Miss Sixty pursues fragrance venture
launch a new line of fragrance, marking its first foray into the
sector - and signaling the continuing allure of the cosmetics
market to designer clothes labels. Tom Armitage reports.
The clothing company has signed a global licensing agreement which will allow major international beauty company Coty to manufacture and market the new fragrance, a move which Miss Sixty claims will be to "target its core audience of highly fashion conscious, experimental 18 to 25 year old women".
The fashion label hopes it can emulate the success of its clothing range, which this year has sold over 22 million items, and has generated a 2004 turnover in excess of €640 million.
Commenting on the announcement, Hans Joachim Honigfort, president of Coty Beauty Europe said: "We are extremely pleased to become partners with one of the most exciting fashion houses, which has achieved tremendous growth over the past decade".
An offshoot of the Energie label, Miss Sixty launched in 1989 and now houses a collective portfolio of 15 brands, and within the next year will have established a presence in over 90 countries, with over 55 flagship stores in key sales locations across the world.
Founders of the Sixty label, Wichy Hassan and Renato Rossi, said that "this is a very exciting new area for us. In our discussions with Coty, we knew we found the perfect partner, as we share the same respect and passion for brands. We have been impressed by their creative energy as well as by their continued and consistent development of successful and exciting products".
Coty is an ideal marketing platform for the Sixty fragrance to launch from, having previously developed best-selling fragrance brands for both Davidoff and Vivienne Westwood.
The company also has the added bonus of being able to capture the celebrity glamour factor, having also launched fragrance lines by pop diva Jennifer Lopez and trendy clothing manufacturer Baby Phat - essential for enticing the image conscious consumer.
The news marks yet another alliance between cosmetics manufactures and designers, who aim to tap into the growing 'medium-price' designer market - for instance CosmeticsDesign announced only last week that UK designer Ted Baker is to launch a new line of powder compacts with its first foray into the domestic UK make up sector.
