At Esxence this year, I interviewed key actors for the article* ‘Fragrance creators from China softly whisper and steadily conquer’. The conclusion was that a new season for Chinese innovation was happening forged by a young Chinese generation, bringing about a strong olfactive evolution mixing local traditions and new expressions. With an international ambition, the Chinese brand presence was to become ever more substantial in terms of influence, of market sales, and of participation at trade events in the Western hemisphere. A new ‘Paris Shanghai perfume show’ in Paris was indeed entirely dedicated to China. Chinese brands were on display while ‘Smell Talks’ gave precious insights on the market. I listened intently to the discussions, and scribbled down the words: talented, unlimited, accelerated. It seems that the most striking elements about China are how fast consumer changes are happening, how much local brands are swiftly adapting, how high retail and digital sales are growing, and how much money is being invested. Competition has become so fierce that the financial investment required to enter the market and grow steadily has significantly increased. So here is an update on this matter with the fresh input of key opinion leaders.

A High Jump For A New Scent Space. At a Fast Pace.

With its 25 million inhabitants, Shanghai is China’s biggest city and a world top economical centre where innovation and transformation thrive in most sectors, including the perfume industry. In the busy city space, there is a very dynamic pace; its infectious rhythm impacts all aspects of business but also influences lifestyles including fragrance purchases.

Sheer Numbers Reveal The Chinese Market Adventure.

The adventure is ‘big’ as exemplified by the following extract of ‘fat’ numbers: Frost & Sullivan estimates that with an annual compound annual growth of 14%, the China perfume retail market will reach 44 billion yuan (€ 5.8 B) by 2028. Today, China only has 5% perfume penetration in comparison to 42% in Europe and 50% in the US. The potential target consists of 260 million Gen Z, and 400 million Millenials. There are additional growth factors: the age category has expanded with an earlier start, just above age 15; wearing perfume is now a daily habit and the fragrance addiction has expanded from the Tier 1 to Tier 2 and 3 cities, Tier 4 is the next frontier. The ‘volume up’ comes together with a ‘value down’, with popular small size bottles of 9ml at ~ €15 euros, or 5ml at ~€11 and 2ml at ~€2. Niche brands like Etat Libre d‘Orange have aptly developed such new mini format(s). The search ‘perfumes for less than €10’ (in yuan) is huge. Digital, as we know, has a ‘gigantic’ dimension in China, with a variety of channels each with its own specificity that require mastery to crack their ‘mystery’. Social media platforms include Douyin, Weibo, Red, Zhihu, Wechat, and Bilibili while e-commerce platforms encompass Tmall, Taobao, Jingdong, PDD, RED and Douyin. One thing is a certainty, playing in this immense digital world is a necessity but requires massive investments. This is where the retail game comes into play, allowing lower spending budgets and unique client experiences. Local niche brands (Documents, To Summer...) have created their own instore print magazines, with exquisite design and rich content, thereby creating a powerful engagement and intense dialogue with clients and their social communications. Another key aspect of the market is the rise of innovative brand animations in vital retail spaces, a real test of creativity with immersive popups allowing for an ultimate sensory and memorable experience.

Major Exhibitions Display Chinese Perfume Innovation.

At Notes Shanghai, 16-19 October 2025, many Chinese brands belonged to the list of high-end selected brands. Major stands displayed themes with a Chinese resonance; dsm-firmenich had a ‘House of Musk exhibition”; Mane named it “Dunhuang Resonances”; Notes Shanghai “Osmanthus in Perfume”... Quite interestingly, Notes Shanghai has signed a strategic partnership with Messe Frankfurt for a faster international growth; no wonder that ‘Past and Future’ is the exhibition headline this year.

In Dubai, at Beauty World 2025 27-29 October, Olivier Viejo, Vice President for Fine Fragrance Experience, Africa, Middle East, Türkiye at dsm-firmenich was one of the key speakers at the event. He interestingly picked the topic “New emerging international markets: China and India,” one close to his heart as he has been based in Shanghai for the last ten years and was previously in charge of Fine Fragrance Asia.

In the upcoming Fragrance Innovation Summit on November 26 in Paris, the Chinese market will also be featured within the major trends and latest innovations in fragrance development.

China's Perfume innovation Requires Local Production.

Most of the leading world fragrance companies are increasing their production capacity in China, expanding their manufacturing plants, and/or purchasing new facilities. The main challenge of the financial model is how to amplify the business to achieve an increased capacity at the right level of quality. Givaudan has just announced a new state-of-the-art 30’000 square-meter facility in Guangzhou, that by 2027 will house a total of 150 employees. Back in 1980, Robertet was amongst the first to establish a centre in Shanghai with Chinese David Huang as Senior Technical Director & Master Perfumer. Naturals are a key focus for the company so the centre ensured (and still does) the sourcing of local ingredients, a key requirement in China.

Tapping into traditional roots by using local ingredients is paramount when creating scents for the Chinese market. The most common raw materials are tea, osmanthus, incense, cedar, medicinal herbs, sandalwood, and oud. The list sounds familiar to a Western nose, but the Chinese ingredients have very specific olfactory notes and create distinct perfumery codes.

A Craving for Subtle Fragrances and Gentle Nuances.

As scents tap into cultural elements, local specificities must be known. Let’s pick tea, Chinese drink their tea black, without milk and sugar and without any added flavours, when Western tea lovers typically enjoy Earl Grey with bergamot. Osmanthus has its own story, the Western world likes its leathery ambery notes whereas in China, the flower is the scent of autumn, it fills the streets with its delicate fresh and apricot tones that are expected in a perfume. Chinese have no desire for ‘beast mode’ overdosed olfactory trails and yearn for scents filled with harmony. They appreciate a delicate balance of freshness-woodiness-fruitiness in a skin, ‘intimate’ fragrance. Interviewed at the Paris Shanghai show, Florent di Marino, perfumer at Symrise, based in China for the last nine years, explains the clear preference for light, yet long-lasting fragrances. With this in mind, he composed ‘Pomelo’ for the brand ‘Soulvent’, launched in the summer and instantly becoming a bestseller thanks to its fresh notes and strong tenacity.

What about the question: Chinese Nationalism In the Local Brands Dynamism?

I asked Lan Xiao, a young Chinese creator, founder of Wondersenses, a multiple brand umbrella company that includes Tombstone, and here is her answer:

She explains this manifesto of difference, rich in poetic references for the local and international audience, splitting from the European-centered crafted perfumes. Chinese artisan brands explore the incremental market away from the mainstream, where campaigns of big brands do not dominate, and reach a new open space.

Local Spiritual Inspirations Into Modern Creations.

China is defining a distinct beauty, rich in collective identity and full of modernity. A blend of tradition and innovation, a unique expression of an Eastern culture into a new olfactory identity. Chinese brands have for sure the clear advantage of understanding their domestic market ‘inside out’ or at each level, like the ‘top-mid-base’ notes of a perfume composition. They can decide to follow Western influence, adapt it for their Eastern audience or sculpt their own modern fragrance.

A Scent is About Identifying with an Aesthetics Lifestyle.

In an interview for Jing Daily, Antoaneta Becker, who has lived in China for more than 20 years and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese explains:

More than anywhere else in the world, in China, a fragrance brand offers ‘magnificence’, a beautiful entrance into a lifestyle and aesthetic vision of the world.

One of the Chinese brand winners of the mAPA awards 2025, was the fragrance ‘The voice from the sky’ from the brand ‘Voice from the Sky’. The founder, Tianle Feng, is a graduate of the French Perfumery School ISIPCA and his creative intent is to capture moments of contemplation, full of aspirations and dreams. His fragrance creations are artistic, high in emotions and in cultural relevance.

Another example is the German Design Award winner, ‘Zhufu’. Every single element of the brand, the packaging components, have been designed with an artistic and consistent hand. The founder, Bobber Wang, explains the inspiration behind his brand name; a bamboo is never alone so like a fragrance it connects people together; bamboo also brings good blessings and prosperity. One iconic perfume from the collection is ‘Donglin’, a temple located in the vicinity of Shanghai, a place full of spirituality. Developed by Robertet’s Chinese, Paris-based perfumer, Men Gu, the fragrance is composed with an overdose of incense, gently balanced by rose, fir, sandalwood and oud.

Innovative Fragrances in the Chinese Space by CPL Aromas.

To gain further insights, I had a precious interview with Ruby Wang, Sales director, for CPL aromas who joined the company in 2023 after a career at l’Oréal and dsm-firmenich. The company opened its first office in China in 2008 and is now ranked in the top ten fragrance houses. It has two offices, in Guangzhou and Shanghai, with around 80 people between sales, marketing, business development, customer service, regulatory, and production. It is in the Hong Kong office where the 8 creative perfumers are based, with 2 new ones who arrived in the last 5 years. Ruby is keen to underline the company’s tailor-made approach for its ‘niche’ client brands that she refers to as ‘small is beautiful.’ Fine fragrances are the number one sales category, so the company is extremely focused on understanding the current trends and grasping the market complexity. She explains how diversified the Chinese trends are; the main ones are ‘Guo chao’ (China chic), Chinese culture pride (cultural traditions), gender-neutral, wellbeing | nature | environmentally friendly and girl power.

Fragrance, a Desire for Independence. Girl Power.

Ruby says that the majority of perfume purchases is made by young urban women. They are well educated, proud of Chinese traditional culture, but also interested in the Western world, so that they are curious to embrace modern brand experiences and try different fragrances. Inspired by aspirational brand stories, city girls choose a perfume that best represents their unique personality. Ruby confirms that their preference goes to subtle fragrances, pleasant and understated scents, not overpowering. Chinese are increasingly more discerning and interested in ingredients and their wellbeing claims. They are also paying more attention to the corporate social responsibilities’ programs of brands. CPL Aromas expands the list of China’s iconic ingredients referenced above, by adding lotus, magnolia, saffron, centella asiatica, lychee, agarwood, and aloe. Chinese consumers also appreciate ‘exotic’ ingredients such as guaiac wood, iris, patchouli, ylang ylang and vetiver.

Concerning the competitive advantage of local brands, Ruby could not agree more. Local brands not only understand their clients better, but they also excel at creating an emotional bond. Chinese brands harness to perfection the change of seasons, cultural expressions, and design aspirations that resonate with their audiences. She also points out the importance of aesthetics in a fragrance so that a perfume bottle can be placed in a living room in a Chinese apartment.

‘To Define’ is a creative brand for whom CPL Aromas has developed fragrances. ‘Limerence’, composed by the prestigious inhouse senior perfumer Lam Siu Chung is a great example of his work. Lam received the "Perfumer of the Year" award from the China Golden Osmanthus Awards in 2024. His creations have become a paragon of the fusion of Eastern and Western fragrance cultures. As in a three-dimensional oil painting, his perfumes have intense notes outlining distinct contours while incorporating a delicate texture of Eastern watercolor, with shades of fragrances like graduations and transitions of colors.

High Above the Sea, Here is the Scents' Future to See.

In this place, perfume leaps are not linear, but exponential, reaching new heights at an accelerated tempo. The fragrance industry appears to be in a race for gigantic ‘Olympic’ world records set by young talents. In Shanghai, the Young Fragrance Impulse Surges High.

A NOTE FROM OUR PUBLISHER, SILVIO LEVI

This article shows the extreme vitality of the perfumery sector in China, which should be considered both in terms of the acceptance of perfumes already present in Western markets, especially by the younger generations, and in terms of the increased interest in the use of perfumes among the population of large cities and, subsequently, the entire Chinese population.

In this second area, the cultural aspects and social values of potential consumers are and will continue to be extremely important.

Having participated in the mAPA Awards selection process, I noticed that many approaches by Chinese brands were imitations of existing best sellers. But then I began to see, particularly with new brands or independent perfumers, a way of using ingredients that may initially seem less “friendly” but which introduces a form of olfactory attention and communication in which certain ethnological aspects are respected and gradually blended with more classic formulas and, as has happened with food, allow us to approach more easily with other cultures. This is further evidence of how perfumery follows the evolution of human relationships and helps us to empathize more easily with others who are less “different from us” and from whom we can learn something new every day and enrich ourselves internally.

Chinese brands want to be appreciated in the Western world and enter the niche luxury market. Then, almost certainly, their development will be mostly focused on the Chinese market, where they have the potential for exponential growth as it consolidates. The West will be their launch pad, where they will become increasingly present.