Commodity

Commodity is an American perfumery founded in 2013 that describes itself as the first digitally-native fragrance brand [1]. It began as a Kickstarter campaign pitched as an effort "to change the fragrance industry forever," building a following by selling scent online at a time when most fragrance discovery still happened at a counter. After an abrupt closure in 2019, the brand was acquired by the distribution company Europerfumes and relaunched, returning to wider retail and finding a second audience through social media.

The company is now based in New York City, where it operates a flagship store, and remains active in e-commerce and at Sephora. Its catalogue is organised around single-word, element-themed scents and a personalization system the brand calls Scent Space.

Commodity was brought to life by a global crowdfunding campaign in 2013, which the company frames as the start of "the first digitally-native fragrance brand" [1]. The original venture grew quickly on word of mouth: by 2019 it had brought sixteen fragrances to more than 600 retail doors worldwide, and industry sources cited by WWD estimated sales of between $24 million and $27 million over its first few years, achieved largely through organic, non-sponsored content [5].

The brand positions itself around the idea that "simplicity is the new luxury," and its stated mission is "modernizing artisanal fragrance by making it intuitive, even from behind a screen." Fragrances are named after elemental concepts — Milk, Gold, Book, Paper — meant to reflect the character of the scent inside.

In April 2019 the original company abruptly shut down. Following the announcement, remaining stock was discounted at Sephora and customers discussed the closure on Reddit. Later that year, on 31 October 2019, the fragrance distributor Europerfumes acquired the defunct brand [5][6]. Europerfumes is led by Vicken Arslanian, who took on the roles of re-founder and creative director and who has been described as a serial brand builder trained as an architect [1]. Arslanian, whose company had previously worked only in distribution, said the purchase was unplanned: "I had never considered buying a brand; we were purely distributors. But... I said yes" [6].

The timing of the relaunch is recorded differently across sources. Reporting from October 2019 projected a return in June 2020, with a soft relaunch of products planned for March 2020 [5]. The full relaunch was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately took place in June 2021, the date given by the company and by Glossy [6]. The 2013 founding date is consistent across all sources.

The relaunched line centres on six fragrances — Book, Gold, Moss, Velvet, Paper and Milk — with Milk presented as the bestseller. Alongside these, the brand built its relaunch around Scent Space, a system that offers each fragrance in three strengths described by how far the scent projects: Personal, Expressive and Bold. The company says it adopted this approach to replace conventional concentration terminology, "disposing of this old industry jargon... to give you more control over the projection of your scent" [4].

To support discovery online, Commodity offers small trial sizes and exploration kits, a quiz-based matching tool, and a fragrance glossary. It has also produced a docuseries documenting scent development at the perfume house Symrise, which it names as a development partner [4].

Commodity markets its fragrances as unisex, vegan, cruelty-free and "clean." It is certified by Leaping Bunny and carries the Clean at Sephora designation [2]. The brand operates what it calls a "Blacklist" — a list of more than 80 ingredients flagged by regulatory bodies for potential health or environmental concern, including parabens, phthalates, synthetic dyes, mineral oil, formaldehydes and sulfates [2].

On sourcing, the company states that it works only with perfume houses that prioritise environmental and social responsibility in raw materials, and that it uses synthetic alternatives where natural options are judged less sustainable. It describes most of its packaging as currently recyclable, with a stated goal of moving toward fully recyclable, reduced-impact packaging.

Since the 2021 relaunch, Commodity has been described by Glossy as "a darling of #PerfumeTok," with fragrance influencers creating videos ranking its multi-scent exploration kits [6]. The brand re-entered Sephora following the relaunch and created an exclusive discovery set of six key scents for the occasion, which it planned to distribute widely to its influencer following. Its marketing leadership has framed this digital-first approach as a deliberate move away from conventional advertising, arguing that "the classic sponsored posts... aren't resonating like they used to."

Commodity is active. Since its 2021 relaunch under Europerfumes it has maintained live e-commerce, a presence in Sephora, a New York City flagship store, and ongoing marketing across social channels, and it sells across multiple regions including the United States, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe.