On the Nose - The Story Of Fabrice Penot

Original: On the Nose - The Story Of Fabrice Penot

Submitted by Dmitri Davydov on Sat, 2010-05-08 11:23.

Posted in: Statistics And Other Lies

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You



http://www.lelabofragrances.com/

There's no false modesty about it--Fabrice Penot wanted to start a revolution with Le Labo, the fragrance company
he co-founded in 2006.

How could he not? For starters, he didn't want the small, boutique brand to do any advertising--a major no-no in an industry where Britney Spears makes dozens of in-st acularly lousy four years for luxury products like Penot's--Le Labo has grown into a $4.5 million a year fragrance brand with four stand-alone boutiques worldwide (and four more planned by the end of this year), plus 12 counters inside the world's most exclusive retail enclaves, including Barneys New York and Colette in Paris. Kirsten Dunst is one of many celebrity fans. And Le Labo is a darling of the fashion world, written about in high-end publications including W--enough to make a publicist plotz. If only they had one.

"We don't spend money on marketing," says Penot, again the contrarian to mainstream fragrance companies, where the bulk of the budget goes toward splashy campaigns. "We only spend money on perfume."

"Ridiculous!"
You can see why, when Penot and Roschi set out to finagle a round of financing--which Penot thought would be a cakewalk, given his deep industry connections--Le Labo was not an easy sell. In fact, big beauty's execs w indie label of his dreams. (Jus