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Defining niche vs. designer

post #1 of 6
10/20/06 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
How do you define niche vs. designer? I was trying to think of a few criteria, and nothing fits perfectly. Further, are there fragrance houses that don't fit into either category, or can everything be classified by these two (and possibly "drug store")?
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post #2 of 6
10/22/06 at 10:00am
Puddy, your fundamental impression is dead on--nothing fits perfectly regarding criteria for this distinction.

A search of the forum will probably turn up two dozen threads that discuss this difference, with each poster adding a slightly modified definition from the member who posted previous to him or her. The distinction between the two works for broad subject discussion, but doesn't hold up always when looked at carefully. So it is sometimes helpful, sometimes not helpful. Sometimes it's a war or definitions. A search for these threads over the last few years will show all the variety of ways the definitions work for the variety of members.

I'm very sorry I can't be more helpful and/or more exact.
--Chris
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post #3 of 6
10/22/06 at 11:59am
I'll try to help give some easy distiction between many fragrances you come across.

Designer - Donna Karen, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, etc. These are all companies that are mostly cloth designers but dabble in scent creations. They happen to be huge, muti million/billion(maybe) dollar companies so they turn into creating everything a person needs to go out (shoes, colognes, and of course clothes). That is how I usually think about it. I've also memorized many of the designers and houses so it has gotten a lot easier to tell the difference.

Niche - A lot harder to describe. Usually, they are fragrance houses that cater specifically to the creation of perfumes/colognes. Many also make candles but that has to do with scent so it's related. An example is L'Artisan. That is a niche fragrance house that creates a fine line of more exclusive fragrances. Some common characterisitcs of niche fragrances are: harder to find (not in dept. stores usually (creed is an exeption)), more expensive, less generic, higher amount of natural ingredients (in some cases).

The line that separates the two types is a little fuzzy. I hope this helps a little...
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post #4 of 6
1/28/07 at 1:39pm
This is a good thing to know - especially about the niche frags...

Bumping this UP!
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post #5 of 6
1/28/07 at 6:46pm
DustB and envYuS certainly know more about this than me, but I will add that usually if it can be bought in a department store, it is designer, not always. If it is a pain in the butt to find, it's probably niche. LOL If you can find it in a drugstore, it depends where you live as to whether it is very inexpensive or whether some of them are the same as department stores.
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post #6 of 6
1/28/07 at 8:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TDDanae

DustB and envYuS certainly know more about this than me, but I will add that usually if it can be bought in a department store, it is designer, not always. If it is a pain in the butt to find, it's probably niche. LOL If you can find it in a drugstore, it depends where you live as to whether it is very inexpensive or whether some of them are the same as department stores.

Well put and totally true. Although it probably wouldn't pass as an actual difference in deffinitions it usually works out exactly how you said it. It is quite a pain in the butt to find some of these "exclusive" fragrances that come from the niche houses.

The one exception to the rule is Creed, which is sold in Nieman Marcus. I still can't understand why that is the only house readily available in a department store...
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