The fragrance segment is one of the fastest-growing of the beauty industry with a global value of €54.8 billion in 2024 and projected to reach €66.8 billion by 2030 based on Statista projections. But established perfume brands are facing an unexpected challenge: dupe fragrances.
Those nearly identical alternatives to luxury perfumes have evolved from cheap knockoffs to sophisticated products that threaten to change traditional pricing models and consumer expectations. While they just represented 4.5% of the market in 2024 according to our estimates, they will surge to 8.9% by 2030.
Beauty executives need to recognize a fundamental change in how consumers, and especially younger ones, perceive value in scent and act accordingly.
What exactly is a dupe?
Unlike counterfeit perfumes, which illegally replicate branding and packaging, dupe fragrances operate in a legal grey area.
They avoid trademark infringement by using terms like “inspired by” rather than direct comparisons, and they often tweak names just enough to stay within legal bounds. For example, Eden Perfumes’ “Shelimars” is a clear nod to Guerlain’s Shalimar, while Zara’s Apple Juice evokes Chanel’s Chance Eau Tendre.
Zara Apple Juice – Zara’s website
The technology behind these replicas has also advanced. Brands like Divain, The Essence Vault and Dossier use gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) to break down luxury scents into their molecular components, recreating them at a fraction of the cost.
The result? A dupe of Creed’s Aventus made by the Essence Vault which cost only 7% of the original fragrance (20.95€ vs 310€ for 100ml) that many consumers swear is nearly indistinguishable from the original.
With such compelling value proposition top dupe perfume manufacturers are thriving. Founded in 2019, The Essence Vault generated €35m in 2023, twice as much as in 2022. It is currently valued at more than €115m and is investing €13m in a new production facility in Northern Ireland.
Creed Aventus dupe – The Essence Vault’s website
Why are dupes now booming?
Dupe perfumes have experienced a huge boom over the last 5 years. Between April 2020 and March 2025 the Google trends index on dupe perfume was increased 8.9-fold. For the most popular perfumes, searches have more than doubled every year for the last 5 years and Baccarat Rouge is the most searched dupe perfume notably following launches of a dupe by Zara.
The affordability factor
Luxury perfumes are notoriously marked up, with the actual fragrance liquid often accounting for just 1% of the retail price. The rest goes toward marketing, packaging, and brand prestige. Dupes strip away these costs, offering consumers access to high-end scents at a fraction of the price.
In a context of general inflation and economic uncertainties this makes dupes an increasingly attractive option especially when perfume brands have been pushing prices up. While less publicized than increase on iconic bags, prices of iconic fragrances from major luxury brands have quietly surged with an average increase of 30% between 2020 and 2024 in the USA, twice as fast as inflation as per our estimates.
Furthermore, many luxury brands have introduced exclusive collections like Dior’s Collection Privée, sold alongside their more accessible lines. The core of the offer of fashion brands’ luxury perfumes is around 300 euros for 100ml in France but pricing can go much higher with Louis Vuitton selling its 100ml Pur Oud Perfume for 1,500€.
The impact of social media
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become hotbeds for dupe culture. Hashtags like #PerfumeDupes have amassed over 500 million views, with influencers comparing alternative perfumes originals.
For example, paulreactss is one of the major perfume influencers on Tiktok with 2.1M followers and he has published more than 70 videos testing and recommending dupes often responding to requests of its followers looking for a dupe of a particular perfume.
Gen Z shifting preferences
Gen Z has embraced dupes without shame, seeing them as smart choices. For them, the priority is getting a smell they like at the best price. According to a study by Business Insider and YouGov, nearly half of U.S. Gen Z shoppers have intentionally purchased a dupe, and 71% say they often choose cheaper versions of branded products.
Even in the general population buying a dupe is getting normalized with 41% of Europeans having already bought a dupe and 30% having not purchased a dupe but ready to consider it according to data from Statista.
The web blind buying boom
Online shopping has made “blind buying” the norm. There are entire Reddit discussions, YouTube ‘react’ video subgenres, and TikTok livestreams devoted to blind perfume buys where influencers review fragrances for their followers. Some brands are tapping into this trend by selling sets of small sized perfumes. For example Diptyque offers a set of 5 7.5ml perfumes but price is still hefty at more than 100€. Alternatively companies like Decantx rebottle authentic perfumes in small size whose price start around 10€ for a 2ml atomizer.
But with a 100ml dupe perfume costing generally between 15€ and 20€ consumers are increasingly willing to gamble on a cheap dupe first.
Legal limitations
Unlike handbags or logos, scent formulas can’t be copyrighted. While brands can trademark names and bottle designs, the fragrance itself is fair game. A rare 2006 Dutch case (Trésor) ruled that a perfume’s smell could be protected, but this remains an exception.
Why dupes are a serious threat to perfume brands?
The boom of dupes has real damaging consequences for perfume brands.
Erosion of exclusivity
Luxury fragrances have long relied on scarcity and prestige to justify their prices. Dupes democratize access, making once-exclusive scents available to a mass audience. If everyone can smell like Baccarat Rouge 540, does the original lose its cachet?
Baccarat Rouge 540 – Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s website
Margin pressure
With dupes selling for 10-20% of the original’s price, luxury brands face growing pressure to justify their markups. As master perfumer Christophe Laudamiel stated: “Fashion brands get perfumes as cheap as possible, put them in bling bottles, and sell them expensively.”
How are luxury brands fighting back?
Doubling down on craftsmanship
By highlighting what can’t be replicated such as centuries of expertise, rare ingredients and proprietary molecules brands can reinforce their value proposition and justify their pricing. As such, perfumes houses are regularly sponsoring exhibitions and cultural events to showcase their know-how. For example, during its 2024 event in Paris “L’Iris de Chanel”, Chanel showcased the process of cultivation and processing of iris which has been exclusively supplied by the same company in Grasse for forty year. Iris roots, which costs $65,000 per kilogram, are a key ingredient in N°5 and this ingredient notably explains the inimitable smell of the fragrance and justify its price.
We can also highlight the example French perfumer Fragonard which houses a free permanent museum above its flagship store located next to the Opéra house in Paris.
Innovating beyond scent
Limited editions, personalized fragrances, and refillable bottles create exclusivity that dupes can’t match. For example:
- Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle prints the perfumer’s name on each bottle and offers personalized consultations, creating an “experience” beyond just the scent that dupes can’t replicate
- Le Labo city-specific fragrances (only available in certain locations or during limited periods) create artificial scarcity that prevents widespread duplication
- Guerlain Habit Rouge special collaboration with cognace brand Hennessy launched in March 2025 offers a collectible element that cannot be copied
Le Labo City Exclusives – Le Labo’s website
Technological innovation can also prevent dupe perfumers from copying original scents. Symrise, a major fragrance supplier, has been developing CryptoSym, a technology that encrypts scent formulas to prevent reverse engineering by blurring the results of gas chromatography analyses regarding fragrance ingredients. This technology is based on the use of a colourless and odourless universal base that creates various interferences during a gas chromatography analysis. According to Symrise, Cryptosym can blur the identification and quantification of 40% ingredients and fully encrypt 29% of ingredients.
Yet, this technology whose development started in 2018, still lacks widespread use (in 2022, the Cryptosim had been reportedly been applied to 45 formula). This is likely either due to cost concerns or limited real life efficiency but as this technology matures it might offer a new form of protection to perfumers.
Playfully embracing the dupe conversation
Some brands are also leaning into the dupe trend.
In the fashion industry Lululemon organized a viral “dupe swap” initiative in 2023 in Los Angeles where it invited customers to exchange their imitation leggings for authentic Lululemon products.
By allowing customers to directly compare knockoffs with genuine products, Lululemon wanted to showcase its superior materials, craftsmanship, and performance and ultimately convert sceptics into long-term customers. The unconventional campaign generated significant media attention and social media discussion, reinforcing Lululemon’s market leadership.
Could a luxury perfume house do the same? The success of such an initiative would depend on the ability of the brand to clearly communicate why its perfume justify their premium pricing. This might be a risky move as if the quality difference isn’t substantial enough the comparison might backfire.
Lululemon dupe swap pop-up – The Lab Fabrication’s Instagram
Turning the dupe threat into an opportunity
For all the challenges dupes present, they also reveal gaps in the market that luxury brands can exploit.
Tiered offerings
Brands could diversify their offer and launch “masstige” line, notably through collaborations and special edition as shown by Zara’s perfume line which truly started to gain traction after it started to collaborate with perfumer Jo Malone (retired from the eponymous brand acquired by Estée Lauder) in 2019.
Zara x Jo Malone – Zara’s website
Transparency as a selling point
Educating consumers about ingredient quality, craftsmanship and ethical sourcing can differentiate true luxury from budget alternatives.
For example Dior’s 2024 exhibition in Tokyo “Miss Dior Stories of a Miss” dedicated a section to the making of Miss Dior showcasing the painstaking extraction of Grasse rose petals.
Miss Dior Stories of a Miss – Dior’s website
Guerlain also developed its platform “Bee Respect” which gives transparency and traceability on its sourcing processes. On this dedicated website, customers can search for any Guerlain product and get an overview of the full supply chains from the “fields to the stores”.
For example, ingredients used to produce Shalimar are manufactured in France (alcohol and water), Italy (bergamot essence), Madagascar (vanilla) and China (ethylvaniline). Packaging is made in four separate French cities while manufacturing and recycling takes place in the Loire valley.
Shalimar’s product life cycle – Guerlain’s Bee Respect website
Leveraging the hype to attract new customers
As Marc Chaya, CEO of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, observed: “Dupes may be step one for consumers to enter a more beautiful fragrance world.” The dupe culture could serve as a “gateway” to luxury. A consumer starting with a dupe might develop an appreciation for the original fragrance and aspire to buy the original.
The dupe phenomenon isn’t going away if anything, it’s forcing the industry to evolve. The winners will be brands that can articulate why their 300€ perfume is worth the splurge, whether through storytelling, innovation, or an outstanding inimitable smell.
For beauty executives, the lesson is clear: in a world where scent can be copied with no real legal protection, true luxury must be about more than just what’s inside the bottle.
Leave a Reply