Niche vs designer perfume: what is the real difference?
By Arthur Cukier
Short answer: the real difference is distribution. A designer perfume carries the name of a fashion or heritage brand. A niche perfume is built around the juice and sold in a few chosen places. Quality can be high, or low, on both sides.
What people mean by designer and niche
- Designer: a perfume made under a fashion or heritage brand. Sold widely, in department stores and perfumery chains.
- Niche: a perfume house that exists for its perfumes. Rare materials, a free perfumer, and selective shops.
Today, designer perfume has a bad name. People link it to cheap materials and to more money spent on marketing than on the product. Sometimes that is fair. Not always.
Borsalino is both
Borsalino is a heritage brand: a hat maker founded in 1857. So by definition, Borsalino perfume is a designer perfume. We cannot call ourselves niche and forget the history and the DNA of the house.
But the way we build each perfume is niche. The perfumer has carte blanche. We choose rare key materials, like Italian iris in Black Iris. We work with a great nose, Nicolas Bonneville of dsm-firmenich. In quality, it is niche. In name, it is designer.
When niche is just marketing
Niche is becoming a word, not a fact. I see two things.
First, many brands launch a “collection” at a higher price, stop making flankers, and call it niche. A higher price is not niche.
Second, many houses that started in a few small shops are now sold everywhere, next to designer perfumes. Good for them. But in my opinion, that is not really niche any more.
What I wear from each side
Designer. Very few brands still put real budget into the juice at a fair price. Some scents are icons. Terre d'Hermès is still one of my favourites. Encre Noire by Lalique is one of the best value perfumes you can find: a lot of vetiver, high quality, very affordable. It is very masculine, though.
Niche. Many Amouage perfumes, and Henry Jacques, for the way they control their whole supply chain, from the material to the bottle.
How to choose
Forget the label. Ask three questions: who made it, what is in it, and where is it sold? Then smell it on your skin, not on paper.
Questions we often hear
What is the difference between niche and designer perfume?
Designer perfumes carry a fashion or heritage brand name and are sold widely. Niche perfumes come from houses built around perfume and are sold in selective shops. For Arthur Cukier, the real difference is distribution.
Is niche perfume always better quality?
No. Some designer perfumes use excellent materials, and some niche brands are mostly marketing. Judge the perfume, not the label.
Is Borsalino perfume niche or designer?
Both. Borsalino is a heritage brand founded in 1857, so it is designer by name. The perfumes are built like niche: rare materials such as Italian iris and a perfumer with carte blanche.
Why are some niche perfumes sold everywhere now?
Many niche houses grew and joined large distribution networks. They are then sold next to designer perfumes, which blurs the line.