Inter Parfums signs another personal care contract

The contract will build on successful recent ventures with retailers Gap and Banana Republic, which have helped to drive a significant improvement in the company's US turnover for the most recent quarter. Inter Parfums will design and manufacture the new line for New York, which will be sold at the company's retail outlets throughout the United States, as well as on the company's website. "We anticipate that the initial line of bath and body products will be in New York & Company stores late this year or early next year,"​ stated Jean Madar, CEO of Inter Parfums. "The bath and body products that we are developing are designed for the target New York & Company customer, the fashion-conscious, value-sensitive women between the ages of 25 and 45,"​ he added. The agreement means that Inter Parfums will be responsible for product development, formula creation, packaging and manufacturing while New York & Company will be concerned with marketing and selling the new line in its stores. New York CEO Richard Crystal said that the new personal care line represented a vital part of the company's growth strategy for its well recognized portfolio of own brand products. "​Bath​ and body products represent an ideal new category for brand extension,"​ Crystal said. "We expect this effort to assist us in increasing items per transaction and importantly grow sales in a category that is highly demanded by our customer base." ​ Inter Parfums is hoping that the latest contract will help push it further into the personal care contract manufacturing field, particularly in view of the fact that it has already helped it to achieve significant growth. Last month the company announced a 141 per cent increase in its net sales in North America, up from $8.2m in 2005, to reach $19.8m for the fourth quarter of 2006. The company said that this growth was achieved through strong holiday season sales of its personal care lines at both Gap and Banana Republic retail outlets throughout the United States. It is now expecting that further growth in the US market during 2007 will be driven by the launch of new personal care products that are being created for the Gap North America stores. In May over 70 new bath and body products will be unveiled in 150 Gap stores throughout the US, followed by a Gap eau de toilette mooted for launch in June, with the rollout continuing throughout 2007.