Can Deodorant Be a Luxury Product?

Business of Fashion

3 days ago

For decades, the number one prestige body product in the US has not been a pricey cellulite lotion or an ultraluxe bath oil, but a deodorant that was minted in 1994.
Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist deodorant was invented to flank the brand's flagship white flower and musk scent before becoming a star all its own. Parent company Interparfums confirmed to The Business of Beauty that it still tops the charts according to Circana data. Proponents liken the smell to warm sheets or upscale baby shampoo.
Navya Dev, a New York-based nose and founder of the custom perfumery Creature, doesn't wear perfume herself, but wears perfumed deodorants. She appreciates Cashmere Mist and other fine fragrance deodorants for their lowkey sillage.
'People will smell deodorant on me and they're like, 'You smell so good right now.' And I'm like, that's fascinating, because all I'm wearing is deodorant,'' Dev said.
Today, the inclusion of fine fragrance in body care products, but especially deodorants, are table stakes as brands seek to value-pack their products with experiences. As trends like perfume layering gain traction in the global West, 'brands are reimagining body care as a fragrance-first category,' said Aishwarya Rajpara, a consultant at market research firm Euromonitor, pointing to a new guard of 'high-quality, complex fragrance compositions that rival traditional perfumes.' Spray deodorants are increasingly functioning as "fine fragrance mists," according to Papatui's Jenna Fagnan, driving demand. (BoF Team)
Full-body spray has become the world's preferred deodorant format, selling more than roll-ons, sticks, creams and wipes combined — in no small part thanks to their resemblance to atomised fragrances. By 2026, the global deodorant market is forecasted to be worth $29 billion, according to Euromonitor, but much of this growth is being driven by the prestige segment, sales of which grew 24 percent in 2024, compared to 1 percent for mass formulas, said Circana.
Few brands embody the Cashmere Mist effect like minimalist bodycare label Salt and Stone, a Sephora darling whose stick deodorant has become the best-selling product in its category on Amazon. In scents like Rose and Oud, it costs $20.
Founder Nima Jalali, a pro snowboarder with an entrepreneurial streak, created the brand in 2017 as an upscale alternative to an unattractive category, and also contracted DSM-Firmenich to help develop a core scent collection. 'It was shocking to look at what was out there and how much I wanted to hide it away in my cabinet once I bought it,' Jalali said. 'Everything that I was seeing from the mass brands was very drugstore smelling — like 'mountain air.'' He shook his head. Elevating the Essential
It sounds simple in theory: Mix a $10 speed stick with a drop of $200 perfume and upsell the customer. In practice, fusing deodorant and fine fragrance is a delicate and laborious alchemy, with its first ingredient being investment.
Companies at every level and price point will partner with fragrance houses, from Burberry to Bath and Body Works, to imbue their products with 'elevating' scent experiences. A more recent phenomenon sees mass brands partnering with certain noses known for indie successes, like perfumer Frank Voelkl, who has earned an unlikely bit of celebrity for his creation of Le Labo's now-ubiquitous Santal 33.
'It's like using a fine fragrance mist at the same time,' said Jenna Fagnan, the co-founder of Dwyane 'the Rock' Johnson's personal care brand Papatui. (Johnson is, she said, a fine fragrance freak.) When it came to formulating its deodorant range, Fagnan and Johnson tapped Dsm-Firmenich, alongside Voelkl, to create scents like Sandalwood Suede. Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson's personal care line Papatui features deodorants with fragrances cooked up by Frank Voelkl, the creator of Le Labo Santal 33. (Golden Hours)
While Papatui's Fagnan did not describe the cost of Voelkl's collaboration, she said it was more than they expected. 'We were a little naive to think that you could easily use fine fragrance and have something affordable,' Fagnan explained, citing the cost of high-quality perfume oil in particular. Fagnan said it cut into their margins but was a worthy investment to get customers hooked.
Each and Every, founded in 2019 by Lauren Lovelady, reintroduced their line of deodorants this year with scents like Sunday Morning and Eternal Summer, created with essential oils in partnership with fragrance houses; the text on their new sleek black packaging revolves around the scent name, as on a perfume bottle.
'You can elevate this simple daily ritual into something that feels luxurious,' said Lovelady, who was inspired by how brands like Supergoop and Vacation used texture and scent, respectively, to turn sunscreen into a beauty staple. Scent Overload
The ubiquity of ultraluxe scents like Baccarat Rouge 540, and the countless dupes they've spawned across the price spectrum, have no doubt stoked demand for inventions like vetiver or oud deodorant. But fine fragrance's descent to the least sexy of personal care categories feels irreversible. After the armpit, where else could perfume possibly go?
Strong demand for hair perfumes, hand lotions and body soaps indicate that the infusion is far from over. But fine fragrance fatigue is already beginning to set in, as surges in sales and social media content conspire to make these scents ubiquitous — cheapening them in the process. Analysts predict sales to soften in the US as price hikes and a 15 percent tariff on goods imported from Europe take effect.
Perfumer Dev thinks, optimistically, that more niche formulations will help brands (and shoppers) continue the fragrance conversation, sustaining sales in the process. 'People are so willing to get niche about every step of their style,' Dev said.
She should know: Dev recently became the in-house perfumer for indie bodycare label Soft Services, where she's building a long runway of scent launches. Though the brand originally debuted without fragrances — to show shoppers that it was more geared toward solutions than sensuality — founder Rebecca Zhou said that it has since become a priority. (It's also become a priority at Sephora, where Soft Services sits in the bodycare section alongside Sol de Janeiro, Touchland and Salt and Stone.)
After contacting fragrance houses like DSM-Firmenich and Givaudan, she decided to hire Dev to quicken the product development process. 'Now in one day we'll make 12 fragrances, and we can iterate on one of them three times,' Zhou said.
'We want scents that are unique and stick in your mind,' she continued. 'But you know, at the end of the day, we're not a niche fragrance brand. We need something that people can connect to at mass.'
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