The Kiwi Icon that isn’t

Kiwi shoe polish has been part of our homes for over 100 years. Men would take out their work shoes once a week and give them a good shine.
But now, Kiwi polish is gone. No longer being made. And the irony is, it's not even a New Zealand product.
Australian William Ramsey developed the polish in 1906 in a two room factory in Melbourne.
William was born in Glasgow on June 6, 1868, to Margaret and John Ramsey. The family (William had several brothers) emigrated to Australia in 1878 where John became a real estate agent and did very well.
In 1901, William set up a factory in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne with business partner Hamilton McKellar and began producing disinfectants, polishes and creams.
Three years later the factory moved to Elizabeth Street and it was there they began producing a shoe polish that William called Kiwi shoe polish. It was made using both traditional recipes but William and Hamilton improved it.
William began promoting it by loading it in a cart and hawking it to farmers around the region.
And the reason he called it Kiwi?
He had spent some time in New Zealand where he met and married his wife Annie Elizabeth Meek in Oamaru in 1901. He called it Kiwi in honour of Annie’s New Zealand heritage.
Over time Kiwi became the dominant shoe polish in many countries and was used by US and British soldiers in World War One.
It was considered a major improvement on other brands as it preserved shoe leather, promoted shine and restored colour.
The word and the use of a kiwi logo travelling round the world helped promote the use of the word to mean New Zealanders.
The company was owned by various corporations over the last few decades, including Sara Lee and then S C Johnson.
For most of its product life it was estimated Kiwi shoe polish held 53 percent of the world’s market.
Then in December 2022 S C Johnson left the shoe polish market citing changes in society - the trend toward softer and more casual shoes and the work from home trend during the COVID pandemic meant traditional work shoes, especially for men, were not so prevalent.
William died on September 14, 1914 at his home. His wife took over as chair of the company until 1933.
Both are buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.​