Inter Parfums and Gap expand personal care agreement
announced that its agreement to design and manufacturer personal
care products will now be extended to Gap Outlet Stores and Banana
Republic Factory stores throughout North America.
Gap announced that it was re-launching its personal care and fragrance lines with the help of Inter Parfums last July, after it said it wanted to try and prop up sales in its apparel division by expanding in the faster-growing and more lucrative personal care category.
The new agreement means that Inter Parfums will assume responsibility for manufacturing and managing the existing lines, while also developing several other new products and gift items to supplement the group's existing personal care range.
Inter Parfums says it will be responsible for the product development, formulation, packaging of the personal care products, while the Gap group will be responsible for all marketing and retail activities for the product lines in the Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory stores.
The new product line-up will appear in the stores by the end of this year, in time for the holiday season, while a range of new products will hit the store shelves throughout 2007.
"Our relationship with Gap has been gaining breadth since the signing last summer," said Jean Madar, chairman & CEO of Inter Parfums.
"As we reported in November, we began transitioning component sourcing and production of existing fragrance and personal care product lines for Banana Republic and Gap stores to our suppliers and contract fillers. We are very excited that today, our role has been expanded to include outlet/factory stores."
Inter Parfums has also found sales growth thanks to its associations with another leading clothing brand, Burberry, although profits have more recently been hit by a hike in the royalties that Inter Parfums has had to pay to the company to market its fragrance using the brand's identity.
Gap's decision to bolster its personal care offering forms part of a now well established heritage of clothing retailers offering personal care lines. Leading retailers with similar operations include Calvin Klein, Armani, Hennes & Mauritz and Tommy Hilfiger.
In 2005 the company sales jumped 16 per cent to $273.4m and is estimating that sales will top the £300m mark during the course of 2006.
