Clean

Simply Clean

The creative mind behind Clean is Randi Shinder. From her simple yet amazingly innovated idea, she has created several brands for beauty products that have changed the way many think about cosmetics, skin care, and fragrances.

A Canadian Success Story

Randi Shinder was born in Montreal, but she moved to Ottawa when she was a teenager, and still considers that city her home. She has come a long way since that move, from everyday teenage girl to CEO of one of the most interesting and innovated companies in the world today, but she stays in Ottawa, where she raises her children and contributes to the community.

She started her company in 2003, coming into the business without any prior knowledge. She didn’t know a thing about cosmetics, but she knew she wanted to be a part of the industry, because she had a great idea. Shinder wanted to create a fragrance that was clean – that gave that scent of just having emerged from the shower. Once she managed to formulate that scent, it was an instant hit.

This perfume, simply called ‘Clean’ was unusual because it was not meant to smell flowery or musky or like anything but cleanliness. It took lighter notes from fragrances like lily bergamot, pink grapefruit, heliotrope, white musk, geranium, and other elements and perfectly balanced them to create a fresh just-out-of-the-shower scent.

There is also a Clean for men, which has the same effect, but in a more masculine way. English lavender, clove, lime, wild raspberry, ruby red grapefruit, musk, patchouli, and olibanum are used to create a pure, clean scent that everyone seemed to love.

Even before Clean was officially released, people were clamoring to get it. Editors of fashion magazines and celebrities all wanted that Clean scent. People Magazine gave it a mention, ant was even previewed at an event surrounding the Grammy Awards. Randi Shinder was almost caught flatfooted – she had no idea her fragrance would be so overwhelmingly popular. Before they even had a website, the Shinders were overwhelmed with offers.

Randi Shinder knew she had a good thing going, and did not stop with Clean. Just one year later, she created a prestige brand with singer and actress Jessica Simpson called Desert Beauty. Like the previous fragrance from Shinder, this one was something entirely new, based on flavors not commonly found in fragrances. Again, the new innovation was a big success.

Even that was eclipsed next to Shinder’s next idea. She built a new company, Fusion Beauty, to launch her new innovation in 2005 – LipFusion. This was a micro-injecting collagen device which could give women fuller lips without pain, overnight. This product alone sold millions of units before a year was up, and it became the first of a whole line of skincare and cosmetics products from Fusion.

The Clean Empire

All the while, Shinder did not depart from the roots of her success – making interesting and fresh new fragrances. Clean Provence saw its debut in 2004, capturing the aroma of the soft French soaps with scents of fresh clean water, and freshly laundered linen. It contains notes of lemons from Provence, cotton flower, geranium, rose, with soft violet musk at the base. The fragrance is very much like stepping out of a luxurious shower.

Showing they can do something a little different, but still within the Clean umbrella, the company launched Baby Girl. The name might mention a baby, but it is a fragrance for big girls, with floral and fruity notes at the top like lemons, orange, cyclamen, and geranium. The heart is like an exotic garden composed of heliotrope, lavender, ylang-ylang, cinnamon ceylon, and African violets. Cedar and white musk comprise the base.

Shinder is not afraid to go back even further. A venture she considered before becoming a beauty mogul, Youtopia Inc, was a program focused on teenagers and young adults. She took that brand and gained more than $17 million in investments, even gaining Britney Spears as a spokesperson. Almost two million teenagers now participate in Youtopia today.

Randi Shinder’s success has earned her a great many awards, like Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst and Young. They also awared her a National Citation for her marketing skills. Her debut of Clean won a Company Newcomer of the Year award. She was recognized as a rising star in the fashion industry before she was three years into her fashion career.

Sometimes, it seems to her like she’s living a dream life, to go from small entrepreneur to multi-million dollar success story in so short a time, but Randi Shinder is not done yet. She understands businesses change, especially fashion and beauty, and she’s going to have to change to keep up. There’s no doubt there are even more innovations to come from the mind of Randi Shinder.