Deciem Founder Brandon Truaxe's Career: A Timeline

Erin Lukas
Updated
Deciem Founder Brandon Truaxe's Career: A Timeline

Brandon Truaxe, the founder of Deciem, the cult-favorite Canadian skincare company, has passed away at age 40. The news was first reported by Vox on Jan. 21, with a Deciem executive confirming Truaxe's death in an email statement. Deciem has over 10 brands under its umbrella, but is mostly known for The Ordinary, an affordable line of skincare products.

Truaxe's passing comes months after he parted ways with the company he founded. In Oct. 2018, a Canadian judge ordered his removal from the company after Truaxe shared a series of erratic posts on the brand's Instagram account and abruptly shut down all Deciem business operations earlier that month.

Before Truaxe's behavior overshadowed how innovative Deciem is as a company, he was making headlines for launching a handful of brands at once.

Here, a detailed timeline on Truaxe's career and Deciem's evolution.

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2013: Truaxe, a computer programmer, founds Deciem with the tagline "The Abnormal Beauty Company." He infamously launches 10 sub-brands at once, including skincare, haircare, and beauty supplements.

2013-2017: The Toronto-based company expands rapidly opening multiple locations in Canadian cities and more than two dozen stores worldwide.

2016: The Ordinary, Deciem's most-popular brand launches.

2017: The Ordinary's first complexion products, a serum and full-coverage foundation arrive. These $7 makeup products generate a 25,000 person wait list before they even officially launch.

June 2017: Estee Lauder becomes a minority investor in Deciem.

November 2017: A selection of The Ordinary's line is now available at sephora.com.

January 2018: Even celebrities like Kim Kardashian are now fans of The Ordinary. In a post on her now defunct app, she revealed she uses one of the brand's best-selling products, the anti-aging Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion.

January 2018: Deciem opens its first US store location in New York City's Soho neighborhood, with plans to expand to other cities. The company also hired a US-based press team.

January 24, 2018: After some drama with another beauty brand, Drunk Elephant, Truaxe announced in a now-deleted video on Deciem's Instagram account that he was canceling all of the company's marketing plans and would take over its Instagram account, essentially using it as his own platform. At times, these posts and messages were erratic and disturbing, which caused the company's fans to begin worrying about Truaxe's health and the company's future.

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February 6, 2018: Truaxe cuts ties with Tijion Esho, a cosmetic doctor who he worked with to create Deciem's Esho lipcare brand. The Deciem founder announced the news on Deciem's Instagram account in a now-deleted post and reportedly, Esho was not informed prior to the public announcement.

February 22, 2018: Co-CEO Nicola Kilner was fired from Deciem. In the same week, chief financial officer Stephen Kaplan resigned.

March 25, 2018: Truaxe gets rid of the entire US Deciem team.

October 8, 2018: After months of continued confusing behavior on social media, Truaxe takes to Deciem's Instagram to announce that company is shutting down all operations indefinitely, effective immediately. By the next day, all of Deciem's retail locations were closed. Fans freaked out and began stocking up on their favorite products.

October 12, 2018: Estee Lauder seeks legal action against Truaxe. A Canadian judge removes Truaxe from the company and reinstates Kilner as CEO, who had re-joined the company since her February firing. The judge later orders a restraining order against Truaxe.

View this post on Instagram

We make beautiful products. But the reality is that before beautiful products, we are a team of beautiful humans with deep hearts invested so heavily and lovingly in DECIEM. This love is what makes weeks like the last one so difficult. Following the court ruling on Friday we have now reopened all stores, offices, factories and warehouses. Together, we are committed to serving our customers, partners and everyone involved in this journey to the best of our humble abilities, and we are ready for the next part of our story to begin. Brandon will always be the founder of DECIEM. We will take the passion and values he has instilled within us as we continue to grow the brands we have created with transparency, integrity, authenticity, function and design. Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts to each and every person who has continued to support our journey. We look forward to sharing what's to come with you. ?????

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 15, 2018 at 12:14pm PDT

November 2018: The company has its biggest month in sales, earning 27.3 million Canadian dollars.

December 2018-January 2019: In the weeks leading up to his death Truaxe posted several troubling videos on this personal Instagram account. A report by Canada's Financial Post reported that the Deciem founder had been hospitalized for mental health issues. He denied that he has any mental illnesses.

January 2019: The Ordinary re-launches at Sephora.com.

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