German fragrance and flavor manufacturer Symrise lowered its organic sales forecast for 2025 on Wednesday, citing more cautious consumer demand in key global markets.
New De Laire bases by Symrise
The Germany-based group, whose fragrances are used in perfumes by French luxury majors LVMH and Kering, now expects organic sales growth of 3% to 5% for the year, down from its previous forecast of 5% to 7%. It maintained its projected core profit (EBITDA) margin at around 21.5%, slightly above the original guidance of 21%.
“We are observing a shift in global market demand, with heightened consumer caution across certain sectors,” said Jean-Yves Parisot, chief executive officer of Symrise. He added that internal “self-help initiatives” were expected to support margin improvements.
The company aims to reach recurring cost savings of 40 million euros ($46.2 million) in 2025 through operational efficiency efforts, of which 20 million euros had already been achieved in the first half of the year, it said.
Revenue for the January–June period fell 0.5% on a reported basis to 2.55 billion euros, below analyst expectations of 2.60 billion euros, according to a Vara Research poll. However, organic sales — which exclude currency exchange effects — rose 3.1% during the same period.
Swiss competitor Givaudan also reported weaker-than-expected organic sales growth last week, highlighting broader concerns over softening demand in the sector.
“U.S. demand has simply weakened over the past few months,” said Olaf Klinger, chief financial officer at Symrise, during a conference call. He noted that the pet nutrition and UV filter categories were among the most affected.
On the subject of U.S. tariffs, Klinger said the company had already implemented price increases in select cases and was prepared with additional mitigation strategies.
“We have the opportunity to relocate products if the tariff situation does not allow continued delivery from certain regions,” he said. “We also have reformulation options, meaning sourcing raw materials from other regions to ultimately manage tariff situations.”
If anyone thought the JW Anderson label would take something of back seat after Jonathan Anderson landed the creative chief’s role at Dior, they couldn’t have been more wrong. And the latest development at the weekend showed JWA is still very much front of mind for Anderson.
JW Anderson
The company opened a Pimlico Road store, in a part of London known for its antique stores, design boutiques and homewares specialists. It said the new store “naturally aligns with the brand’s growing Home and Garden collection”.
Each of the label’s locations “absorbs and reflects its surroundings” and for this one, “within an environment of timeless design, Home and Garden sits at the heart of the store, accompanied by a selection of Ready to Wear, Shoes and Accessories”.
There’s also an emphasis on art. The inaugural art installation presents six sculptural sconces by British artist Kira Freije. Drawing from welding, glassblowing and other craft processes. The works will be available exclusively in-store until February. Meanwhile ready-to-Wear from the latest collection “including pieces rooted in local craftsmanship, are shown alongside collaborative objects by international artisans”.
JW Anderson
We’re told that “curating is an utterly personal passion, which Jonathan Anderson now channels into a re-articulated JW Anderson”.
As with the brand’s Soho and Milan flagships, the store concept has been developed by architects Sanchez Benton. Spanning two floors, its layout is “shaped by velvet panelling that creates intimate, distinct rooms”. And as well as the main retail area, the lower ground floor houses a dedicated Press and VIP Salon, “offering a private environment”.
The opening comes hot on the heels of the brand’s Miami pop-up that opened during the city’s Art Week in partnership with luxury retailer The Webster, running until 15 December.
Under his creative direction, Fursac joined the Paris Fashion Week calendar. Over five years at the helm of design for the French menswear brand, Gauthier Borsarello, whilst remaining true to its formal roots, ushered in a new tone.
Under the stewardship of the vintage specialist and co-founder of L’Étiquette magazine, the brand, which was still called De Fursac on his arrival and had just been taken over by the SMCP group, staged its first presentation with Borsarello for the spring/ summer 2022 season. Last January, he held a catwalk show to present his autumn/ winter 2025-26 collection. In mid-December, he announced his departure via his Instagram account.
“I would like to sincerely thank Daniel Lalonde, Elina Kousourna, Alix Le Naour, Evelyne Chetrite, and Judith Milgrom for the opportunity to work at Fursac five years ago as creative director. This chapter has been meaningful, both creatively and professionally. I’m grateful for the trust, the dialogue and the freedom to contribute to the evolution of the brand,” he wrote in a message dated December 12.
“I’m particularly proud of the studio, design, image, and communications, and of what we’ve achieved together: bringing the brand into the official Paris Fashion Week calendar after just one season, and continuing this journey through to the Paris Fashion Week show in January 2025. Thank you for the experience, insight and relationships built along the way. I will carry them with me on my path.”
In five years, the designer introduced modernised silhouettes and strengthened Fursac’s casual wardrobe, placing particular emphasis on fabric choices. He also broadened his references, from football and surfing inspirations to a more cutting-edge creative realm centred on music and the arts, as demonstrated in his spring/ summer 2025 presentation through a collaboration with artist Lionel Estève, whose work has been shown at the Musée Picasso in Paris.
The group has not yet commented on the French designer’s departure, confirming the decision to FashionNetwork.com but, for the time being, not setting out any organisational plan for its design direction.
The brand welcomed Louise Bousquet-Andreani as its general manager at the beginning of the year. For the time being, activity at its historic premises and boutique at the Richelieu-Drouot corner, on the Grands Boulevards in Paris, has been put on hold, FashionNetwork has observed. According to SMCP, this is for administrative reasons, and the teams have moved to another group site.
Fursac’s business is reported under the group’s Other brands segment, alongside Claudie Pierlot, in SMCP’s published results. After seeing sales reach 167 million euros in 2023, this division declined to 148 million in 2024. In the first nine months of 2025, sales were stable year-on-year at 108 million euros, with group sales of 895 million euros.
Following the completion of legal proceedings regarding the actions of its former shareholder, the group’s current majority shareholders announced on November 27 their intention to sell their shares.
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With openings worldwide, campaigns that blend its alpine roots with urban ambitions, and expansion into new distribution channels, Salomon has achieved undeniable visibility. Since its parent’s IPO in early 2024, the label has pursued an aggressive strategy to build brand awareness and drive activation.
Scott Mellin – Salomon
As global chief brand officer, Scott Mellin has played a key role in this strategy. Joining a year before parent company Amer Sports’ New York IPO, the former The North Face employee, passionate about innovation and marketing, announced on December 15 that he will leave the alpine label on April 1.
“These three years devoted to the brand’s vision have enabled Salomon to achieve remarkable progress,” Mellin said in his message, thanking his teams. “But what I am most proud of lies behind the vision itself: the strengthening of a culture of creativity, deeply rooted in Salomon’s DNA. Together, we have refined our design excellence, improved our communications, and elevated our visual storytelling to a level that stands out in the industry.”
Mellin noted in particular that the label has “doubled our brand awareness and tripled our innovation capital, thanks to a new standard of creative excellence,” and that Salomon now benefits from “a new and improved retailstorytelling concept for the monthly implementation of the master plan,” while management has succeeded in harmonising the global vision for the retail concept.
In the third quarter of 2025, the Performance Outdoor segment, which includes the Salomon brand, saw its sales jump 36% year on year to $724 million.
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