By Olivia Hart

Amouage generated roughly $360 million in estimated global retail sales in the first half of 2026, up 74 percent year on year. The Omani fragrance house has grown five-fold over five years, and CEO Marco Parsiegla, who took the role in 2019, credits passion first and a winning team second.

"We are big dreamers," he said. "We have a very clear goal where we want to be — the number-one high perfumery house."

The growth was not concentrated in one corner. Exceptional Extraits accounted for more than 25 percent of sales and rose more than 80 percent. The Essence Collection, built on a double-infusion process, gained more than 260 percent. Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas each grew by at least 90 percent.

Parsiegla laid out his strategy in an interview with WWD. The picture that emerges is a house scaling fast while insisting it will not industrialize the craft.

What does the growth consist of?

The numbers stack up neatly. Roughly $360 million in half a year. A five-fold expansion in five years. Category growth at both the top and the experimental edge of the portfolio.

Parsiegla attributes the surge to three things: rising global relevance, an elevated portfolio, and clients worldwide leaning into higher scent concentrations at what he calls the right value proposition.

Where is Amouage expanding retail?

Boutiques come next, in luxury destinations in Europe and Asia. London is on the map. Singapore is coming.

"The boutiques allow us to portray what we are about," Parsiegla said. "They allow our clients to immerse and understand, and have a halo."

E-commerce and brick-and-mortar, in his telling, go hand in hand. Amouage.com more than doubled sales in the first half. The U.S. serves as the testing field — the most demanding market and, conveniently, the brand's most successful one online.

What new products are coming?

Two white spaces occupy the CEO. The first is where clients physically are: they travel, and a partnership with Mandarin Oriental lets them immerse themselves in a curated olfactive territory.

The second is ritual. The portfolio already includes attars, the pure oils. After testing the Guidance body line, Amouage is preparing a new luxury body line tied to six of its creations.

Geographically, the house operates in 100 markets. The focus now falls on key destinations in Europe and Asia. The SoHo boutique in New York delivered results with an impact beyond Manhattan, and Parsiegla wants to replicate that on the West Coast. China is a big focus.

What is the L'Oréal investment doing?

L'Oréal's minority stake, in Parsiegla's description, is "mainly and firmly a financial investment" and a key enabler of the monobrand boutique rollout.

Alignment came first. "We had a very clear alignment on what Amouage is and what Amouage is not," he said — identity, creative direction, and freedom to operate as before.

The partnership also offers visibility into ingredient developments and regulatory expertise, plus a view on production technologies that could add capacity while everything remains in Oman.

What are the challenges?

Two sit at the top of the list: capacity and supply chain.

Training a craftsman takes three to five years. Securing stable supply has demanded agility, strong systems and partnerships. Amouage currently holds a 96 percent fulfillment rate, which Parsiegla calls best in the industry — achieved, he notes, with a lot of effort.

How does Parsiegla lead?

An engineer by training, he believes in discipline, precision and very high standards, particularly in luxury. But he has learned control alone cannot sustain them.

"My leadership is much more about providing a very clear direction and making sure that there's a high degree of autonomy for people to feel empowered," he said.

The company employs 317 people across about 40 nationalities. Parsiegla wants great ideas to come from anywhere in the organization — more often, he says, from places you would not expect. He thinks in three- and five-year cycles, beyond quarterly streets the private house does not have.

Inspiration comes from outside perfumery: architecture, which creates "emotions without words"; hospitality; the car industry's modularization; and pharma, whose serialization practice Amouage adopted — a first in perfumery, with every product serialized.

Relaxation, for the record, is Omani: mountains, desert, and a weekly frankincense massage.

With a 96 percent fulfillment rate, a L'Oréal partnership and boutiques pending in London and Singapore, the question for the second half is whether craftsmanship at a three-to-five-year training curve can keep pace with demand growing at 74 percent.