dupes.

A recent news article talks about a silent war that’s happening in the perfume industry.

It’s silent because it’s happening behind closed doors but it’s not an all out war, more a series of raids. As soon as a new perfume hits the shelves, the big perfume producers buy a bottle and have it analyzed in their labs. In a matter of hours they will have a pretty comprehensive list of the materials in the flacon.

If it appears that the pong is selling in quantity (and this sort of data is closely monitored) the rival houses might order their perfumers to make up a similar -but not identical- version of the new release. This could then be licensed to a fashion brand, manufactured, and sent to the shops in the hope of getting a slice of that lucrative pie which is modern perfume.

Everybody knows what’s going on, but nobody complains. And the reason is they’re all doing it.