Founded in 1945, Marseille-based studio Cadentia Species initially focused on detergent manufacturing, before diversifying expertise in the 1990s, by creating a perfume and Eau de Cologne division. After the two activities were separated, the perfume entity was renamed Cadentia and established in the close town of Aubagne to develop a turnkey solution offering as a private label as soon as 2010. The company was then acquired in 2019 by Simon Ménard, and in 2020, amid the pandemic, it ventured into the manufacturing of pocket-sized hand sanitizing lotions scented with orange blossom. It was an immediate success, paving the way for new opportunities.
Turnkey creations
Afterwards, Cadentia focused on its main activity: supporting brands in developing and producing fragrance ranges. The group mainly works on the global stage, in particular with fashion brands and store chains, including in Taiwan, Italy, Chile, Germany, Turkey, and other countries.
The company offers a turnkey service and end-to-end support, from the olfactory concept to final manufacturing.
“We do not craft perfumes, but we select, formulate, and assess proposals by working in close collaboration with our partner perfumers”, explains Pierre-Luc Lacoste, Managing Director of Laboratoires Cadentia.
Then, the group manages each step in the value chain, from selecting and developing bespoke packaging to manufacturing and packing finished products, alongside regulatory compliance and quality control.
“A development project usually takes from 12 to 18 months, depending on its complexity and regulatory requirements. The plant produces about one million units per year, with a great diversity of products, from mid-range fragrances through chain production up to 200,000 units, to fine fragrances. For example, we manufacture a perfume for an Italian client for which each element is assembled by hand and sold in luxury stores”, adds the Director.
To meet the rising demand for small series, Cadentia has also set up a platform, parfum-sur-mesure.fr, for entrepreneurs to launch their own perfume lines starting from 50 units.
“We offer an olfactory library with more than 40 scents, customizable packaging and comprehensive support. There is real demand from entrepreneurs in this segment, which is why we created this solution”, says Lacoste.
Two proprietary brands
In parallel to its subcontracting activity, the company banks on two brands with eclectic profiles. The first, Jean d’Aigle, is one of the heritage brands in the fine fragrance market. Founded in 1945 in Switzerland by alchemist perfumer Jean Soutter with a focus on eaux de Cologne, it was reinvented and expanded last September with a repositioning in the niche segment and a strong olfactory identity based on distinct notes.
In addition to the original eaux de Cologne, the collection is now also composed of eaux de parfum, fragrances, and elixirs with various concentrations. The brand also reviewed its visual identity with a distinctive design, as can be seen with the red-coloured Elixir set featuring an eagle in gold lettering, as a reference to perfume alchemy and to the Swiss alpine village of Aigle (“eagle”), where Jean Soutter came from.
“We have carried out extensive rebranding work and olfactory research. In the niche perfume segment, you do not aim to appeal to the largest number of people, but to create an iconic trail and offer your customers a unique scent experience”, explains Lacoste.
Jean d’Aigle is distributed in France in concept stores with a strong identity, like Maison Empereur in Marseille, or Merci in Paris. On the global level, it is available in particular at Fortnum & Mason in London, where it is a best-seller in the niche offering. Discussions are under way to expand in the US and China.
In pharmacies and parapharmacies, the Laboratoires Cadentia brand launched in 2023 was born from the opportunity represented by scented hand-sanitizing lotions. It offers a range of travel-sized, refillable and eco-friendly products, including hand sanitizers with orange blossom and flax flower, a mint mouth spray, a cotton flower deodorant, an argan-based moisturizer, and scented mists with sunny notes. Packaging is refillable and contains 15% wheat straw to reduce the use of plastic.
“These products smell good, and they are both ecoresponsible and affordable”, says Lacoste. He is planning to broaden the offering next September with a range of solid soap for the hands, body, and hair, new hand creams, a new range of deodorants, new sensorial fragrances, and sprays that were redesigned to be even more convenient, in particular while travelling.
The brand is distributed in 1,000 pharmacies in France, and firmly established in the south of the country. It aims to reach 3,000 to 3,500 pharmacies by 2028.
A private label cosmetics project
The Cadentia Group intends to achieve a revenue close to 4 million euros in 2026, and to double it by 2028. To this aim, the company has planned to build up a new plant near Marseille by 2028-2029, so they can develop a private-label cosmetics activity. Their own brands’ global expansion is also on the agenda.
