Perspirex

Perspirex is a Danish antiperspirant brand introduced in 1979 by Claus Riemann, the founder of Riemann A/S [1]. It specialises in clinical antiperspirants aimed at people with heavy or excessive sweating, and its products are manufactured in Denmark and sold through pharmacies, drugstores and grocery stores. Since 2017 the brand has been owned by the Norwegian consumer-goods group Orkla, which acquired Riemann's parent company [7].

The brand began with a personal problem. According to the company, Claus Riemann developed Perspirex the same year he founded Riemann A/S, creating it for his sister Bodil, who suffered from excessive sweating of the feet [6]. That condition, known medically as hyperhidrosis, remains the brand's central focus, and much of its material is built around helping people manage sweating that goes beyond the ordinary.

Perspirex traces its origins to 1979 and to Claus Riemann, described by the parent company as a founder driven by the goal of making products with an "objectively identifiable effect." The same year, Riemann also launched the sun-protection product Riemann P20, and the two brands have remained linked ever since.

The Perspirex story is closely tied to Riemann's sister, Bodil. The company recounts that she suffered from excessive foot perspiration, and that Riemann set out to solve her problem — an origin the brand still cites as the reason it concentrates on functional, problem-solving skin care rather than conventional deodorants.

Perspirex is operated by Riemann A/S, a Danish company based in Hillerød with more than 60 employees. In 2017 Riemann Holding A/S — the company behind both the Perspirex and P20 brand names — was acquired by Orkla, which describes itself as the leading branded consumer-goods company in the Nordics [6]. Orkla purchased the business through its Orkla Care unit and incorporated it into its financial statements from 1 June 2017 [7]. The acquisition was managed under Orkla's Home & Personal Care division, which the trade press noted held a strong position in the sun-protection and antiperspirant markets [7].

At the time of the acquisition, roughly 90 percent of Riemann Holding's turnover was generated by exports to other European markets. Within Orkla, Perspirex sits alongside sister brands including Riemann P20, as well as others in the group's personal-care portfolio.

Perspirex positions itself as a problem solver for people who sweat more than most. The company frames its purpose around identifying "unsolved needs" and taking them seriously, and states its ambition to become "the preferred problem solver within functional skin care." It also addresses the social side of heavy sweating, saying that too many people carry a stigma around the condition and that it wants to help them embrace their bodies "with all its perfection and imperfections."

On its own site the brand presents itself as a "doctor-recommended first line of treatment for excessive sweating," and summarises its promise in the tagline "Apply at night, protects for days, works for life." The educational parts of its site frame excessive sweating as a common and manageable issue, covering causes ranging from hyperhidrosis to hormonal change.

The Perspirex range is organised by strength, with numbered protection levels. Its core underarm products include Perspirex Comfort (Level 8), Perspirex Original (Level 9) and Perspirex Strong (Level 10), alongside men's variants and dedicated Hand and Foot products for localised sweating. The products are designed to be applied at night and washed off in the morning.

The active ingredient across the range is aluminium chloride. The company explains that it works by forming a temporary gel plug inside the sweat ducts, reducing the amount of sweat that reaches the skin's surface; the plug is then shed naturally within three to five days as the skin renews itself. By blocking sweat, the products also remove the moisture that feeds odour-causing bacteria.

To limit the irritation that aluminium chloride can cause, Perspirex builds a skin-care system into its formulas. Several variants use calcium lactate to balance the skin's low pH and reduce the risk of irritation, while the Comfort variant adds biosaccharide gum-1, which the brand associates with skin renewal and barrier support. The company says that despite using a lower concentration of aluminium than some competing antiperspirants, tests have shown significantly higher efficacy [2]. It states that its formulas are clinically proven to reduce perspiration and control odour, offering protection for up to five days for underarm products and up to three days for hand and foot products [2].

Perspirex is a niche brand rather than a mass-market one, and independent coverage is limited. In a 2026 ranking of antiperspirants for heavy sweating published by Carpe — itself an antiperspirant brand — Perspirex was described as "a European clinical antiperspirant" designed for multi-day dryness of roughly three to five days per application [8]. That article attributed a concentration of 15 percent aluminium chloride to the products [8]; the brand's own site does not confirm a specific percentage and instead emphasises that it deliberately uses a lower concentration than many rivals [2].

Perspirex is active. Its website carries a current product range and a 2026 copyright, and the brand remains part of Orkla [4]. The company describes it as a market-leading niche brand with an international footprint, though the reported number of markets varies slightly between sources: the Perspirex site states sales in "almost 50 markets worldwide" [1], while the parent company's site records "over 40 markets worldwide" [6]. Production continues in Denmark, where the company says it manufactures millions of units of antiperspirant each year.