Jacomo

In 1968, the Jacomo brand was founded as a small business on New York's 5th Avenue by American James Kaplan and Frenchman Gerard Courtin. Today Jacomo Inc, based in New York, oversees what has become a global fragrance brand, with major markets in France, Italy, Spain, Holland, and Belgium. The brand has continued to thrive in the fragrance industry by constantly reinventing itself and refocusing its audience. The company's penchant for reinvention can be seen in its three most recent releases. 2003s Paradox Green reinvents the Paradox fragrance, Silences Purple is a youthful take on the original Silences, and 2005s Jacomo for Her expands the brand's greatest success in men's fragrance to women's.

The company developed its first fragrance line in 1970, a masculine scent called Eau Cendree, closely followed by a feminine counterpart called Chicane. They remained a reasonably small business throughout the seventies, catering primarily to an elite New York clientele. The brand became more widely recognized in 1980 when it released Jacomo de Jacomo, a crisp men's scent featuring florals, Sandalwood, and Patchouli. The fragrance came on the heels of its 1978 women's counterpart, the powdery floral Silences, but quickly outshone it, becoming the best selling fragrance for Jacomo at the height of its initial success. In the next decade, the company experienced a lull, launching only Parfum Rare in 1985 and its relook, Coeur de Parfum, in 1987. In 1991 they perked the industry's interest again with its release of the very first duo fragrance, breaking the tradition of releasing men's and women's paired fragrances a year or two apart. The line, called Anthracite, featured a musky, fruity and floral women's scent (Anthracite pour femme) and a fresh rose and clove-based men's scent (Anthracite pour Homme). It was launched as a 'couples scent' with the sales pitch, 'they are made for each other but can live one without the other'. The brand continued to gain strength throughout the nineties, releasing Ambro and Perle de Silences in 1996 and the highly successful Paradox for women in 1998, closely followed by the suede-based scent of Paradox for men in 1999. 2000 saw the release of another duo scent, Aura, and in 2002 the brand celebrated its successful reinvention of itself with a reincarnation of its most popular scents, Jacomo de Jacomo, relaunched simultaneously with the new Jacomo de Jacomo Rouge.