When describing his fragrance brand Fugazzi, Bram Niessink points to a somewhat unexpected comparison: Supreme, the streetwear brand that defined much of 2010s fashion and made a white box logo T-shirt into a coveted collector’s item on par with a designer bag. “In 2017, when I used to live in the U.S., every Thursday, [Supreme] had a drop that was very limited, and people dressed fully in Gucci or Prada outfits to get a T-shirt for $40,” said Niessink. “I don’t want to create a brand based on price. I want to create a brand based on the community behind it and the feeling you have with it.”
Niessink, who founded Fugazzi in 2018 after graduating from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, also describes his perfume brand as “playful luxury.” That positioning, with full-sized perfumes starting at $120 a bottle, makes it an ideal fit for Sephora, which has been steadily expanding its fragrance selection from designer mainstays like Versace and Carolina Herrera to a new wave of niche brands, like Kayali and Borntostandout. In March, Fugazzi entered more than 100 U.S. Sephora doors and hosted a booth at Sephora’s Sephoria event in Los Angeles.
“At Sephora, we’re always looking for brands that offer something distinct while meeting the evolving needs and preferences of our clients. We know our customers value the opportunity to explore unique fragrances, especially those with education through strong founder voices and rich storytelling,” Carye Campbell, svp of fragrance merchandising at Sephora, told Glossy in a statement. “As we continue to expand our fragrance assortment, we’ve been so pleased to introduce our clients to Fugazzi — with its bold, avant-garde POV, Fugazzi offers unique scent profiles that drive discovery, inspired by ancient Egyptian oils and scents. We look forward to supporting the brand’s continued growth at Sephora and continuing to deliver the best in fragrance to our clients.”
