The Best Deodorant In The World Is About to Get Even Better
FREDERICTON – The founders of The Best Deodorant In The World say their product will be even better when they do a relaunch this spring after working through a family health scare.
Founded in Fredericton in 2009, The Best Deodorant in the World makes sustainable, natural, organic and cruelty-free deodorant. For several years it was making sales worldwide.
The company was started by a family that was looking to make some big lifestyle changes.
“We started changing everything in our life. We were at a point in our life where we were not healthy at all,” says co-founder and CEO Margaux Khoury. “We weren’t eating well. We weren’t paying attention to anything in our environment that we now know causes us to be sick.”
So Khoury and her husband, Joshua Bruce David, started changing everything their family used, from food to personal care products. There was one thing they couldn’t find – a natural deodorant that worked.
“We stopped using deodorant completely, and for an active family like ours, that was a pretty stinky endeavour. We needed to find something fast,” says Khoury. “So we decided to make our own deodorant basically out of ingredients we know neutralize odor and absorb sweat.”
At the time, Khoury says she didn’t see the deodorant as a business opportunity.
“I still remember mixing the stuff on the stove, carrying my first baby and being pregnant with my second baby,” she says. “It was totally just for our family.”
Then others started trying it.
“My friends loved it. Everyone loved it and encouraged us to get it into some local stores, which to our surprise all sold out of it really quickly. We found out there was a desperate demand natural deodorant,” says Khoury.
“That’s when we decided to make a go at it. Create a company, get the labelling needed, do all those things we’ve learned so much about over the last few years.”
The company quickly started getting sales both locally and internationally. The product was getting a lot of attention, including from the organizers of the 2015 Golden Globes.
“We got an email one day saying, ‘hey we heard about your product’ and I didn’t really even pay attention to it. Then they wrote us again and we ended up in the bags at the Golden Globes,” says Khoury.
“So we’ve been on a lot of famous arm pits, haha. Everyone who won that year, received our product.”
They have refused the invitation to attend the Oscars and Golden Globes since then, due to production. Their greatest challenge has always been keeping the deodorant in stock. It sells faster than their current manufacturing facility can make it. They decided they needed outside investments and partners.
Things were going well for the company until two years ago. David, the company’s other co-founder and chief marketing officer, had developed lumps on his chest and needed to get them removed.
“So they decided to operate. It’s kind of crazy, but he almost actually didn’t make it because they had to operate on him two times in a week,” says Khoury.
After that scary ordeal, the couple decided that it was time for them to take a break from the business for a while.
“It made us reconsider everything because he almost didn’t really make it,” says Khoury. “We said, ‘that’s it.’ We came to a really difficult decision to shut our company down completely. No sales. Just shut it down.”
But now after taking some time off, they decided to bring The Best Deodorant In The World back to the market, but this time with a complete rebrand.
We thought about it and we decided to completely rebrand it,” says Khoury. “Completely revolutionize it from the ground up to where it is now.”
The new Best Deodorant has a 100 per cent biodegradable paperboard packaging, while before, the product was sold in a tin. The company is now plastic free, even the shipping materials they use contain no plastic.
They also reinvented the formula.
“As for the product itself, we hired an expert formulator. She has 33 years experience and she and I sat down for six months to reformulate and make it the best,” says Khoury. “Because before, it was just a deodorant that worked, but the with the other deodorants out there, we wanted to go above and beyond.”
She says the new deodorant is in the manufacturing stage and the company is currently meeting with investors.
“We’re interviewing investors who’ve reached out to us because we have been bootstrapping it and we’ve been funding it ourselves,” she says. “Finally it’s time to haul in some investors and bring partners into the company.”
They are also starting an Indigogo campaign on March 19 with a launch party at Fredericton’s Planet Hatch. Khoury says the funds from this campaign will go towards salaries, production costs and travelling to trade shows.
The family has moved around a bit since 2009, including to Costa Rica and British Columbia. They moved back to their hometown Fredericton last year and Khoury says they are looking forward to re-establishing the company in New Brunswick.
“I really love New Brunswick. It’s home and I really see us bringing manufacturing back here as well,” she says. “We’re working with Opportunities New Brunswick and different local organizations to be able to bring full-scale manufacturing back here and to be able to employ several people.”
The company has received some funding from Ignite Fredericton and recently appointed a president and chief operating officer. They also recently auditioned for CBC’s Dragons’ Den producers.
“We’re making sure to target all the angles for funding this company. Because in my heart it’s really not just about deodorant anymore,” says Khoury. “It’s about showing the world we can build a massive and successful company without harming our earth, bodies or animals.”
The Best Deodorant In The World is expected to be back on shelves and sold online sometime in the spring. Khoury says the goal is to be in 1,500 stores in two years.