Founded in 1911, drom is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year, leading the company’s founding family, the Storps—who still run the company today—to look back at its evolution over the past century. Beginning in Munich, Germany, the company’s original iteration was developed by Bruno Storp Sr. and was dubbed “Bruno Storp – Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Products.” It offered various toiletry products, including a soap product that later became known as "Storp’s Floating Soap." In 1921, Dr. O. Martens joined the company, which is where the name “DR.O.M.” came from, and this name was used to signal an emphasis on cosmetics. The company eventually made the move to a focus on fragrance, opening a small perfume shop in Munich in 1935, working with a perfumer named Dr. Clemente. From these beginnings, the company grew to its current international presence in more than 40 countries and with 350+ employees.
The company’s leadership has moved from Bruno Strop Sr. to Bruno Strop Jr. and now to Andreas and Ferdinand Strop. Moving ahead through innovative manufacturing, production, packaging, logistics and ingredients technologies, drom now has locations in New York, Paris, Japan, China, Brazil and more, and works with and develops fragrances for brands around the world, and continues to seek expansion, with Andreas possibly citing India as its next stop and Ferdinand focusing on IT developments that can help link its employees around the globe.
"There’s nothing like the joy you feel when you create an extraordinary fragrance," Bruno Storp Sr. once wrote, and two generations later, under the leadership of his grandsons, drom is still guided by the principles of passion, vitality and creative freedom. "We’ve succeeded in establishing a traditional family business in new markets. Highly creative people have joined the company, and drom has an extremely strong position internationally. We also have many promising opportunities in Paris and New York,” asserts Ferdinand. “drom is like a dynamic start-up company that is full of pioneering spirit. We are continuing to capture new markets, launch inspiring projects, and as a result we are experiencing a constant renewal.”
