustainable forestry, and is 100% recyclable. Used paper towels are collected and recycled through the RightCycle™ program

The paper towels compress well and come on rolls certified with the FSC label and the European Ecolabel, which protects the environment

Compared to conventional folding towels, roll towels use up to 33% less paper fibers per hand drying. Thanks to a dual sensor, the towel dispensers give out exactly the amount of paper towel required

Waste is minimized by the residual roll function, which allows refilling before the roll is empty. This achieves a product usage of 100%

What’s more, the hygiene dispensers have a long battery life: The towel dispenser can dispense more than 150,000 towels with one set of batteries. The soap dispenser has an efficient performance with up to 60,000 hand washes per dispenser battery

This means that the hygiene dispensers fit perfectly into our concept because sustainability is a top priority in all areas at KURZ.

Individual designs

KURZ’s front panel designs are available in six different variants. When creating the marble, cherry blossom, and ebony designs, the designers were inspired by nature. There is also a modern, classic design with a geometric pattern in black, white, or silver. Further design variations are in the pipeline. Wet rooms can be easily redesigned as the front panels are flexible and easy to replace.

Recognized with an IMDA Award

The In-Mold-Decorating Association (IMDA) is committed to developing in-mold products. Due to the front panels developed by KURZ, the Kimberly-Clark Professional™ hygiene dispenser collection has secured the coveted IMDA Award 2022 in the category ‘Best Use of IMD for Consumer Goods / Durable Products.’

Further information on the project and on the ICON™ hygiene dispenser series can be found in our in-depth KURZ Connects article.