The brand’s colorfully named products, like Wild Thistle
and Siberian Juniper shampoo and Strength of the Bear shaving cream, are sold in dozens of countries, from Argentina to Australia, at supermarkets like the Monoprix chain in France, as well as upmarket department stores like Harrods in London.
“In Russia, if you are not made up, you could get a condescending look.”
“No matter how snowy it is and how slippery,” she added “women will wear heels and a fur coat.”
Though overshadowed by Russia’s wars, sanctions and political intrigue, fast-footed
consumer companies have popped up to cater to the country’s middle class.
“I like this idea because it is difficult,” Mr. Trubnikov said, “and I like difficult projects.”
In its early years, the company concentrated on its domestic market.
“At first, I was skeptical, because we think Italian or French cosmetics are best,” said Viktoria Y. Vedenskaya,
a real estate agent picking up a bottle of Sakhalin Island Thistle body lotion in a Moscow store.
The company has now moved from its original dish-soap factory to a larger facility outside Moscow
and runs six organically certified herb farms as well as a herd of yak in Siberia.
The next year, in desperation, he sold his car, a Soviet-era Volga sedan, for about $5,000,
and used the proceeds to buy a defunct dish-soap factory outside Moscow, setting out to make shampoo.