In a May 28th article in Le Monde entitled “Le groupe LVMH se réapproprie la fabrication de ses parfums” (“The LVMH group re-appropriates the production of its perfumes”), Nicole Vulser exposes LVMH’s position to manufacture internally & move away from mega fragrance houses.
Per the article, It’s no secret that one of the largest and most well-known luxury brands in the world, has benefitted from fragrance manufacturing. In 2011, LVMH built a fragrance compounding facility outside Paris research centre at Saint-Jean-de-Braye, and began producing fragrance oil.
Why?
Cost-effectiveness: The Company will pay less for products it makes itself, and for bulk purchases of raw materials.
They will also benefit from better more sustainable materials, or even the readjustment of a formula that was radically mistreated by IFRA standards.
Transparency! Listing all fragrance ingredients on the label.
How is this possible?
Most Billion-dollar brands don’t own the formulas of their perfumes, or know all of the ingredients within. The owners are the fragrance houses that develop those formulas: as a consequence, the big fragrance houses remain the sole suppliers of the oil.
Is this Legal?
Formulas are neither protected by copyright laws nor patented to protect their secrecy. GC-MS has rendered secrecy a moot point since products are analyzed within days of their launch. In June 16th 2006 the final court of appeal in France ruled that “the fragrance of a perfume does not constitute the creation of a form of expression that can benefit from the protection given to works of art.”
LVMH can do so perfectly legally. Once a formula is altered, it becomes a different product. LVMH owns everything but the original formula and can therefore put whatever it pleases in the bottles under the name and packaging to which it owns the copyright. The article further states that LVMH is now not only mixing the oils and alcohol in its plants, but producing part of the blends provided by its external suppliers. LVMH has also centralized the purchase of certain raw materials
Future Repercussions?
Will fragrance houses increase the number of captives in their products, rendering them more difficult to “repatriate” without altering their smell too significantly? And will other luxury groups take the same step as LVMH?
How can Aroma-Tune Help?
Aroma-Tune® provides all ingredients by percentage in 30,000 of the world’s best selling fragrance formulas. Aroma-Tune® twists a formula, replaces chemicals with sustainable ingredients, thus creating new proprietary formulations that your brand fully owns plus you can now manufacture on-site & on-demand.
This simple “twist” with our software makes a truly unique fragrance, averting liability for breaching any contractual obligation as your company just developed this truly unique formula.
Need a Fragrance R&D Strategy?
Building a robust Fragrance R&D Strategy takes four steps: knowing all ingredients in your fragrances, identifying chemical patterns, replacing carbon based ingredients with sustainable alternatives, and having the ability to manufacture on-site & on-demand, regardless if you implement.
Innovation cycles are accelerating. The growing reliance on software and the availability of simulation and automation technologies has caused the cost of experimentation to plummet while raising R&D throughput.
Well-funded start-ups, are developing and rapidly scaling innovations that often threaten to upset established business models or steer industry growth into new areas. Add increasing investor scrutiny of research spending, and the result is rising pressure on R&D leaders to quickly show results for their efforts.
Contact us today!
Contact us today to find out how our 30,000 formulas and Aroma-Tune software can take you from where you are today to where you want to be.
Innosol, Inc. is offering fragrance formulas for sale, not fragrance oil. We are selling custom fragrance formulas through duplications, creations, or modifications created in our facility for informational purposes. Product names, brands, and other trademarks or trade names featured or referred to within this post or Innosol’s website are the property of their respective holders. These holders are not affiliated with Innosol, Inc., our products, our website, nor do they sponsor or endorse our materials. The use of these trademarks or trade names in no way indicates any relationship between Innosol, Inc. and the holders and is used only for descriptive identification to convey the aroma being purchased. Every effort has been made to properly identify and attribute trademarks or trade names to their respective owners wherever possible and/or practical.
LVMH is not affiliated with Innosol, Inc., our products, our website, nor do they sponsor or endorse our materials.