Zadig & Voltaire now under Shiseido / BPI Umbrella after Azzedine Alaïa {Fragrance News}
Finding a Good Home for your Fragrance License, 4 Years Later
The latest perfume license Beauté Prestige International (BPI), a division of Shiseido, has acquired is Zadig & Voltaire, WWD has announced. The licensing contract has been signed to cover a period of 15 years. The news come after the announcement in August 2013 of a BPI fragrance deal with fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, thus extending further the house portfolio (BPI like to stress they're a house),...
,which already comprises a select few: Issey Miyaké, Jean Paul Gaultier, Narciso Rodriguez, Elie Saab. The Alaïa perfumes have not launched yet.
Shiseido said,
"Zadig & Voltaire and BPI have now decided to bring their talents together to develop the Zadig & Voltaire Perfumes, with a shared level of demand and vision,"
Last year BPI's Bertrand Tupin explained to WWD, "The priority is licenses; we know how to handle those. Since the very beginning, we knew how to create brands from scratch and to make them successful in the markets. It's our DNA,"
Zadig et Voltaire have had an impact on the perfume market with their innovative fragrance concept Tome 1, la Pureté (2009). You can check the review in two parts: Scent of a Fallen Angel & Patchoulait. It then declined it into a dual variation for her and him in 2012 resting on the main milky-musky-jasminey signature of the original.
In 2010 there was a discussion as to whether or not the brand would enter into an agreement with Clarins for a tome 2, but the plan for a new perfume fell through.
I thought BPI have lost the Gaultier licence (Puig), and got instead the distribution for Burberry. Might be wrong, though!
Thank you for calling our attention to some important details. Yes, you're right it's a bit more complicated than what meets the eye right now. BPI are keeping the Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance license until 2016, when the current contract will expire. It is expected then that Puig will take over since they are the majority stake holder in JP Gaultier (55%).
And yes, BPI are the distributors for Burberry since they left Inter Parfums, but not their fragrance developers like Inter Parfums used to be.
Very exciting. BPI knows how to build a long term selling strategy for its brands.
Can't wait to try the final product.