FRANCE. L’Oréal’s Luxury Products Division has signed a licence agreement with DIESEL, the cult brand founded in 1978. The contract covers the creation of a line of fragrances.
The partnership will harness the experience of L’Oréal (the world’s leading cosmetics group and number one company in terms of luxury fragrances), and the creative strength of DIESEL which, over the past 25 years, has developed into a €1 billion group.
The Diesel fragrance licence was previously held by German company Marbert. The products developed by that partnership – which ended in 2004 – are no longer sold.
DIESEL describes itself as a cult brand among 18-35 year-olds all over the world. Building on his original approach to jeans and high-end casualwear, Founder and President Renzo Rosso developed a unique lifestyle brand that is illustrated in an emblematic way through innovative advertising campaigns and unconventional marketing techniques.
Today DIESEL, an unlisted company based in Molvena (Italy), is present in 80 countries, through 5,000 sales outlets, over 300 of them directly owned. Its flagship stores, the first of which opened in New York in 1996 followed by all the major capitals, are always located in prime position trendy shopping districts.
The Diesel brand will join L’Oréal’s Prestige & Collections International (PCI) division. Ladan Lari, International Brand Manager for Viktor & Rolf, has additionally been appointed International Brand Manager for DIESEL.
“With DIESEL we are underlining our interest in high added creative value brands; we have been won over by the brand’s creators, by their bold, not to say cheeky, approach which has made DIESEL a sexy and ground-breaking casual-chic brand,” commented PCI International Brand President Patricia Turck-Paquelier.
“We will provide DIESEL with all our expertise in order to continue to expand the fragrance market. The first fragrance, due out in 2007, will come as a welcome surprise to a young public looking for unconventional products.”
“The agreement with DIESEL fits our strategic aim of consolidating our position as world leader in fragrances, and perfectly complements our existing brand portfolio,” added President of L’Oréal’s Luxury Products Division Marc Menesguen.
“The DIESEL brand, with its appeal to young people worldwide, represents a tremendous opportunity for growth for L’Oréal’s Luxury Products Division and brings in a new alternative to classical luxury brands.”
Rosso concluded: “For over 25 years we have worked to develop a unique lifestyle icon that is called DIESEL, a brand that stands for creativity, innovation and quality. Today DIESEL is the finest representation of premium casualwear and accessory lines.
“After some very successful licensing partnerships for our shades and for our jewellery and watches, we were looking only for the best for a special category such as fragrances, not only as far as business and product know-how is concerned, but also as far as the ‘human relationship’ goes.
“This latter is a key ingredient of all our ventures as our ideal partner is always someone who can understand and translate the DIESEL spirit and attitude in the best product. And the L’Oréal people just proved to be our perfect match.”
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