PARIS – Matière Première is on a strong growth trajectory.
The French niche fragrance brand closed 2025 with retail sales of about 80 million euros, up more than 70 percent year-over-year, with much of that organic gains.
Freestanding stores are a key part of Matière Première’s strategy. It now has four, with openings on Saint-Tropez’s Place des Lices in May 2025, Paris’ Rue Saint-Honoré in June 2025, Berlin’s Mitte borough in December 2025 and London’s King Street in Covent Garden in early March of this year.
The size of the brand’s shop-in-shop in French department store Printemps Haussmann — also considered a flagship by Matière Première — increased in November 2025 to 325 square feet from 130 square feet.
“We offer an experience in those flagships,” said Caius von Knorring, chief executive officer of Matière Première, explaining they not only sell perfumes, but showcase the main ingredients used to compose them too. “Some of them we grow ourselves.”
That includes tuberose. There are the likes of vanilla absolute from Madagascar and natural Greek saffron on display. In the Paris store, there are more than 40 natural ingredients to be discovered.
Matière Première will next be opening a boutique in Shanghai’s French Concession through a distributor, likely in July. A second Parisian store, on Rue du Bac, is slated for September.
“We probably will be looking also to open a store in the U.S., maybe second half of the year or beginning of next year,” von Knorring said. Altogether, the brand is sold in about 600 doors worldwide.
Matière Première’s robust business gains were due in part to increased sales per door as well as online.
“We are investing on direct-to-consumer through our dot.com,” von Knorring said. That, including all e-commerce channels it’s in today, represents between 15 percent and 20 percent of the brand’s sales.
There was another prime reason for the 2025 sales uptick. “It’s also a lot thanks to the ongoing growth of Vanilla Powder that was launched second half of 2023, but still grew by triple-digits last year,” he said.
Vanilla Powder Extrait de Parfum
Courtesy of Matière Première
The Vanilla Powder franchise was reinforced with the introduction of Vanilla Powder Extrait de Parfum, which was added to the brand’s line of extracts.
“It’s building on this hero product,” von Knorring said, explaining that has included increasing the amount of sampling and advertising campaigns around Vanilla Powder.
The fragrance is popular in all geographies, according to the executive. Vanilla is generally a well-liked scent, but von Knorring said this particular vanilla has an uncommon formulation of which more than 45 percent is made from modern perfumery powders.
“It gives you this feeling of having a cloud of white vanilla around you, so it doesn’t feel heavy or sugary,” he said.
Matière Première cofounders von Knorring, Aurélien Guichard and Cédric Meiffret independently define the brand’s strategy for the long term.
The minority stake Kering took in the brand in June 2024 was not part of the acquisition of Kering Beauté by L’Oréal, which closed on March 31.
Europe remains Matière Première’s main geographic focus. That is where it operates three markets directly — France and more recently Germany and the U.K. Other big European markets include Italy and Spain. The Middle East is historically a strong region for the brand.
“The U.S. has had a strong momentum,” von Knorring said. There, Matière Première was sold mainly in Saks Fifth Avenue and some indie retailers. Distribution was expanded to a number of Neiman Marcus locations.
“Now, we’re also growing our partnership with Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s,” von Knorring said, adding: “China seems to be back.” That’s been since the second half of 2025 and early 2026.
Matière Première launched in South Korea. “We are reinforcing our distribution in Japan and in Southeast Asia,” von Knorring continued. The brand keeps looking for key partnerships in strategic export markets.
Back in France, Matière Première planted a lavender field in 2023 and plans a global introduction in May of a fragrance using that plant.
“This is important for us, because it’s the third fragrance that we launched with an ingredient we grow ourselves,” von Knorring said. “The farm that we have has become now one of the largest organic flower farms in the south of France. It started more like a dream project, and now it is an agricultural reality.”
