Popular Korean beauty label Nature Republic was one of the first K-beauty brands to break into the Malaysian market way before Innisfree, Banila Co. and Tony Moly were made available here.. But, it’s now also going to be one of the first ones to cease operations here.
Renowned for many skincare and bodycare products including its best-selling Aloe Vera Gel, Nature Republic announced on its Facebook page about its closure, writing:
“Greetings~ Lazada, 11Street, Hermo and any other online stores are NOT authorize seller and therefore may be considered fake or counterfeit. Buy at your own risk. We would like to inform that Nature Republic Korea only authorise www.naturerepublic.com.my to sell Nature Republic products online. Always be smart to shop at the only authorise seller 👍”
In the comments section, Nature Republic Malaysia also said this, “Less than 1 year ago, the Taiwan Nature Republic which is directly owned by NR Korea closed in whole Taiwan. Now Nature Republic Malaysia one of the oldest NR Korea Distributor since 2009 closed also. Now it is up to the public to judge the root problem”
The sudden closure clearly left many netizens and fans of Nature Republic wondering what exactly went wrong, and Pulse explains that Nature Republic’s reputation got tarnished after its founder Jung Woon-ho got caught in an illegal gambling scandal in 2016.
He was ultimately jailed, but later got charged for other cases pertaining to violence and lobbying. Due to this, Nature Republic Co. was risked to be put up for sale and suffered an immense loss of 1.8 billion won within six months in 2017. How unfortunate!
At the time of writing, Nature Republic’s Malaysian website is no longer accessible, so we are assuming that you can no longer purchase authentic Nature Republic products here in Malaysia, given the fact that they have clarified that all other Nature Republic products sold online are fake. 🙁