The Search for Identity: Spanish Perfume in the International Market

This article focuses on one of the few internationally competitive Spanish industries: perfumery. It examines the particularly long process over which the three Spanish firms that have successively led the national market, Perfumeria Gal, Myrurgia and Antonio Puig, created their distinct identity and brands, first at home and then internationally. Whereas a weak domestic demand, along with other obstacles associated with Spain's economic and social backwardness, hindered the development of this industry well into the 1970s, international contacts and partnerships played on the whole a very positive role throughout the past century. The interaction between national and corporate identities is thus considered to be at the core of Spanish successful perfume brands, a topic approached from both a comparative and theoretical perspective. Spanish perfume is today represented primarily by a multinational family-owned company, Puig Beauty & Fashion, one of the largest European perfume manufacturers (with brands such as Paco Rabanne, Carolina Herrera, and Nina Ricci) and Spain's top firm thanks to the recent acquisition of Perfumeria Gal and Myrurgia.