Khloé Kardashian to Create Fragrances With Luxe Brands
The partnership will culminate in a brand launch in the latter half of 2024.
Luxe Brands has a new celebrity partner.
The company, which also creates
Ariana Grande's eponymous fragrances, is teaming with Khloé Kardashian on a fragrance range that will launch in the latter half of 2024.
Timing was essential, Kardashian told WWD, and she felt ready to revisit the category following past collaborations with her sisters.
“Doing the whole fragrance — picking the liquid, the color, the bottle — I've experienced before, but I'm in such a different place in my life now,” she said. “I'm older, I'm wiser. In business, I don't look to loan my name out to someone.
I'm really hands-on and controlling, which I take as a compliment, and this was the right fit.”
The success of Good American, the brand she cofounded with Emma Grede in 2016, also gave her the confidence to try something new. “Now that Good American is not so much of a baby, I can take on other projects that are passionate to me. I won't commit to something if I can't give it 500 percent.”
Kardashian joins recent celebrity fragrance entrants, from Lionel Messi to Millie Bobby Brown and Beyoncé. Tony Bajaj, chief executive officer of Luxe Brands, said the company had been searching for another fragrance partner in recent years.
“It is key for our partner to be totally in lockstep with their audience,” said
Bajaj. “We have to ensure that any kind of talent shares the same vision and takes an entrepreneurial and forward-thinking approach with us. Khloé happened to be at the top of our list.”
Added Noreen Dodge, chief marketing officer of Luxe Brands, “What we try to do is make sure the brands we're building are intentional and are legacy brands for the category.”
To that end, products will start rolling out next year, and the assortment will fill out on an annual basis. “We are going to be thoughtful in how we roll it out. It will be global, it'll begin with a select number of products that will launch in the fall of 2024, and we will have innovation on an annual basis,” Dodge said. “Whether that looks like a completely new pillar or something else depends on Khloé's vision.”
Executives didn't comment on sales, but industry sources think the business could reach a first-year retail sales volume of $80 million to $100 million.
Kardashian's own taste has evolved, she said, from the saccharine body sprays of her youth to fragrances that are fresher and brighter. “I love for a scent to be classic and for you to be captivated by it. I like florals, but with a musk so it's not super feminine, and clean [scents], too.”
Kardashian's sisters Kylie Jenner and
Kim Kardashian have had their own beauty brands since 2015 and 2017, respectively. Khloé Kardashian said she's learned a lot about the beauty business through osmosis. “We've absorbed so much knowledge,” she said of her family's ventures. “I have my own little focus group of people I can ask questions to.”
She also thinks the industry has changed a lot since her last foray into the category, and so has consumer behavior. “The audience is so aware. The beauty world used to be mysterious and elusive, and through social media, we now let people into the beginning, middle and end,” she said. “People can tell when you're just loaning your name to something, and that's beautiful because I am so hands-on and so are my siblings. We genuinely have to wear it, believe in it, love it and relate to it.”