Ontex

What Ontex does

Ontex is a Belgian personal hygiene manufacturer founded in 1979 and listed on Euronext Brussels. The company produces baby care, feminine care, and adult incontinence products, including proprietary platforms such as Dreamshield 360, Orizon (a smart incontinence system developed with Henkel), and the Sensitive line. Its offering spans both retailer private-label and branded SKUs, with the company stating it is trusted by over 35 million end users across more than 110 countries.

Ontex operates 11 production facilities across 10 countries supported by 5 R&D centers and a workforce of approximately 5,000 employees. Its sustainability profile includes EcoVadis Gold status and the development of bio-based polymer materials. The company also maintains a North American manufacturing footprint, with facilities in Tijuana and Stokesdale, alongside its European core.

The business model is wholesale B2B2C: Ontex supplies private-label and branded hygiene products to retailers, healthcare institutions, and channel partners, and earns revenue primarily on volume-based manufacturing contracts. Following a €174M net loss in FY2025 (revenue €1,762M, down 4.9%), Ontex divested its Brazil and Turkey businesses and launched the 'Focus to Value' transformation program targeting €240M of run-rate EBITDA savings by 2028. New CEO Laurent Nielly and CFO Stéphane Re are leading the portfolio simplification and margin-recovery effort.

Name

Ontex

Legal name

Ontex BV

Website

https://ontex.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Ontex is a Belgian personal hygiene manufacturer that produces baby care, feminine care, and adult incontinence products for retailers and healthcare institutions across more than 110 countries, operating 11 production facilities and 5 R&D centers with roughly 5,000 employees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personal Hygiene Products

NAICS

Toilet Preparation Manufacturing (32562)

SIC

Women's, Misses', Children's & Infants' Undergarments (2340)

akta.pro primary industry

Incontinence Products (Adult & Baby Diapers/Training Pants) (IMAMAGAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Adult Incontinence Products (CRADALAF)

Keywords

• Personal hygiene products
• Baby diapers manufacturing
• Adult incontinence products
• Feminine hygiene products
• Absorbent hygiene manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

Aalst

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Personal Care Products: Manufacturing and sale of personal care products across three categories: baby care (diapers, baby pants), feminine care (sanitary protection), and adult care/incontinence products. Revenue generated through direct B2B sales to retailers and healthcare providers.
2. Smart Device Systems: Smart incontinence management solutions including hardware (sensors) and software (monitoring platform/app). Revenue derived from healthcare facility deployments of the Orizon system.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Ontex manufactures and sells personal hygiene products across three core categories: baby care (diapers, baby pants including Dreamshield 360° Night Pants), feminine care (sanitary protection products), and adult care (incontinence products including the new Sensitive line). The company also offers Orizon, an IoT-enabled smart incontinence management solution co-developed with Henkel, sold primarily through B2B sales to retailers and healthcare providers in Europe and North America.

Product overview

Ontex is an international developer and producer of personal care products with three core product categories: Baby Care (diapers, baby pants), Feminine Care (sanitary products), and Adult Care (incontinence products for healthcare and retail). The company operates 11 production facilities and 5 R&D centers across 10 countries, serving customers in over 100 countries. Ontex also offers the Orizon smart incontinence solution, an IoT-enabled system developed in partnership with Henkel that uses sensor technology for automated moisture detection in care facilities. The product portfolio is sold primarily to retailers and healthcare providers, with a focus on the European and North American markets following the strategic divestment of Emerging Markets and Turkey businesses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Orizon: Smart incontinence management solution using sensors with Henkel's conductive ink technology to automatically detect moisture in incontinence products, transmitting data to a digital platform for caregivers
• Dreamshield 360 Night Pants
• Sensitive

Products and services

• Baby Care Products Baby diapers, baby pants (training pants), and related infant hygiene products including the Dreamshield 360° Night Pants sub-brand for overnight protection, sold to retailers and consumers via retail partners.
• Adult Care Products Adult incontinence care products including disposable diapers, pads, and related hygiene products for elderly and incontinence patients, sold to healthcare institutions, long-term care facilities, and retailers across Europe and North America.
• Feminine Care Products Feminine hygiene products including sanitary pads and related personal care items for women, sold to retailers.
• Orizon Smart Incontinence Solution IoT-enabled smart diaper system that automatically detects moisture using sensors with Henkel's conductive graphite-based ink technology and alerts caregivers via a digital app, designed for long-term care facilities to reduce physical checks, save caregiver time, and reduce material consumption.
• Sensitive Incontinence Product Line Skin-friendly incontinence care products designed to address skin irritation and dermatitis affecting nearly 50% of incontinence users, launched initially through healthcare institutions with nurse-advisor support.
• Dreamshield 360 Night Pants Baby pants (pull-up diapers) designed for extended overnight protection, offering up to 12 hours of leak-free sleep with enhanced absorbency and sustainability features.

Quantifiable outcome

• Healthcare facilities can save approximately 8 working hours per resident per month through automated moisture detection
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Henkel (Digital Hygiene Solutions)coreTechnology or Integration · 26 March 2026Henkel's Digital Hygiene Solutions division and Ontex are jointly driving the European rollout of Orizon, a smart incontinence management solution for long-term care facilities. The technology, developed by Ontex, uses sensors with Henkel's conductive graphite-based ink to automatically detect moisture in incontinence products and alert caregivers via an app. The collaboration enables savings of approximately 8 working hours per resident per month and reduces material consumption by up to 20%.

Scale indicators23 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Essity: Swedish global hygiene and health company operating TENA (adult incontinence), Libresse/Libra (feminine care), and baby diapers; one of Ontex's most direct global competitors across all three of Ontex's core categories with comparable B2B retailer and healthcare distribution model.
• Drylock Technologies: European private-label absorbent hygiene specialist (baby diapers, adult incontinence, feminine care) competing head-to-head with Ontex in private-label and retailer-brand contracts across Europe.
• Abena: Danish family-owned manufacturer of adult incontinence and baby care products; particularly comparable to Ontex in the healthcare-institution channel for incontinence and in European private-label tenders.
• Domtar Personal Care: U.S.-based subsidiary of Paper Excellence that produces baby diapers, adult incontinence, and feminine care products; direct competitor in North American retail and private-label contracts.

Broad incumbents

• Kimberly-Clark: U.S.-based multinational FMCG giant with Huggies (baby), Depend/POISE (adult incontinence), and Kotex/U by Kotex (feminine care); substantially larger incumbent that competes with Ontex in retailer tenders and brand-led baby care categories.
• Procter & Gamble: Global FMCG leader with Pampers (baby), Always (feminine), and a smaller adult care portfolio; competes against Ontex across baby and feminine care categories with far greater scale and brand power.

Regional players

• Unicharm: Japanese hygiene products leader (Mamy Poko baby, Lifree adult incontinence); comparable product portfolio but primarily focused on Asia, increasingly expanding to other regions and adjacent to Ontex in product architecture and innovation approach.
• Hayat Kimya: Turkish personal care manufacturer (Molfix baby diapers, Molped feminine care, Evony adult incontinence); comparable product mix and emerging-market positioning though focused primarily on Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
• TZMO: Polish personal hygiene manufacturer (Seni adult incontinence, Bella feminine hygiene, Happy baby diapers); comparable product categories with strong Central/Eastern European presence overlapping with Ontex's manufacturing geographies.

Emerging players

• CMPC Softys: Latin American personal care subsidiary of CMPC that acquired Ontex's Brazilian business in September 2024 for $124M; directly comparable product portfolio (baby, feminine, adult) and now occupies the geographic and category footprint Ontex vacated.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/ontex
• Facebookfacebook.com/ontexgroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ontex
• Instagraminstagram.com/ontex_official

Compliance17 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ontex