Interview of pH fragrances for the Fragrance Foundation

✨  Interview of pH fragrances from the Fragrance Foundation OCTOBRE 2024  ✨

Camille Le Feuvre launched the perfume brand pH fragrances in 2018. With its Magnolia and Pivoine de Soie perfume, the brand was a finalist in the first edition of the Responsible Innovation Prize for a Perfume, in 2020. 

pH fragrances is a committed niche brand, whose range consists of eau de parfum, body care and home care. How has the brand evolved since its launch six years ago, and what are the plans of its creator?

 Camille, pH fragrances was launched 6 years ago; How do you see the progress made over the last six years?

This is the path of a pioneering entrepreneur! pH fragrances is the creation of a new perfumery, a niche perfumery that is both sustainable and committed.

pH fragrances is the perfumery that I dreamed of and that I finally invented.

It is an exceptional natural perfumery that is both ethical and responsible, from the sourcing of ingredients, development, formulation, production, to distribution.

We have therefore opened a path to a new, modern and committed perfumery!

To date, pH fragrances has received six Awards which reward our commitments.

I am very happy and also proud of the path taken by pH fragrances, that of the creation of a French perfumery which innovates, which brings more meaning and progress.

It is a path of entrepreneurial and artistic freedom of expression, it is also a path of passion, but it has not been the simplest of paths in a destabilizing and extremely complex global context for several years.

Today, the brand pH fragrances is distributed in 41 countries and more than 200 points of sale.

Our customers are unanimous on the beauty of the brand, our qualities and our commitments.

Our distribution is currently confidential; we are working to ensure that the brand is even more widely distributed, in order to promote our values.

What are the brand's commitments, exactly?

Our commitments have 3 inseparable components: for health, society and the environment. In addition, our commitments are cross-category, both in perfume, body care and home care.

It is a real technical and olfactory feat that was achieved, despite the most restrictive specifications that we had imposed on our 20 French industrial partners, who carried out exceptional work of quality, naturalness and sustainability. It took more than 3 years of research and development before launching the brand, while managing to bring together industrial partners behind the vision we had, more than 6 years ago, of more sustainable luxury.

We can't imagine the amount of science and innovation that goes into our products!

Our health objectives were, for example, to ban controversial ingredients in all of our 8 product categories, in addition to European regulations, which are already the most restrictive in the world.

From an environmental and social point of view, for example, we have selected the highest qualities of natural ingredients, which are certified: Orpur® from Givaudan. These natural raw materials are the “grand cru” of perfumery ingredients.

More than 40 of our natural ingredients are Orpur® certified: they are collected in an ethical and responsible manner, with a magnificent school construction program, access to drinking water, electricity, reforestation, etc.

Contributing to participating in 40 social actions is certainly unheard of for a niche perfume and perfume brand in our industry.

Furthermore, transparency is at the heart of our products: we share all of our commitments across the entire value chain in detail on our website and also through our digital application Sorga (blockchain technology).

Our products embody our values ​​and our commitments.

We assume, we embody and we communicate since the beginning of the creation of the brand on our values ​​and our commitments.

It is a role that pH fragrances takes on as a pioneer and even that we are given as a “challenger” on TV and radio sets… and that we have accepted to move the lines with style, it is a pioneering role that is necessary to evolve our industries.

You mention the notion of “pioneer”. How do you see this role?

This role of pioneer in this case, which we also call visionary, is a pioneering role which is both thankless and necessary: ​​pioneers are needed to move the lines. It’s because there are pioneers that things are moving!

It takes 10% to 15% of a population (or an industry) to act in one direction for an entire industry to shift, this is called the inflection point, or the tipping point. Thus, with our pH fragrance products, we offer concrete solutions, a response, an innovation and that is what is transformative.

It is our actions in life in general which set an example and which inspire and will inspire other actors to follow this path of innovation and commitment.

The pioneering role in our industries should therefore be much more encouraged.

The big challenge that I had, already 6 years ago, was to link sustainability to desirability, and thus bring perfumery to this transition, because our perfume industry is very traditional, and still today very coded.

Based on personal convictions, I created pH fragrances 6 years ago, a committed brand considered as visionary. According to experts, all luxury goods (watchmaking, jewelry in particular) will move towards sustainability, and perfumery will follow the same path too!

pH fragrances is therefore still a little ahead today and contributes to creating the sustainable future of our industry.

Are you experiencing any obstacles today?

The pH fragrances brand is still a little ahead of the curve, but I think you can never be too far ahead when it comes to ecological, societal and health issues.

The reality on the ground is that innovating across the entire value chain is much more complex and difficult than not innovating. Also, having everything produced in France, in a context of international mass industrial production, is a challenge. However, it seemed important to us to preserve French artisanal know-how and thus ensure local jobs and transmission to future generations.  

Today, across the entire value chain, the actors of change are doing exceptional work: from sourcing, with the sources of natural and sustainable raw materials, then the composition houses, such as for example Givaudan with whom we work on the all of our 8 perfumes, which have put in place magnificent aid programs for growers around the world, then the brands which by selecting these ingredients highlight all these commitments and thus respond to the demands of consumers who are looking for products of exception, more committed and more natural.

For the moment, the perfume market is very commercial and the primary criteria for brand selection by distribution are not the commitments to health, the environment, society or made-in-France...However, these criteria are criteria for the evolution of our societies and our industries.

On this value chain, distributors are starting to arrive with this approach and understand that by selecting committed brands, with meaning and quality, they also become accelerators of progress.

As actors of change, we are ready: the entire value chain is finally aligned to express the future of sustainable perfumery!

You recently opened a pH Fragrances store in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Could you tell us more about this new stage of the brand? 

 Yes, it was a pop-up store that was supposed to last a month, and, as it was a success, we extended it for eight months! I loved being in contact with customers. We learn a lot from our customers. We achieved almost a 100% conversion rate, meaning that a person who entered the store purchased, and 70% repeat purchases for other products from the brand.

Thanks to this experience, we also decided to launch our perfumes in 50 ml format.

Every day, it was wonderful to witness the “wow” effect on the quality of our products and the incredible feedback from our customers!

This experience was very enriching and we are now ready to open our own stores in larger cities.

You also created “pH fragrances the podcast” to share behind the scenes of the brand, and “pH Education”, an e-learning platform to learn how to create your brand. How did these proposals come about?

pH fragrances, since the creation of the brand, we have been keen to communicate on the backstage of creation, the raw materials, the flower fields, the perfumers, the laboratories, the manufacturing factories...to share behind the scenes of exceptional French know-how both on social networks, on our site and via our podcast which is celebrating its 1st year.

Furthermore, thanks to this path as a pioneering entrepreneur, I decided to create pH Education, the first e-learning platform to learn how to create your brand from A to Z in marketing, digital, business; to help those who want to get started, create their brand, innovate and have a positive impact. Explaining, sharing and transmitting are also part of my values!