Vim is the name of a range of household cleaning products originally produced by Lever Brothers

Lever Brothers

Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...

. The Vim brand is currently owned by European multi-national Spotless Group

Spotless Group

Spotless Group SAS is a pan-European manufacturer of household cleansing and laundry products, based in Paris, France. Spotless Group has subsidiary operations in 8 European states, employing over 400 people in Ireland, Sweden, Hungary, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands...

.

History

Vim scouring powder, one of the first products created by William Lever, first appeared on the market in 1904, an offshoot of Monkey Brand scouring soap. The name is thought to derive from the colloquial English word "vim" which has the same meaning as the Latin vis, vim ("force", "vigour").

Vim was produced at Port Sunlight

Port Sunlight

Port Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...

 near Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England. The name Vim remained solely associated with the scouring powder until 1993 when a range of associated products was released.

Former owner Unilever

Unilever

Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....

 abandoned Vim in favour of rival product Jif

Cif

Cif is a brand of household cleaning products by Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif is the largest selling abrasive cleaner product in the world.-History:...

, although it was still sold in some other European countries.

In 2004 it was sold to the Italian Guaber group. Vim is currently owned by Spotless Group

Spotless Group

Spotless Group SAS is a pan-European manufacturer of household cleansing and laundry products, based in Paris, France. Spotless Group has subsidiary operations in 8 European states, employing over 400 people in Ireland, Sweden, Hungary, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands...

, although it is still marketed by Unilever in Canada.

Vim is often referred to in John Mortimer

John Mortimer

Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...

's Rumpole of the Bailey

Rumpole of the Bailey

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...

 series as an example of the extravagant purchases made by his wife, referred to as "She Who Must Be Obeyed".

Applications

The artist Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (painter)

Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...

is reputed to have used Vim as a substitute for toothpaste.