HISTORY of COTY - Thanks to Cotyperfumes.blogspot - this is from their blog -. It's an amazing place for all things Coty .I am providing the cliff notes version for full version go to their website - LINK
La Rose Jacqueminot, named after a highly fragrant breed of long stemmed roses first grown in France in 1853 who were named as a tribute for the famous heroic general of the Napoleonic war.
Francois Coty purchased a large stock of rose essence from the essential oil manufacturer Alber Camili, who had declared bankruptcy. The inexpensive prices due to the company going out of business made it easier for Coty to buy large quantities in bulk.
He decided to adopt his mother's maiden name, Coti, it was much easier to pronounce than Sportuno, and it was then made easier by transforming the "i" to "y".
It is said that Coty tried unsuccessfully to market the perfume to several department stores, an exasperated Coty cleverly flicked one of the Baccarat crystal perfume flacons onto the floor of the cosmetics department, where it shattered and the fragrance blossomed into the room. The female customers wanted to know where they could get this mystery scent, and the manager looked to Coty and his armful of bottles. The clients were so spellbound by the scent, they had purchased the entire stock within a few seconds.
Coty got an order for $15,000 worth of his perfumes. The department store saw the immense potential of Coty's perfumes and offered him counter space in order to sell his wares. It was this stroke of genius that helped propel Coty’s illustrious career. A deal was made between the department store that evening Coty received an order for twelve or fifty bottles (the references vary) of La Rose Jacqueminot Within days, 500 bottles of La Rose Jacqueminot were sold.
Another fact is that at the end of 1904, La Rose Jacqueminot was a true triumph of blended synthetic products. The fragrance was based on cabbage roses and composed of aldehydes, attar of roses, jasmine, violets, sweet and green spices and synthetic materials called ionone and rhodinol. It is described as a creamy, dark and rich honeyed rose, slightly animalic, powdery, mossy with jammy rose notes. A rose chypre to end all desires...of orange blossom then comes jasmine, rose, heliotrope, and ylang ylang. 1904 was also the year that Coty launched his company.
With blending and selling, there was only one last step on the ladder to success: the perfume bottles themselves. For his perfumes, Coty wanted only the finest bottles without exception.
Baccarat supplied the large containers for La Rose Jacqueminot and eventually produced thousands of the slim, classic bottles that most collector’s associate with the scent.
Coty then joins with his neighbor, Rene Lalique in 1908. Later, the perfume was housed in elegant bottles by Rene Lalique and the perfume labels were designed by Lalique for usage on his bottles.Lalique designed the bottles for Coty's early scents, such as Ambre Antique and L'Origan, which became bestsellers. He also designed the labels for Coty perfume, which were printed on a gold background with raised lettering. Besides pioneering the concept of bottle design, Coty was responsible for making perfume available to a mass market. Before Coty, perfume was considered a luxury item, affordable only to the very rich. Coty was the first to offer perfumes at many price points. His expensive perfumes, in their Lalique and Baccarat bottles, were aimed at the luxury market, but he also sold perfume in smaller, plainer bottles affordable to middle and working-class women. Coty perfume bottles, though mass produced, were carefully designed to convey an image of luxury and prestige.
The collaboration between the two men lasted until the death of Francois Coty.c1931 ad
In the early 1910s, François Coty was set apart from the rest of the perfume houses of the day. He aspires to create a fragrance for every woman.
Coty also invented the idea of a fragrance set, a gift box containing identically scented items, such as a perfume and matching powder, soap, cream, bath salts, lipstick and cosmetics. With blending some of the perfumes in the process of the cosmetics, Coty, left the age of the craft to enter fully into the industrial age.
In 1908, Coty relocated his manufacturing headquarters to Suresnes, just outside Paris. He acquired property in the area and began to build what would become "La cité des Parfums", a large complex of laboratories and factories that manufactured his products. There, 50,000 square meters of workshops and laboratories were located alongside a glass works that could produce up to 100,000 bottles per day. La cité" had 9,000 employees who and were all dressed in pristine white coats. This allowed Coty to meet the burgeoning demand for his products in France and abroad.
It was at Suresnes in 1917, that one of the greatest successes of the house was launched, the perfume Chypre. It is classified as a fresh mossy aldehydic chypre fragrance for women. It begins with a fresh top note of citruses, followed by a classic floral heart of carnation, rose, and jasmine, layered over a warm, mossy base of Mexican vanilla, Indian musk, Mysore sandalwood, Venezuelan tonka bean, Tibetan civet and oakmoss.
During the first World War, importations of Coty products to the United States from France were halted and American retailers had to rely on selling the only stock that remained on their shelves. Although the war ended in 1918, it wasn't until 1921 that regular importations to America resumed in full speed.
In the 1920's, Francois Coty extends its empire outside of France, from distribution agreements in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany and Romania, and also in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. After World War I, demand for French perfume grew at a rapid pace. Many American soldiers had been stationed in France during the war and they brought back Coty perfumes to their wives and relatives. Coty realized the importance of the lucrative American market and began to widely distribute his products in the United States
The History of Coty 1921-1930
In early 1920, Coty had become one of the richest men in the world. This refined aesthete then starts collecting beautiful women and prestigious homes.
In 1921, with the help of executive Jean Despres, Coty created an American subsidiary in New York to handle the assembly and distribution of its products in the American market. The American offices assembled their own Coty products from raw materials sent by the Parisian factories, thus avoiding the high tariffs on luxury products in the United States. This allowed Coty to offer more competitive prices on its products.
Coty (England) Ltd., was formed in 1924 to handle distribution in the British Isles, while Coty S.A.R. (Societate Anonimă Română), formed in 1927, because of tariff restrictions in the Balkans, manufactured at Bucharest finished products from essential materials imported from the parent company in Paris for distribution in the Balkan States. Both these companies were established on a satisfactory earning basis.
Societe Francaise des Parfums Rallet carried on a business dating back to 1842 in Russia anddestroyed by the Russian revolution, only to be revived in France after the first world war.
Les Cultures Florales Mediterrannes is the fifth unit of the European group, having been organized in 1925 to develop an independent source of supply for jasmine and orange blossoms. About 50 acres near Cannes are planted with jasmine, while 94 acres have been planted with orange trees near Naples. By 1932, this acreage was expected to produce at low cost the greater part of the essences used in the business.
1921 also saw the introduction of the classic Emeraude, classified as an oriental fragrance for women. It begins with a fresh, citrusy top, followed by a sweet floral heart, layered over a sweet, balsamic, powdery base. The 1920s also saw the release of Paris (a floral perfume inspired by the successful Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant), Le Nouveau Cyclamen, La Fougeraie Au Crépuscule (said to be Francois Coty's final perfume before his death in 1934), and L'Aimant.
Coty soon expanded his product line to include cosmetics and skin care, and expanded his distribution network to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. By 1925, 36 million women worldwide used Coty face powders. His most popular product was his Air-Spun face powder, launched in 1934. Coty collaborated with famous costume designer Léon Bakst to create the look of the Air-spun powder box.
Coty commissioned Rene Lalique to refine and develop the powder puff theme for the AirSpun powder boxes. At the same time, Coty met Georges Draeger, the best known engraver of the period, and called upon him to study the problem of reproduction. Together Lalique and Draeger submitted the final design to Coty in 1913 - an overall motif of white powder puffs with gold and black handles set off against a gold brush-stroked background of orange. The only trade name identification on the top of the box was a tiny lettering of the name "Coty," no bigger than 6 point type, on one side of the box cover. All other descriptive matter was relegated to the bottom of the box, thus not marring in any way the beauty of this thoroughly feminine French package.
Buyers in Paris from all over the globe saw the package, realized its vast merchandising possibilities and ordered it for every highway and byway of the world.
It became so popular that soon afterwards Coty launched the Air-Spun powder scented with his most popular perfumes, such as L'Origan, L'Aimant, Paris, and Emeraude. By the 1940s, the powder puff box was reserved exclusively for L'Origan. Coty introduced differentiating designs for its other three famous scents— Paris, Emeraude and L'Aimant in 1937.
In 1928, his American business alone was appraised at some 90 million dollars.
After 1929, Coty's fortunes began to diminish considerably. Both Figaro and L'Ami du Peuple had been losing money for years and his perfume business had been affected by the 1929 Wall Street crash. But it was his divorce that most contributed to his financial ruin.
The History of Coty 1931-1940
The crisis of the 1930's offered him, he believed, an opportunity to go into politics. Elected mayor of Ajaccio in 1931, François Coty flirts with the far right. But the economic crisis which thrive on leagues and fascist movements will be fatal. The industry has indeed sunk millions into his journals. Millions that can no longer provide the house Coty, whose sales have collapsed since the early 1930's. He died almost ruined in 1934.
Creator of the National League of Youth French and French Solidarity,a fascist league who became famous before the Palais Bourbon February 6, 1934, Francois Coty did not hide his sympathies for Mussolini. Its influence, however, must be relativized. Elected Senator from Corsica in 1923, he saw, just after his election invalidated.
Founded in 1932, the National League of French youths suffered a stinging defeat in legislative elections held that year, garnering just 20,000 votes. As for French Solidarity, François Coty in the numbers swelled artificially using massively proletariat Maghreb, allowing the "Duck chained" to rename the mouvement "Silidariti French. 25,000 members strong, the movement participated in the day, 6 February 1934, but did not survive the death of his generous donor.
Coty was also a fierce anti-Semite. In a long series of articles in L'Ami du peuple, he accused Jewish bankers and financiers of enacting "bloody, rapacious, inhuman, tyrannical policies" that had ruined the world. He blamed Jews for establishing communism, for robbing France of its pre-war wealth and glory, and for creating a worldwide economic depression. According to Coty, Jews had allied themselves with Germany and were responsible for its increasing militarization. His incendiary writings did not go unnoticed; on July 1, 1933, he was found guilty in court for libel against Jewish war veterans' groups in France.
He died in 1934 at his home in Louveciennes, of pneumonia and complications after an aneurysm. The day after his death, the castle Artigny, their pride is placed in receivership.
"I missed one thing: I never managed to capture the essence of honeysuckle", "said Francois Coty, shortly before his death in 1934, one of his friends who told him:" Everything you wanted, you've got. "Francois Coty was certainly fulfilled with money, women, power, fame.
The History of Coty 1961-1970In 1963, Yvonne sold Coty Inc. to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, with the stipulation that no member of the Coty family would be involved in the company. Under Pfizer, the company began to distribute its perfumes almost exclusively through drugstores, instead of in department stores as it had previously done. In 1992, Pfizer sold Coty to the German company Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH, which owns it today.