Where Fragrance and Fashion Collide

In a recent press announcement, Inter Parfums Inc. and Brooks Brothers, one of the oldest clothiers in the United States, announced a joint agreement covering the design, manufacture and supply of personal care products for men and women. The end products are to be sold at Brooks Brothers locations in the United States as well as stores and specialty and department stores outside of the United States, including duty free and other travel-related retailers.

In addition to product development, Inter Parfums will assume responsibility for the production and supply of existing Brooks Brothers fragrance and related personal care products.

Commenting on the new agreement, Jean Madar, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Inter Parfums, stated in the announcement, “We are extremely honored by this new association with Brooks Brothers. ... Our in-house team of designers will draw upon the Brooks Brothers heritage as they develop classic yet modern personal care products and collections for men and women."

Madar added that this agreement is unique for Inter Parfums in that it expands the company's in the North American specialty retail sector while also enlarging its licensed brand portfolio.”

Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and chief executive officer of Brooks Brothers noted, “Making personal care products a more important category at our stores is just one of the goals of this agreement. Another is to expand brand awareness in retail outlets other than our own. We believe that innovative, brand-appropriate personal care products ... will also appeal to growing numbers of new and prospective Brooks Brothers customers .”

In the United States, Inter Parfums will be responsible for product development, formula creation, packaging design and manufacturing while Brooks Brothers will be responsible for marketing, advertising and in-store sales. The first new products to be developed by Inter Parfums are tentatively scheduled for launch in November 2008 at Brooks Brothers retail stores in the United States. International distribution is expected to begin in 2009.

There is an interesting give-and-take when companies align themselves to develop new products jointly. By licensing a technology, one company not only profits monetarily, they share the science so that others can benefit from it—even if it is at a cost. After all, if more minds are using a technology, they can help to develop it, offer new twists on it, or solve the some of the challenges of using it. The industry does seem to benefit from collaboration, which is happening more and more often in cases such as this, with companies playing off of each other's strengths.

-Rachel Chapman, C&T magazine 

 

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