When Swedish fragrance brand Byredo launched Mojave Ghost in 2014, niche perfume was still truly niche. Since then, numerous fragrance brands have joined the market inspired by Byredo’s minimalist branding and escapist scents. Mojave Ghost has become Byredo’s top-selling scent in the U.S., and the Swedish brand itself has gone beyond its indie origins with a $1 billion acquisition by Puig in 2022. In 2024, 10 years after its initial debut, Byredo launched a new version of Mojave Ghost in Mojave Ghost Absolu, the first in an ongoing series of intensified versions of its most popular scents.
“The goal was to push the franchise of those icons. … Instead of just doing a flanker, the Absolu was bringing something different, unique,” said Robertet perfumer Jérôme Epinette, the perfumer behind many Byredo hits like Mojave Ghost and Bal d’Afrique. In March, Byredo continued the Absolu versions with the March launch of Blanche Absolu, a new take on the aldehydic Blanche scent originally launched in 2009.
“Of course, you keep your DNA — they are icons for a reason — but we want to push the franchise a little further. It reminds you a little bit of the original icons, but it’s a new journey, almost. So it doesn’t cannibalize the original one,” he said.
Flankers are a common expansion tactic in the designer and masstige fragrance sectors but are traditionally absent in the niche world. But niche brands like BDK Parfums and Ex Nihilo have begun launching higher-concentrated extrait de parfum versions of their top-selling scents in recent years. According to market analysts Circana, U.S. sales of higher-concentration parfums and eau de parfums grew by 43% and 14%, respectively, in 2024.
In the case of Byredo’s Absolu versions of Mojave Ghost and Blanche, the Absolu scents are not higher in concentration than the original eau de parfums, but feature overdoses of ingredients like violet or black pepper. They are higher in price, however; 50-milliliter bottles of the Absolu versions retail for $280, compared to $230 for the original eau de parfums.
“That would have been the easiest way to do it:: Just call it Absolu and make it 30% [in concentration]. But here, we tried to stay the same concentration of the originals but added new ingredients to feel different and unique enough,” said Epinette.
While Mojave Ghost dominates the U.S. market, Rose of No Man’s Land is Byredo’s top seller in Asia, according to Epinette. In recent years, many fragrance brands and conglomerates like L’Oréal have invested in the growing fragrance consumer base in Asia. Byredo first entered Hong Kong in 2015, followed by expansion into mainland China in 2019. In March of 2025, it launched a Tokyo flagship, its first standalone store in the Japanese capital. According to Puig’s full-year 2024 results, APAC remains its smallest revenue driver by region at 10%, with sales in the region growing 3.7% in 2024.
Byredo has far more competitors than when founder Ben Gorham first launched the brand in 2006. Growing in Asia and doubling down on intensified scents have kept the brand in pace with evolving market trends, and it has also expanded into categories like makeup and leather goods. But for Epinette, the driver behind a fragrance’s success remains the same: addiction.
“I don’t have a crystal ball [to the future], but I can see addiction being very present,” he said. “You still need this addiction. That doesn’t go away. We can bring more floral, woody, etc., but it will always have that addiction in the back.”
