L’Oreal has signed a licensing agreement with women’s wear company Proenza Schouler to acquire the rights to create and develop fine fragrances for the brand.
Proenza Schouler was founded in New York in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Today the company boasts ten flagship stores and over 100 points of sale across more than twenty different countries.
Nicolas Hieronimus, President L’Oreal Selective Divisions, commented, “Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez clearly belong to the very short list of today’s most aspiring US designers whose creativity will bring the perfect complement to L’Oreal Luxe’s portfolio of iconic fragrance brands. We are eager to welcome these remarkable designers to the L’Oreal family.”
Proenza Schouler will become part of L’Oreal’s prestige division, L’Oreal Luxe, which includes brands originating from fashion such as Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Diesel, Cacharel, Viktor&Rolf, Ralph Lauren and historic beauty players including Lancome, Biotherm and Helena Rubinstein.
Nathalie Duran, International General Manager, L’Oreal Designer Brands Fragrances, noted, “Proenza Schouler is one of the most inspiring brands in the fashion arena, redefining what it means to be a modern woman today. They are the voice of a generation. The brand’s commitment to innovation, detail, beauty and craft mirror the very core values of L’Oreal’s Luxury Designer Brands Fragrances.”
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, added, “We are incredibly excited to embark on this new adventure with L’Oreal. Working on a fragrance has always been a dream of ours, and we could not have imagined that one day we would be given the chance to do so with the world leaders in the field. We look forward to translating our visual aesthetic into the subtle and highly emotional world of scent.”
L’Oreal Luxe generated sales amounting to €6.2bn in 2014 and grew by 7.1 percent with outstanding breakthroughs in make-up and women’s fragrances, thanks to the success of “La vie est belle” by Lancome, Sì by Giorgio Armani and Black Opium by Yves Saint Laurent.