Douglas
European perfumery retailer since 1821.
The Douglas story begins in 1821, when Scotsman John Sharp Douglas founded a soap factory in Hamburg, introducing coconut oil into production to dramatically shorten manufacturing time. His Chinese Sky Soap won a medal at the first World's Fair in London in 1851. The transition to perfumery came in 1910, when Anna and Maria Carstens opened the first Parfümerie Douglas on Hamburg's Neuer Wall under licence from the Douglas name, establishing a retail format that would become a European institution. Douglas grew through the twentieth century into a multinational perfumery and cosmetics chain headquartered in Düsseldorf, operating stores across Germany, France, Spain, Poland, and other European markets. The Douglas Group is now one of the largest prestige beauty retailers on the continent, carrying thousands of brands alongside its own private-label fragrance line. The company has had various ownership structures, including a recent period of CVC Capital Partners investment before returning to Frankfurt's stock exchange. The Douglas private-label fragrances occupy the accessible tier, designed for the retailer's core customer seeking quality scent at moderate prices. The brand does not publicly credit individual perfumers for these in-house compositions.
DNA over time
Each column is an era. Each colored band shows that family’s share of accord weight across every perfume the house released in that window. Bigger band = the house leaned harder on that family.
