From the masculine woody fragrance "Aventus" to the youthful floral fragrance "Spring Flower", the legendary perfume brand Creed, founded in 1760, has created many classics Immortal perfume. Its history can be traced back to the first generation of James Henry Creed's handmade leather workshop, who were famous for making high-quality perfumed leather. At the time, such leather goods were extremely popular, as they combined delicate craftsmanship with outstanding quality. Over time, the brand gradually realized its passion for perfume creation and shifted its business focus to the field of perfume. Creed's understated and luxurious creations amazed the world and quickly won the favor of royalty, aristocrats and celebrities.
Creed uses excellent craftsmanship, high-quality raw materials and unique fragrance technology to create intoxicating aromas. This spiritual heritage has lasted for more than 250 years. Currently, Olivier Creed, the sixth generation of the brand, serves as the master perfumer, while his son Erwin Creed focuses on business related to cooperating with suppliers and meeting customers, and accompanies his father to purchase raw materials from all over the world. The top perfume market is full of challenges. In this exclusive interview with "Supreme", we had an in-depth exchange with Erwin. He shared with us how to stick to the core values of the brand, and elaborated on his views on the current situation of the industry and the role of the brand in the future. character of.
Grasse is a small town located on the French Riviera in southern France. It is known as the perfume capital of the world and is no stranger to perfume lovers. After completing his studies, Erwin followed the footsteps of his predecessors and went to Grasse to design products for a perfume company. Some of these products became the company's top ten, and the experience allowed him to discover his potential in perfumery and fuel his passion for perfume. At that time, an old perfumer told him that although he could learn from others, in the end creation still had to rely on himself, and he needed to experience the creation process step by step in depth. This inspired him to aspire to create perfume independently.
At that time, the Creed family was also undergoing a transformation that was more in line with Erwin's interests. In the past, the Creed family's business was mainly focused on custom-made clothing; they chose to expand into other areas such as fragrances because they had a grand vision for the business with more innovative ideas. However, his grandfather decided to return to tradition and focus on making men's shoes and custom clothing. By the 1940s and 1960s, ready-to-wear clothing became increasingly popular, and custom-made clothing became relatively expensive, causing them to lose many customers. Erwin's father was more interested in perfume than in other fields, so he decided to focus on perfumery and continue to create perfumes, rather than stick to the field of customized clothing, which seemed impossible to succeed.
Fragrance is a passion, not a business
Creed has a history of more than two centuries. For them, making perfume is not a business, but a passion. They regard perfume as a work of art. Erwin believes that if you only focus on commercial interests, you will focus too much on numbers and market research and ignore the quality of the perfume itself. He mentioned that many large companies now use algorithms to calculate the percentage of ingredients with budget as their primary consideration. He shared a story behind the production of perfume, "When the product was about to be launched, we made a temporary decision to change the main ingredients, causing the 2,000 bottles of samples that had been prepared to be invalidated. Although the distributor was angry about this, we still insisted on making this change , it ended up taking more than a year to launch a new product. We are passionate about fragrances and want to create fragrances that we like, rather than reluctantly launching products to follow a schedule." He admitted that launching products is like playing poker. , usually not knowing which product will be successful, and only knowing the market response after trying it. They hope that even if a fragrance is not very successful, it will at least be a product that they like.
The perfume produced by Creed is called "Millesime". This French term originates from the wine world and refers to the high-quality production of a specific year. Erwin said that they have their own factory and adhere to traditional perfume making methods. Each bottle of perfume still goes through manual filtering, bottling and labeling steps, which can be described as a true artisan perfume. The brand clearly understands the ingredients of each fragrance and does not simply use the same base as other companies and slightly change it. Since they use many natural ingredients, the scent changes over time, making the fragrance complex. To maintain the quality of their fragrances, they work with excellent suppliers to maintain the scent's staying power to about 95% of the time. He revealed that some suppliers are family businesses and their cooperation is based on the relationship between the two parties rather than price negotiations, so the brand maintains a good relationship with them.
Erwin is often asked about his favorite perfume. He smiles and says, "Perfumes are like my children. I like every one of them, but if I had to choose a special one, I would think of 'Love In'." Black). Perfume smells tend to vary based on skin, and everyone's skin is different, so it's a mystery. This is one of the reasons why our brand is successful because when people use our perfume on their skin , at least it is suitable for 98% of people. Only "Dark Love" is special, only about 30% of people are suitable for it, so it will not become a popular perfume choice. But this does not mean that it is a failed product , if it suits your skin, you'll love the scent."
Focus on the female market in the future
Talking about the current situation of the top perfume industry, Erwin bluntly said that more and more perfume brands are emerging, bringing fierce competition to the market. He said: "We will continue to develop in a sustainable direction and adopt more environmentally friendly measures during packaging and shipping. Most of our suppliers are from poor countries and we hope to support them through strengthened cooperation." Erwin said that in the future, the brand will focus more on the female market. "Women tend to like changes, and it is more challenging for them to become loyal customers. We hope that the fragrances we launch will be the perfect combination to match their skin." Creed recently repackaged " "Spring Floral Scent", a new women's fragrance "Carmina" will also be launched early this month. Inspired by the fashion sketchbooks of family predecessor Henry Creed, Carmina carries notes of black cherry, pink pepper and soft rose, blended with delicate musk and amber, exuding a bold and voluptuous atmosphere.
Since 2020, Creed is no longer owned by the family. Erwin explained that his father spent most of his time focusing on artistic creation. This change will not change the DNA of the brand, but will re-operate the marketing and more neglected aspects in the past. Manage the company effectively. Earlier, Kering, the parent company of Gucci, announced that it would fully acquire the Creed brand and is expected to complete the transaction as soon as the second half of the year.
Currently, most of the Creed brand's fragrances are still created by Erwin's father. When asked if Erwin had any plans to take over the role of master perfumer, he said: "I have not created a perfume myself, but I have collaborated with my father on perfumery. It is difficult for two people to create a project together, and it is often difficult to reach an agreement. Opinions. However, we sometimes discuss smells, explore some new ingredients, etc. There are more people sharing the administrative work now, so I plan to travel less and devote more time to perfume creation, which also allows me to be more creative. Close to family." As for whether he hopes that the next generation will also join the perfume industry, he admitted that he hopes that his children can learn some perfume knowledge, so he will encourage them to explore the world of perfume and let them feel his passion for perfume; at the same time, Erwin also emphasized that over-promotion is often Will have the opposite effect. After seven generations, Creed has always been loyal to its original intention and has inherited its exclusive formula to this day. In the future, it will continue this traditional art of hand-made fragrance.
