07.02.2021
Lux International is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year
This year, on the 19th February 2021, Lux International will celebrate its 120th anniversary. For us, this period is about looking back proudly on our journey and defining the years ahead of us. Lux AB's roots go back to Sweden, where the foundation of the company was laid in 1901, then mainly producing kerosene lamps. The name of the company is therefore associated with the word Lux, i.e. “light” derived from the Latin word “Lux”. With the spread of electric lighting, the company was forced to look for a new area of business, a new product.
When we started our journey as a company, we played a pioneering role in the start of vacuum cleaner manufacturing. We have been innovators with our products in creating a clean home, a healthy environment. For 120 years, we have been partners to “Your Partner for a healthy life”, as our slogan says.
The history of our brand's iconic product, our vacuum cleaner, also dates back to these early years.
In 1912, the first electric vacuum cleaner called the Lux I was introduced. The merger with the Swedish Elektromekaniska AB in 1916 resulted in the creation of the well-known world brand, Electrolux. In 1919, Electrolux began selling the Lux I vacuum cleaner in Europe. The history of Lux and Electrolux went hand-in-hand until 1998. At this point of time, Electrolux sold the entire business to Reinhard von der Becke, who restructured it and sold off the business in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2005, Lux International AG entered a Joint Venture agreement with India-based Eureka Forbes. The purpose was to jointly explore more international markets in Asia, Europe and Africa. This cooperation was restructured in 2009 and led to a phased step-in by Eureka Forbes into the share capital of Lux International AG. In 2011, Eureka Forbes acquired a first part of 25%, and subsequently the remaining 75% in 2013.
The cooperation with our parent company is based on our common values, vision and mission. Eureka Forbes has also been committed to health, hygiene and safety since 1982. The cornerstone of the success of the large Indian company is people, society and to create a better world. Eureka Forbes, similarly to Lux, has always been proud to not only make the lives of its customers easier and liveable with its products but to provide careers, professional training and a vision for many of its employees.
Today, Lux International is one of the world's leading direct sales companies in the consumer goods sector, conducting direct sales activities in more than 30 countries. The company has been a proud member of Direct Sales associations in many countries around the world for decades.
The expertise and reputation of Lux rest on its twelve decades of tradition and experience in selling “home appliances” as well as on its Swiss engineering expertise.
Urs Meier, CEO of Lux International, said the company has been driven since its inception by a commitment to create healthy homes. Looking back at the history of Lux, we find several iconic products in the portfolio, such as the Lux Intelligence vacuum cleaner or the Aeroguard series of the air cleaner product line, but there is also the steam cleaner stars, Ecolux and Ecoprof.
Finally, there is a proven experience in water purification, represented by the Waterguard product line. Furthermore, Lux has developed the WELITY sleeping comfort product family. In the coming years, the Lux brand aims to continue to expand its product portfolio while carrying on this success story.
Still as of today, courage, determination and a good amount of pioneering spirit characterises the employees of Lux, which also led our founder Axel Wenner-Gren and the Swedish engineer, Sven Carlstedt at the time when the Lux I vacuum cleaner was designed and launched in 1912, and when they laid down the foundations of the 120-year success story of the Lux brand.
Dreams, quality without compromises, a unique sales model – these have all paved the way for Lux’s international recognition and made it possible to identify Lux products with outstanding quality and performance for generations to this day.
Thanks to the direct sales model, we can provide our customers and clients with a tailor-made solution. Maintaining a relationship with our customers does not end with the sale of the product. We are one of the companies for whom it is important to keep in touch with our customers. So we not only sell our products but also put them into operation, show their use and monitor the fulfilment of the necessary services and filter replacements.
The successor to the Lux I vacuum cleaner is today’s S115 version, which owes its reputation to its durability, toughness and outstanding performance. Since then, in addition to the vacuum cleaner, our company’s product portfolio has been permanently expanding with new product categories such as steam cleaning, air cleaning, sleeping comfort, water treatment and our B2B products for companies. We can address customers with respiratory diseases - those with allergies, asthma -, and on effective disinfection, filtering out contaminants and microorganisms harmful to health from air and drinking water.
We have been committed to the environment from the very beginning, and our devices enable environmentally friendly chemical-free cleaning. An example is our Waterguard water purifiers which not only allow the whole family to consume healthy and clean water but also produce less plastic waste.
Lux is headquartered in Wallisellen, Switzerland, in the north of Zurich. Lux's main products are made in Poland, Hungary and Italy, based on Swiss design. In addition to our more than 12 decades of a European presence, our Latin American presence is also growing stronger year by year, headed by our operations since many years in Ecuador and Paraguay, but with a stronger focus on more Central American markets.
We are proud of our long-term partnerships and the success of our partners. The company aims to continue its success story in the years to come. To this end, Lux's product range will be further expanded, primarily with the launch of a new generation air and water purifiers and robotic vacuum cleaners, which continue to support disinfection and the creation of a healthy and clean environment at every customers home.
