Shameless rip-offs (by established names) that turn your stomach with their cheekiness of theft

chez bond and cool water that knocked off green irish tweed

-- Regardless of what Creed says otherwise -- it's widely known among those who should know that Pierre Bourdon (Cool Water, Kouros, Feminite du Bois, etc) also created the accord (Ambroxan, crab apple, dihydromycenol, octin esters) that made Green Irish Tweed what it is. It is also known that he basically just made the whole fragrance. But who cares, someone had an idea, and it worked. In Cool Water, Bourdon just used his own accord to make something more substantial, more satisfying.
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Perfumers copy each other all the time, whether it's accords or frameworks of whole fragrances. At one time they thought of setting up a committee to monitor it, but they soon figured out that it would be smarter to give perfumers the freedom they need -- If one perfumer can do a better job than another, then more power to 'em. Someone has to make quality fragrances. One thing leads to another.

Which came first... Green Irish Tweed or Truefitt & Hill Freshman?

Bond No. 9 is becoming the king of this... Bleecker Street, Ralph Lauren Purple Label; Saks for Him, Pal Zileri Concept N.18; Chez Bond, aforesaid list. Among many others...

The price they charge and for it to be a rip... wow.

This dead horse has been kicked to the limits. However, it never seizes to amaze why a company would waste the resources to produce a blatant copy of an existing fragrance. The wise thing to do would be to chose which version suits you best. Thats all you have to do.

I'm really grossed out by Unforgivable by Sean John (M.I. knock-off).

Creed Himalaya (2002) that knocked off Paca Rabanne XS pour Homme (1993).

"A few years ago, a committee was set up in France to look into the problem of plagiarism in fragrance. A jury composed of professionals and perfume lovers was to decide whether a fragrance was a blatant copy of an existing one, and act as an expert witness in several juicy lawsuits. The idea foundered when it became clear that such a committee would probably reject some of the greatest fragrances ever made: Rive Gauche was an unsweetened Calandre, Dolce Vita the dusky sister of Feminie du Bois, and the list goes on. In each case, however, the copy was arguably better than the original. Perfumery is still a classical art in which, as Charles Colton once put it, imitation is the sincerest flattery. The fact is that perfumes, like species, usually evolve in incremental steps. When cosely related, they can even interbreed to produce rare and splendid hybrids..........."

Luca Turin

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The article continues by telling a long story about the creation of a great fragrance that used "...the bone structure of Cristalle, the flesh of Diorella, the flattering hue of J'Dore and the radiance of Tommy Girl, and fused them all into a seraphic being we foolishly thought would never come...."

Maybe this is why they say "ignorance is bliss"...?

But seriously, if the copy is indeed better than the original, why not? Good for the consumer, I say. But I have some issues when it comes to companies producing obvious replicas, package them in fancy bottles and then charge customers an arm and a leg for them. Yes, Bond No.9 - I'm looking at you.

i thought bond were ripping off creeds. a well good thing i'm not so interested in both houses. what about that cool water git thing though? it's the same perfumer so who owns the recipe? the company or the nose?

Because it's easy, inexpensive and perfectly legal.

Put another way: it's much less expensive than developing and marketing your own truly unique fragrance, then seeing it bomb once it hits the department store shelves.

I am sorry to disagree on these two fragrances. There are definitely many close copies out there but these two are not copies. Bois d' Iris is such a much more complete fragrance than Bois d' Argent. Other than the iris butter note these two are hardly copies of the same fragrance. Bois d' Iris is the much better of the two and is much woodier, more masculine and a finer fragrance all around. Bois d' Argent was too sweet and one dimensional. They are both iris fragrances but I don't think one is a knock off of the other. Since Bois d' Argent had its limited release and fade from the scene there have been quite a number of very fine iris fragrances created which was more a result of the discovery and launch of new less expensive iris butter chemical formulas being developed rather than any intention to copy or emulate Bois d' Argent. They are too different from each other to qualify as knock offs.

Wait. Huh?

Perfume formulas are usually (I think) created as works-for-hire, hence the manufacturing company that pays to develop the perfume owns the formula and not the company who's logo appears on the bottle or the perfumer who made it. Not that being the sole owner of the formula grants any protection, it's a trade secret and people are free to copy it as long as they gain the information from reverse engineering, independent work or even revelation from a legal allowed source.

That's just it. You can't patent a fragrance, and it's relatively easy and inexpensive to reverse-engineer any fragrance with gas chromatography.

I don't understand the appeal of super-expensive Bond #9 frags that seem very similar to ones that have been around for a long time (and are a lot cheaper). Can someone explain this? Is it that most buyers are unaware?

I sincerely hope so!

Glad I'm not the only one ! *LOL*

A&F's Colden blatantly copied CK Euphoria.

I think that big multinationals are responsible for this: a local perfumist has her own version of Terre D'Hermes and it smells almost the same as the original. Even a local company selling eaux in drusgtores sells an eau that has the same notes as Terre D'Hermes in EdC strength. I know both companies buy their essences to Firmenich... so it is Firmenich the company that is actually making possible that those that are not eager to spend USD 140 for a 3.3 fl OZ bottle of Terre D'Hermes can actually spend USD 25 in its knock-off or USD 10 in its EdC-strength knock-off version. Call it "fragrance democracy" if you will.



Basically, they operate over the (very human and natural) perception that high prices mean higher quality. In the case of fragrances, these are very difficult to asses: first of all, there are literally millions of blends being offered in the market, so consumers would have to make an almost infinite amount of comparissons in order to make an informed purchase decision. And second of all, assesing notes takes time and knowledge, and consumers don't have the time (nor the will) to acquire the expertise necessary in order to make technically savvy purchase decisions. Besides, perfumes are specialty as well as postional goods, this meaning they are used by consumers in order to influence perceptions in others and in themselves.

So, high prices and quality work as a kind of file-compression system of all these benefits to (most) consumers.

Of course, this works in certain contexts, mainly in prosperous economies and in cultures where conspicous consumption is socially approved.

BTW, this reminds me of the "sappeurs".

As my signature says: All novelty is but oblivion.....
many new things are "refurbished" old formulas that people have forgotten....And, as Luca Turin points out, some new frags are a blessing for bringing to life old discntinued frags, as, for example kenzo Flower.

Appart from that, I believe that similar frags as GIT and CW, are usually similar in their top notes, whith very different mid and bases, where the quality makes a difference.
It is my belief that some perfumers that made masterpieces with low budget, want to recreat their creation with the grandeur of a niche house´s budget!

Many well known perfumers has signature accords, like Nicolai´s candied orange top, or Duchafour transparent incense... Usually we dont complain about similar fragrances within the same house...but when the perfumer acts as a "flying parfumeur" sometimes it happens the same as with flying winemakers: Duchafour or Giacovetti or Ellena are similar to Paul Hobbs or Michel Rolland....we sense the similarities of their different pieces of art....

So, my point is: There are obvious ripp-offs....but sometimes other things are happening
cheers!

Pablo

Well, here are some blatant 'flattering homages' I have noticed:

The Ten Party is a total rip-off, I mean offshoot, of PdN New York

Creed Royal Delight smells a LOT like the original formulation of Obsession Men

Tom Ford Italian Cypress smells like Halston Z-14

Tom Ford Arabian Wood smells just like Balmain Ivoire

PG Corps et Ames smells a whole lot like EL Knowing, and I don't mind that at all.

Hillaire reminded me - The Party in Manhattan is a Mitsouko knock off but a damned good one and one I am pleased is there.

That's so true, too.

Xerjoff Oesel and Fleur du Male share more than a few similarities.
Xerjoff Mefisto is pretty close to Creed SMW
Montale Red Vetyver was obviously heavily inspired by Terre d'Hermes.

Said this once and I'm gonna say this again

Chrome is a shameless copy of CKOne

Bod Man Bod Heat seems to have copied Rochas Man. I prefer Bod Man though since it's easier to get and less expensive, it even projects a little more.

I still disagree with CW ripping off GIT, or them even smelling alike. The more I wear them, and the more I think about them, the more I realize the bigger differences. CW is so much darker and more under that Zino Construction, and GIT is so much more of a fresh, bright green and floral mixture. This being another thread all together though. Actually there are other less known fragrances that seem to have attempted shameless rip offs at GIT such as Dunhill Pure.

As for any others though Cuba Gold definitley rips off Le Male, I mention Cuba gold over any of the others that are similar to Le Male, because I think this one does the best job.