(Newswire.net — August 21, 2020) — Since launching The Journey To Sustainable Luxury in 2013, Chopard has come to be known for its commitment to environmental protection, and championing ecologically sound ways of sourcing and creating luxury products.
With this in mind, the latest feather in the cap of the brand is a range of fine fragrances that are made up of responsibly sourced materials from all over the world. Chopard aims to prove, with these fragrances, that luxury doesn’t just mean the best ingredients and most extravagant products, but also mindfulness of the environment and how we affect it in creating these products.
Chopard And Sustainable Luxury
The Journey To Sustainable Luxury began in 2013 with the launch of the Green Carpet collection at the Cannes Film Festival. In partnership with Livia Firth And Eco-Age, Chopard unveiled a high jewellery collection that relied on Fairmined gold exclusively, proving to the rest of the industry that this could not only be done, but should be considered going forward to ensure the continuance of the industry as we know it.
From this launch, Chopard has since been able to make all of their jewellery and watches sustainable, working only with 100% ethical gold across all of their products. After this, Chopard took the next step to look at how they source their diamonds and other precious stones, ensuring that they were compliant with various ethical and responsible certification schemes. It seems like a natural next step that the Maison would move onto fragrance.
Chopard Parfums aims to be at the forefront of luxury natural perfumery with their ethical vision, leading the rest of the industry in the way that they have done for gold and gemstones. The fragrances are designed to be exceptional and luxurious, but also full of only the most environmentally viable and truly natural ingredients. Ethical sourcing is at the heart of Chopard’s fragrance philosophy, so consumers can be sure that however great the fragrance smells, the journey it has had to get to this point is even more pure.
In order to ensure that fragrance production is in line with the brand’s vision for sustainability, Chopard has collaborated with fragrance house Firmenich, already a recognised leader in sustainability with an EcoVadis Gold Rating. Chopard and Firmenich are able to control the ingredients that go into fragrances whilst still ensuring a rich palette of scents through the Naturals Together Programme of sustainable excellence. Finally, Chopard aims to support local farmers and artisans used in the sourcing of ingredients, and only works with supply chains that are fully traceable and transparent.
How Challenging Is It To Make Sustainable Perfume?
The most challenging part of creating sustainable perfume is sourcing ingredients, which is why Chopard’s relationship with Firmenich is so important. Their shared goal of supplying ethical and eco-conscious products to the consumer public helps them to support each other in finding the right ingredients for these fragrances.
The two brands need to consistently work together to review every step of the supply chain and production process to ensure sustainability, meaning things like longer lead-times, extra costs along the way and the need to consistently monitor each project. The cost of luxury natural ingredients is also high, but the two brands work with each other to make this process a success as they believe that the payoff is worth the cost.
Gardens Of The Kings
In June of 2019, Chopard Parfums released the newest collection in their sustainable fragrance line – four masculine luxury fragrances called ‘Gardens of the Kings’. These fragrances are created blending Oud Assafi (one of the most exciting and rare types of oud) with a number of the finest natural ingredients, all expertly created by Master Perfumer Alberto Morillas.
Caroline Scheufele, Artistic Director and Co-President of Chopard, said at the time of the fragrances’ launch: “Echoing Chopard’s high-jewellery creations, this unique collection celebrates the majestic beauty of nature and the endless emotions it awakens in the hearts of human beings,”
“Carefully composed from the finest and most precious natural ingredients, each fragrance showcases, for the very first time, an exceptional treasure from ethical and sustainable sourcing: pure Oud Assafi, the world’s most precious oud.
“I believe these exceptional creations will bring unique emotions and will make the people who wear them feel very special.”
Oud was discovered 3,500 years ago in the foothills of the Himalayas, originating in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh and creating a rich inheritance that has consistently fed and inspired family producer Jalali Agarwood, an icon of excellence in the Naturals Together Programme of Firmenich.
Chopard and Firmenich is working with the seventh generation of Jalali Agarwood, a family dedicated to raising and cultivating oud in a responsible manner. They understand the patience and mastery required to extract and distill Oud Assafi oil, and work with it over decades to ensure the perfect product. This isn’t a quick and easy process – in fact it takes a minimum of 40 to 50 years for the resin to ripen adequately.
For the Gardens of the Kings collection, Oud Assafi was chosen to be the star ingredient, featuring in all four of the scents (Agar Royal, Aigle Impérial, Nuit des Rois and Or de Calambac). The scents are flawlessly blended by master perfumer Alberto Morillas, who said that he imagined them “taking Oud Assafi on an olfactive journey across India, the Far East, the Middle East and South America”.