# SC Johnson Professional ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Origin | United States | | Headquarters | Denby, UK (European headquarters; global HQ not stated on the site) | | Owner | SC Johnson | | Status | Active | | Previous names | Deb Group (the business brought into SC Johnson Professional in January 2019; UK legal entity was named Deb Group Limited until 23 Jan 2019) | | Manufacturing | Denby, Derbyshire, UK (main production site for skin-care products) | | Distribution | Salon & professional | | Website | https://www.scjp.com/de-de | SC Johnson Professional is the professional division of the American consumer-goods company SC Johnson. It supplies skin protection, hand cleansing, hand hygiene, skin care and surface cleaning products for workplaces, with industry, institutions such as offices and public buildings, and healthcare as its main customer groups. Unlike most beauty brands, it does not sell to individual shoppers; its creams, cleansers and dispensers are made for use at work. The division in its current form grew out of SC Johnson's purchase of the British occupational skin-care company Deb Group in 2015 [9]. It brings together several skin-care names with long histories in Europe, among them Deb Stoko, Swarfega and the German hand cream Stokolan, whose roots reach back to a soap works founded in nineteenth-century Krefeld. Its European headquarters and main skin-care factory are in Denby, England. The business is active, with new product launches and management appointments as recent as 2025. ## Origin & founders No founding date for SC Johnson Professional as a named organisation is published, and no individual founders are associated with it. Its modern shape comes from two steps. SC Johnson began what it calls its return to the professional market in 2015, when it acquired Deb Group, and on 17 January 2019 Deb Group was brought into an expanded SC Johnson Professional organisation [10]. In between, in 2016, SC Johnson announced a new line of SC Johnson Professional products at the ISSA/INTERCLEAN cleaning-industry conference in Chicago. The name should not be confused with an earlier business. In 1999 SC Johnson's commercial cleaning products and systems division was separated from the parent company to become a stand-alone firm called Johnson Wax Professional, later known as Diversey, Inc. [9]. That company is distinct from today's SC Johnson Professional. The skin-care side of the division carries older lineages. The German one begins with Philipp Traiser, a soap boiler from Württemberg, who set up a small soap factory on the edge of Krefeld. In 1879 the textile merchant Julius Stockhausen, from Lindlar, joined him, and together they founded the Crefelder Seifenfabrik Stockhausen & Traiser, which at first made soap for the local textile industry [5]. According to the company's own history, Stockhausen built a name over the following decades with soaps, grease removers and stain removers, some of them patented. The British lineage is Deb Group itself. The UK legal entity behind the division was incorporated in October 2003, traded as Deb Group Limited from December 2005, and took the name SC Johnson Professional Group Limited in January 2019; it is registered in Denby, Derbyshire [11]. The 2003 date belongs to that legal company and is not the origin of the Deb brand. ## History & milestones The Stockhausen firm, by then trading as Chemische Fabrik Stockhausen & Cie, first moved into skin protection in 1932. At the suggestion of a dermatologist it developed Praecutan, which the company describes as the first mildly acidic, soap-free skin cleanser, and from then on it focused increasingly on skin products for work [5]. SC Johnson Professional says Praecutan passed dermatological tests so well that it was for a time recommended as a bath additive for babies; a successor product is still sold. Stokolan followed in 1963 as a care cream for hands after work. Its packaging has changed many times, but the company states that it is still made on the original formula. The cream marked its 60th anniversary in 2023. Stockhausen's skin-protection business now belongs to SC Johnson Professional, although the date of that transfer is not published. The 2010s brought the corporate rebuild described above: the Deb Group purchase in 2015, the 2016 product-line announcement in Chicago and the 2019 integration. Reporting on the integration, the trade magazine Cleaning Matters quoted vice president Luis Zunzunegui, who said the division aimed to "re-think the professional experience" with the user in mind and expected the portfolio to keep expanding in markets around the world. More recent milestones are on a smaller scale. In December 2024 the German organisation introduced the Ecover range for professional users, and in June 2025 the division launched Phamosan, a hand-hygiene range for healthcare staff. ## Ownership SC Johnson Professional is wholly part of SC Johnson, a privately held, family-owned manufacturer of household cleaning and other consumer chemical products based in Racine, Wisconsin. The parent company traces its own history to 1886, and H. Fisk Johnson, chairman and chief executive since 2004, is the fifth generation of the Johnson family to lead it [9]. The division's nationality can be read in two ways. Its own website describes it as part of SC Johnson, which it says is based in the USA [8]. Its UK legal entity, the former Deb Group Limited, its European headquarters, its main skin-care factory and its global research and development team are all in Denby, England [11]. The brand name and ownership are therefore American, while much of the skin-care business it sells is made in Britain and has British and German roots. Besides its skin-care names, the division sells SC Johnson cleaning brands adapted for professional use, including Mr Muscle, Toilet Duck, Glade, Pronto/Pledge, Ecover and Method. ## Philosophy & positioning SC Johnson Professional presents itself as a partner to employers rather than only a product supplier. Its stated mission is "to support customers in creating safe and healthy environments for the people they care for, in a sustainable way." The company also says it is open about its ingredients and often tests beyond what the law requires. Much of its offer is service. It describes field sales teams in key European countries who work both with distributors and directly with end users, offering site surveys, free product trials, dispenser installation, training and hygiene audits. The aim, in the company's words, is to encourage good hand-care habits so that "everyone is invested in creating a better workplace." Its English-language tagline is "Your world means the world to us." ## Products & innovation The skin-care portfolio is divided into skin protection, skin cleansers, hand hygiene and skin care, sold alongside dispensers, air fresheners and surface and toilet cleaners. Brands named by the company include Deb Stoko, Swarfega, Stokolan, Stokoderm, Cutan and Arma, alongside Praecutan and the newer Phamosan. Stokolan is the best-documented line. The company calls it one of its most popular products. The range today covers six creams and gels for skin types from normal to very dry, and Stokolan Classic contains pharmaceutical lanolin and is meant to help the skin's barrier recover after work. All Stokolan products are free of silicone, which the company says makes them suitable for any production site where painting and surface-coating work is carried out. The whole series carries the seal of the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation (ECARF), which marks products that meet its criteria for being well tolerated by sensitive skin [5]. Swarfega is a hand cleanser sold in Orange, Extreme and Light versions. SC Johnson Professional says it was the first hand cleanser of its kind in the world [4], and the brand was recently given a new look. Phamosan, launched in June 2025, is a hand-hygiene and skin-protection range aimed at nurses and other healthcare workers, to help keep their hands from becoming dry, cracked or sore. On the technical side, the company describes its predecessors as the inventors of commercial foaming-soap dispenser systems and of mobile trigger sprays for surface cleaning, and says it holds many patents, though it does not name specific ones. ## Sustainability The division sums up its environmental approach as "Use less. Waste less. Recycle more." It says its main focus is plastics and product chemistry, where it can have the largest effect. For each ingredient, according to the company, it looks at safe concentrations, how the ingredient is likely to be used and where it may end up afterwards. Concrete steps described on its website include a Proline WAVE dispenser made from 70% recovered coastal plastic, meaning plastic collected on land near the sea in countries with high levels of uncollected waste. Its 2, 3.25 and 4 litre refill cartridges are made from a single plastic, HDPE, so they can be fully recycled. Many, though not all, of its products carry the EU Ecolabel. The Denby site runs on 100% renewable electricity, sends no waste to landfill and holds ISO 14001, 9001 and 50001 certification for environmental, quality and energy management [3]. ## Recognition The Denby site has received EcoVadis sustainability ratings, but the company's own pages give two different medal levels. A dated news item from September 2024 and the company's about pages report a gold medal, awarded for the third consecutive time in 2024 [6]. The body text of its German sustainability page instead refers to a bronze medal, placing the site among the top 35% of more than 150,000 rated companies, while a footnote on the same page states gold [3]. The gold rating is the more recent and more widely repeated of the two. ## Current status SC Johnson Professional is active. In June 2025 it launched the Phamosan healthcare range, and on 1 August 2025 Christopher Wicher became managing director of its German organisation as part of a plan the company calls "Strategie2030" [7]. In October 2025 it published commentary on the first global hand-hygiene guidelines for community settings, issued by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Its UK legal entity is listed as active on the British company register, with its latest confirmation statement dated May 2026. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1932 | Predecessor Chemische Fabrik Stockhausen & Cie (Krefeld) first moves into skin protection with Praecutan, a mildly acidic, soap-free skin cleanser developed at a dermatologist's suggestion (Stokolan/Stoko lineage). | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 | | 1963 | Stokolan skin-care cream launched; still made on the original formula per the brand. | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 | | 2015 | S. C. Johnson acquires Deb Group. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._C._Johnson_%26_Son | | 2015 | Deb Group acquired by S. C. Johnson (marks SC Johnson's return to the professional market). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._C._Johnson_%26_Son | | 2016 | SC Johnson announces a new line of SC Johnson Professional products at the ISSA/INTERCLEAN conference in Chicago. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._C._Johnson_%26_Son | | 2019 | 17 January 2019: Deb Group brought into an expanded SC Johnson Professional organisation. | https://www.cleaning-matters.co.uk/Deb-Group-brought-into-SC-Johnson-Professional | | 2019 | Deb Group integrated into an expanded SC Johnson Professional organisation (17 Jan 2019). | https://www.cleaning-matters.co.uk/Deb-Group-brought-into-SC-Johnson-Professional | | 2023 | Stokolan 60th anniversary. | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 | | 2024 | Denby site receives EcoVadis gold medal for the third consecutive time (27 Sep 2024); Ecover range launched for professional users in Germany (10 Dec 2024). | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news-search | | 2025 | Phamosan hand-hygiene range for healthcare launched (2 Jun 2025); Christopher Wicher appointed Geschäftsführer as of 1 Aug 2025 under 'Strategie2030' (German organisation). | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news/2025/managementwechsel-bei-sc-johnson-professional-weichenstellung-fur-die-zukunft | | — | Stockhausen skin-protection division (Praecutan/Stokolan lineage) now belongs to SC Johnson Professional; date of transfer not stated on the source. | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 | ## Certifications {#belagg-certifications} - **Ecarf (outside Controlled Vocab; Stokolan Series Only)** — “Alle Produkte der Stokolan®-Serie sind ECARF-zertifiziert1 und silikonfrei.” — https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 - **EU Ecolabel (outside Controlled Vocab; 'many' Products, NOT ALL)** — “Viele unserer Produkte sind mit dem EU-Umweltzeichen zertifiziert.” — https://www.scjp.com/de-de/ueber-uns/nachhaltigkeit ## Awards {#belagg-awards} | Year | Awards | Category | Source | |---|---|---|---| | 2024 | EcoVadis Gold Medal (Denby site, third consecutive time) | CSR / sustainability rating of the Denby, UK site | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news-search | | 2023 | EcoVadis Gold Medal (Denby site) | CSR / sustainability rating of the Denby, UK site | https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news-search | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Stokolan® (Classic) skin-care cream, launched 1963** — Stokolan®, eines unserer beliebtesten Produkte, wurde bereits 1963 auf den Markt gebracht. — https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 - **Praecutan® skin cleanser** — Auf Anregung eines Dermatologen wurde das erste schwachsaure und seifenfreie Hautreinigungsmittel entwickelt, dessen Nachfolger noch heute im Sortiment ist: Mit Praecutan® gelang dem Unternehmen bereits ein echter Coup — https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 - **Swarfega® hand cleansers (Orange, Extreme, Light)** — Swarfega® war der erste Handreiniger seiner Art weltweit. — https://www.scjp.com/de-de/swarfega - **Phamosan™ hand-hygiene range for healthcare (launched 2025)** — SC Johnson Professional führt Phamosan™ ein – eine neue Produktserie für die Handhygiene im Gesundheitswesen. — https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news-search ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} pharmaceutical lanolin (Stokolan Classic) Source: https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Cleaning Matters (UK cleaning/hygiene trade press)** (2019) — Reports Deb Group being brought into an expanded SC Johnson Professional organisation on 17 January 2019; quotes VP Luis Zunzunegui. — https://www.cleaning-matters.co.uk/Deb-Group-brought-into-SC-Johnson-Professional - **Wikipedia (S. C. Johnson & Son article)** — Records the 2015 Deb Group acquisition and the 2016 announcement of an SC Johnson Professional product line at ISSA/INTERCLEAN Chicago. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._C._Johnson_%26_Son ## Sources 3. (T2) https://www.scjp.com/de-de/ueber-uns/nachhaltigkeit 4. (T2) https://www.scjp.com/de-de/swarfega 5. (T2) https://www.scjp.com/de-de/aktuelles/kampagnen/stokolan-60 6. (T2) https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news-search 7. (T2) https://www.scjp.com/de-de/news/2025/managementwechsel-bei-sc-johnson-professional-weichenstellung-fur-die-zukunft 8. (T2) https://www.scjp.com/en-gb/about-us 9. (T3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._C._Johnson_%26_Son 10. (T3) https://www.cleaning-matters.co.uk/Deb-Group-brought-into-SC-Johnson-Professional 11. (T4) https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04934334 --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-13 Please cite with a link to the article URL.