Schmidt's Deodorant Announces Factory Closure, Layoffs

PORTLAND, OR — Well, this stinks. A Portland-based deodorant company announced it would permanently shutter its local production factory and layoff the employees working there by October 31. Schmidt's Deodorant Company made the announcement through its California-based legal team on Sept. 7.

Jonathan Freund, of Freund Legal in Beverly Hills, said 52 employees at the Portland factory located at 12602 N.E. Marx St. have been notified of their pending termination, adding that those employees will receive their regular pay through Nov. 7.

Freund, however, did not give a reason for the sudden closure, and Freund Legal did not immediately reply to Patch's inquiry.

Marketed as an all natural alternative to deodorant products made with aluminum, propylene glycol, SLS, PEG, parabens, phthalates, artificial fragrance, artificial flavor, artificial colorants, and/or artificial sweeteners, Schmidt's Naturals has been publicly available since 2015, though the products themselves were being produced privately by the company's founder, Jaime Schmidt, since 2010.

Schmidt's sells a variety of natural deodorants, soaps, and toothpastes via an online subscription service — à la Dollar Shave Club — and at various retailers around the world.

The company was reportedly bought out by UK-based Unilever in December 2017; Unilever owns hundreds of brands, including Lipton, Hellmann's, Axe, Dove, Vaseline, and Ben & Jerry's.

According to the Oregonian, Unilever said it was closing the Portland facility because of "capacity constraints." However, it did not clarify whether production would be moved or halted completely.

On Friday, Unilever's director of corporate communications in North America, Steve Alessandrini, told Patch that Schmidt's LLC will maintain its corporate headquarters in Portland and only close the factory.

"Schmidt’s LLC, which has seen continued growth over the past several years, carefully evaluated its manufacturing potential and determined that moving to a third-party manufacturer with greater capacity is in the best long-term interest of the business," Alessandrini explained in an email. "The Schmidt’s Naturals brand and Unilever are committed to making natural personal care products accessible to everyone."

(Sign up for our free daily newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Portland Patch)

This post has been updated to include additional comments and information from Unilever.

Image via Shutterstock