Perfumery, West Coast Style

"Fragrance industry consolidation helped create the fundatmental need for our company," said Mike Zarkades, president of the ingredients division of Fragrance West's parent company, The ET Horn Co. "What does consolidation mean to most customers? It means prices go up, lead times get longer and minimums go higher. What does consolidation mean for the fragrance industry? Ite measn you have fewer perfumers workong on a larger number of projects; how can that possibly improve creativity?" This state of affairs often forces fragrance suppliers to employ basic scents from their libraries to address customer needs and cost profiles. The result? The control over the direction of the fragrance profile by all parties is reduced. "Where does it end?"

In late 2007, specialty ingredient distributor and manufacturer The ET Horn Co. purchased the assets and accounts of Belmay’s 30-year-old Van Nuys, Californiabased Belmay West fragrance division. “There are a lot of smart people in our industry going in the opposite direction,” says Zarkades. “We wanted to do something completely different.” Under the agreement, Belmay continues to manufacture compounds and supply raw materials to the renamed Fragrance West out of its Chester, New York site. Fragrance West operates in the former Belmay West lab and production facility, which is undergoing extensive renovations and expansion

While the purchase brought a standalone business and an existing customer base in key regions such as the American West and Southwest, Mexico, Central America, Australia, and Asia, Christina Fiduccia, vice president of sales of ET Horn’s essentials group, notes that the strategy was not based on short-term profi t motives. Instead, she explains that ET Horn seeks to leverage the expertise and products of the parent company—particularly those in the cosmetics and personal care area—to add value to Fragrance West’s capabilities and secure new market share in categories such as home fragrance, candles and cleaning products. And so, Fragrance West supports ET Horn’s personal care, cosmetics, skin care and hair care activities, in addition to adding capabilities in fragranced product categories.

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