Puig Buys Penhaligon's & L'Artisan Parfumeur - Or the End of Artistic, Niche Purism As We Knew It {Fragrance News}
Spanish group Puig have acquired two of the most popular niche perfumery brands, Penhaligon's and L'Artisan Parfumeur, with L'Artisan Parfumeur considered a pioneer in that sphere thanks to the approach taken by its founder Jean François Laporte...
This news follows a wave of corporate acquisitions of niche perfume labels made by such major beauty groups as Estée Lauder cos. purchasing Frédéric Malle Editions de Parfums, Le Labo, and Rodin Olio Lusso, or L'Oréal putting in its shopping basket the following more confidential labels: Carol's Daughter; NYX Cosmetics; Sayuki Custom Cosmetics; Brazil's Niely Cosméticos; maker of Chinese facial masks Magic Holdings International Ltd.; Decléor, and Carita.
The two brands were so far living discreetly under the umbrella of smaller group Fox Paine & Company. Puig apparently are feeling the pressure to conform to this industry trend.
Niche brands can bring artistic credentials and devoted followings to those more mainstream groups, provided the spirits of the brands are respected while benefiting from important structural and logistical improvements.
While the much earlier association and acquisition of Serge Lutens with Shiseido and Annick Goutal by Amore Pacific group did not raise such a buzz in the industry, or on the Internet, the latest responses to this movement have been more emotional since Malle and Le Labo are two niche signatures which are considered to be more recently established on renewed and more purist artistic grounds.
If L'Artisan Parfumeur est. 1976 have waited nearly 40 years to become part of a major perfume group, for Frédéric Malle est. 2003 and Le Labo est. 2006, the waiting period will have been much shorter, 11 years and 8 years respectively.
