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Deciem, the upstart Canadian company behind the hugely popular The Ordinary Skin Care line, has closed its blinds because of what the chief executive says is criminal activity within the company.
But Brandon Truaxe – who also founded the company – has made outlandish claims in the past.
Headquartered in Toronto, Deciem makes more than 300 skin care products under 10 different product lines. It is best known for a line called The Ordinary.
Calling itself "The Abnormal Beauty Company," is one of the most disruptive operators in the beauty business, mainly because of its low prices.
Most of Deciem's products cost less than $ 12, and some less than $ 5 – price points are unheard of elsewhere in the beauty industry, where markups can be as high as 80 to 90 percent.
The Ordinary beauty line also offers simple ingredients and relatively modest benefit claims. The disruptive approach has been decelerated to $ 300 million in annual sales, and enticed Estée Lauder Companies to invest in Deciem in June 2017, buying a 28 per cent stake.
Despite that surging popularity, however, the company is abruptly announced on Monday that it was closing up shop, for now.
"We will shut down all operations until further notice," said Deciem founder Brandon Truaxe in a video posted on Instagram.
Truaxe appeared to say the shutdown would be last two months.
Calls to all of Deciem's Eastern Canadian locations rank unanswered until a central recorded greeting eventually said no one is available to answer your call.
Truaxe did not return calls or texts from CBC News.
In the video, Truaxe said the closures were due to widespread criminal activities within the company.
"Almost everyone at Deciem has been involved in major crimes, including financial crimes and much else," he said.
CEO Brandon Truaxe is known for controversial social media posts. (Bill Arnold / CBC)
Deciem has more than 20 stores in five countries – and 18 more under construction – but in an interview this year, Truaxe told CBC News 75 percent of the company's online sales.
This is a website that you can find on this website with credit card billing.
The video is the latest in a series of rambling, often incoherent posts that Truaxe – who took over the corporate social media accounts in February – has made on Instagram.
The posts prompted company followers and the fans of the Ordinary to question whether or not Truaxe was mentally ill or on drugs.
In June, Truaxe told the CBC there was nothing to worry about.
Beauty writer Cheryl Wischhover says Truaxe has been attacked before. (Sean Conaboy / CBC)
In that same interview, Truaxe hinted at wrongdoings within Deciem, but rather than talk specifics, he launched into metaphor.
"If you go down in the basement and you hear rats, the best news is that you can get there." Truaxe said. "The worst news is that you can get your hands on it."
The problem has been raised in the past by the questioning of whether or not it is "screwed up" – as it is proudly proclaimed on Deciem's website – or whether it is all part of an elaborate marketing scheme.
"It's done this thing before," said Cheryl Wischhover, who writes about the beauty industry for Racked. Truaxe has also hinted that if things have not been improved, Deciem, the company was helped in 2013.
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