Print campaigns for Montblanc Legend (a Fragrance Foundation Award-winner for Best Men’s Packaging of the Year) and Flash Jimmy Choo.
Inter Parfums licenses: Lanvin’s Me and La Vie de Bohème by Anna Sui.
be sold beyond its own store network at Dillard’s. With regard to its launch calendar, Inter Parfums’ stateside operation is poised for an active year. Recent introductions include Desire by bebe, La Vie de Bohème from Anna Sui and GAP flankers Electric and Bright. The company continues to seek new licenses— “with brands that have no fragrances and those that have been underserved by their current fragrance licensee,” Clarke said.
Inter Parfums USA president Andy Clarke spoke exclusively with Cosmetic World at the company’s Fifth Avenue headquarters about its current wealth of opportunities in the specialty sector. As opposed to the traditional department store channel, Clarke said, “in specialty, you have your own home as well as total A Winning Prestige Player autonomy over marketing your environFollowing the departure of longtime ment.” partner Burberry (and a cool $240 milInter Parfums USA signed its first spe- lion exit payment received), Clarke also cialty store license, GAP, in 2005, and has high expectations for Inter Parfums, since then, many of the domestic brands Inc.’s illustrious collection of prestige it has partnered with have become major licenses, which comprises Lanvin, Jimmy hits in overseas markets—perhaps most Choo, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc, surprisingly in countries where the brand Paul Smith, Boucheron, S.T. Dupont, Balisn’t represented by retail outlets. main, Karl Lagerfeld, Repetto, Alfred “ B a na na R e pu b lic , fo r Dunhill and Anna Sui. instance, is a top ten brand in 2013 will see a full slate of Russia,” Clarke noted. Iconic launches from this roster. Flash American names flourish overby Jimmy Choo, Me by Lanvin seas in department stores, perand Rêve from Van Cleef & fumeries, specialty stores and Arpels are already exceeding travel retailers. expectations, while new introOrganic growth is occurring ductions are forthcoming from in the specialty sector because Boucheron, Anna Sui, Repetto it is a category that is simultaand Paul Smith. neously less trendy (than fashAfter signing a 20-year deal Andy Clarke ion) and highly emotive, Clarke with Karl Lagerfeld last Octosaid. “Personal care is not a cateber, Inter Parfums, Inc. will start gory that’s meant to fit into a store envi- fresh with the brand (rather than marketronment, but stand out,” he explained. “It ing legacy products) beginning in late brings sensuality into an environment 2014. That year will also mark the debut where at times there is none, and repre- of Inter Parfums’ first new fragrances from sents not where a store is now, but where Dunhill and Balmain. it wants to be tomorrow.” A majority of its licenses initially And fragrances developed by Inter Par- approached Inter Parfums—and not the fums USA for specialty retail brands also other way around—Clarke said, due to have lives outside of their stores: bebe, the company’s well-oiled and multi-tiered for instance, was one of the first brands to business model. “We have a complete J U LY 2 0 1 3 /
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network of product developers, packaging designers, a design staff, an international sales team, warehousing capabilities and a sound logistics system,” Clarke said. “And we view our partners as just that—allied members of a long term relationship in which everyone has to succeed in order to grow.” While Burberry represented a significant share of its business, Inter Parfums, Inc. is looking optimistically forward, Clarke said. “It speaks volumes that our stock is at an all-time high; many of our licenses are showing enormous promise.” Inter Parfums USA is also moving beyond fragrance into skin care, cosmetics and hair care. And another significant facet of its business continues to be entrepreneurial projects for companies like Anthropology and Maurices—retailers that are not under license but for which Inter Parfums creates personal care products on a case-by-case basis, Clarke said.
Leadership Philosophy Clarke describes his management style as steadfast, yet flexible—“keep calm and carry on in the face of hectic times,” he says, while always remaining open to adjusting the business strategy when needed. “Personal care is the worst category to just put your toe in the water,” he explained. “It takes a lot of perseverance and promotion. If you’re dedicated, it can be a tremendous opportunity, but it’s certainly not a ‘build it and they will come’ kind of category. “In the beginning, fragrance tends to be an impulse buy,” he continued, “but customers have to see that you’re in it for the long haul—when they come back for the third, fourth and fifth time. Our goal has always been to take our creations from an impulse buy into a destination purchase.” BF
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Inter Parfums: Specialty Store Specialist
rmed with a plethora of specialty store partnerships—including trailblazing stateside players like GAP, Banana Republic, bebe, Brooks Brothers and Nine West—Inter Parfums USA, LLC, a subsidiary of Inter Parfums, Inc., the nearly 30-year-old manufacturer, marketer and worldwide distributor of fragrances, is in full growth mode.