Duke Street Capital’s perfume seller celebrates bumper sales of knock-off Chanel fragrance
Hats off to the well-heeled asset managers at Duke Street Capital. The firm's discount retailer Original Factory Shop is shunning originality and raking it in on knock-off designer goods.
Original Factory achieves an annual turnover of around £200m for the private equity firm, and no wonder – a £5 bottle of perfume the firm says smells just like the iconic Chanel No 5 is flying off the shelves at the retailer after only being on sale for a few days.
Ironically named Opulence, Original Factory claims to have sold so many bottles of the fragrance that it's already had to order another shipment. The firm owes the success to its "likeness to the Chanel classic".
Chanel No 5 was first produced in 1919, 50 years before the discount retailer first opened. It was the first fragrance ever launched by Chanel and famously changed the face of the world's perfume industry with its provocative, musky scent.
The aroma is universally renowned, and is the jewel in the century-old design house's crown. A typical bottle of the perfume can fetch as much as £230 in UK department stores.
According to Original Factory, which announced Opulence's launch this week, the super-saver scent has "top notes of florals and citrus, middle notes of rose and jasmine and base notes of vanilla and a woody aroma. These all complement each other to give a fascinating, warm, enveloping fragrance that gives you the feel of luxury at a fraction of the price."
The Capitalist doesn't know about you, but something smells a bit off about asset managers rubbing their hands over a designer knock-off.