The Ordinary is a budget-friendly skincare brand that focuses on active ingredients and transparent formulas. They're the pioneer of effective skincare that's also affordable, and they're currently available in for sale in many different locations including Sephora and Ulta.
Deciem is The Ordinary's parent company, and Estée Lauder is acquiring the totality of the company which includes 5 other brands besides The Ordinary.
If you don't purchase from brand that are owned by a parent company that tests on animals, this news shouldn't change your purchasing habits.
The Ordinary was already on our list of cruelty-free brands owned by a parent company that tests on animals, since Estée Lauder already owned 28% of the brand. Recently however, Estée Lauder announced that they will expand their investment in the brand for a period of 3 years, after which they will own the totality of Deciem.
This investment will have 2 more phases: next June, Estée Lauder will acquire 76% of Deciem. By 2024, they will own 100% of the company.
Timeline
2013: Deciem was founded.
June 2017: Estée Lauder's initial investment in Deciem, now owning 28% of the company
June 2021: Estée Lauder will own 76% of Deciem.
2024: Estée Lauder will own 100% of Deciem
Should we expect a change in their cruelty-free status?
This is the big question. At the moment, we have no reason to believe that Deciem and The Ordinary will no longer be cruelty-free. Estée Lauder has acquired cruelty-free companies in the past (Too Faced, BECCA) that remained 100% cruelty-free.
One of the advantages for a brand like Deciem to be owned by a giant like Estée Lauder is expanded distribution. This means that they will be available in more countries and more locations. However, it's entirely possible for a brand like The Ordinary to enter the Chinese market by selling online-only, especially considering their current direct-to-consumer focus.
We will be keeping an eye on Deciem and The Ordinary going forth and we will update their brand page accordingly with any changes.
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I hope they don’t change status. I like their products and they are affordable for my budget.
Thank you Suzanne and team for what you are doing to benefit and educate the humanity in the 21st century!! We are very grateful to you for this website and giving us a direction on how to shop for product and what to buy.
It’s extremely hard to find mental space and time in our daily grind to analyze, plan and action on this big part of our life (various skincare and hair care for a busy family of 4) and therefore we really appreciate that this resource is here to give us guidance and create a direction going forward. Thanks to you we will not be purchasing Crabtree & Evelyn and Cerave any longer (a total budget of hundreds of dollars $$ annual in Canada) and will be pursuing only cruelty free products. Special thank you also to our Genzies who are living on TikTok during this pandemic 🙂 and educating their backwards Xer parents on what’s important in life 🙂
Please accept our huge Thank you and Be Well!
have only recently started making changes towards only supporting cruelty free products after some realizations and cruelty free kitty has been so so helpful, thank you!
Hopefully they can remain properly cruelty free as i do like them.
Completely agree with you and your mission!
I hope they don’t change status !