Abel

Abel was founded in Amsterdam in 2013 by Frances Shoemack, a New Zealander who had spent her earlier career in wine before the fragrance industry's dependence on petrochemicals and synthetic materials provoked her to attempt something different. Her premise was uncompromising: create contemporary, sophisticated scents using only 100% natural ingredients—no synthetics, no petroleum derivatives, no concessions to the conventional wisdom that natural perfumery cannot match the performance and complexity of its laboratory-assisted counterpart. Working with master perfumer Isaac Sinclair and Dr Fanny Grau, Shoemack built a collection of unisex extraits and eau de parfums that deploy biotech-derived sustainable ingredients—many of them by-products of other industries—to achieve the depth and longevity that natural perfumery has historically struggled to offer. The fragrances are 100% natural, biodegradable, and vegan, and the packaging is developed with low environmental impact as a design constraint rather than an afterthought. Abel now ships to more than 25 countries from production centres across Amsterdam, New Zealand, and New York. In a category crowded with brands that use natural rhetoric while relying heavily on synthetics, Abel's technical commitment to full naturality is verifiable. The house is frequently cited as one of the most credible leaders of a genuine natural fragrance movement—not botanical tourism but a rigorous argument that perfumery's future does not require petroleum.