ChapStick is a brand name of lip balm owned by Suave Brands Company and is used in many countries worldwide. It is intended to help treat and prevent chapped lips, hence the name. Many varieties also include sunscreen to avoid sunburn.
Due to its popularity, the term has become a genericized trademark. It popularly refers to any lip balm contained in a lipstick-style tube and applied in the same manner as lipstick. However, the term is still a registered trademark, with rights exclusively owned by Suave Brands Company.
ChapStick generated $142million in revenue in 2023.[1]
History
In the early 1880s, Charles Browne Fleet,[2] a physician and pharmacological thinker from Lynchburg, Virginia, invented ChapStick as a lip balm product. The handmade product, which resembled a wickless candle wrapped in tin foil, was sold locally and did not have much success.[3]