EXCLUSIVE: Express Is Reentering Fragrance

by · WWD
Influencer Daphne Groeneveld for Express fragrance.Courtesy

Express is getting back into the fragrance game.

The fashion retailer is relaunching its fragrance category with two of its former hero scents — Loyalty in men’s and Love in women’s — as well as three new perfumes and an inaugural range of women’s fragrance mists.

Priced from $16 for the fragrance mists to $49 for 2.5-ounce bottles of the perfumes, the launch marks the first time Express has introduced new fragrances since 2016. The retailer entered fragrance in 2009. By 2019, it had begun a phased discontinuation of the category.

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“Customers continued to request it,” said Jacquie Susie, group vice president, women’s general merchandise manager at Express, adding that the brand mined Reddit threads, social media posts and direct customer feedback to help inform the relaunch. “We’re reinstating Love and Loyalty, which are our customer favorites and the ones we continue to hear about…but we are also giving a new generation more ways to express their personal style and interact with the brand.”

Express is bringing back its seawater- and lavender-infused Loyalty men’s fragrance.

Continuing the brand’s signature “L” theme, the new perfumes are Live and Luxe in women’s, respectively infused with notes of amber and sea salt, and Legacy in men’s, which taps smoked woods and warm tonka notes. The body mist range features four gourmand scents: Velvet Latte, Velvet Coconut, Velvet Chantilly and Velvet Marshmallow.

The launch comes three months after Gap — another mall fashion staple — resurrected its own fragrance category with a mix of ’90s favorites and all-new scents, while other fashion players like Zara and Cos have simultaneously zeroed in on the category.

As the post-pandemic fragrance boom enters its latest stage, Circana reports that affordable fragrances are overtaking prestige fragrances by growth, and so Express’s under-$50 price point aligns well with this shift.

“I would plan for this to be quite explosive,” said Susie, adding the range will debut online and via Express’s full network of roughly 220 retail stores and 160 outlet stores. “We are known for being sort of a going-out, party or occasion brand, so to have signature scents that fit with that…it’s just another reason to shop with Express.”

Express Velvet Chantilly

Express, which launched in 1980, is now owned by a consortium called Phoenix that is composed of WHP Global, Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties and Centennial Real Estate. The consortium bought Express out of bankruptcy in 2024 for $174 million, and while Susie declined to comment on Express’s financials or profitability, she said the company “had a strong third quarter,” adding, “it’s not easy to come out of bankruptcy, but we’ve stabilized and we are growing.”

As for its plans in fragrance, the retailer has more newness slated for 2027, and will plot further steps based on consumer feedback.