Initio

Initio Parfums Privés was founded in 2015 by Julien Sprecher, who runs the brand as a sister house to Parfums de Marly, the niche perfumery he had already founded in 2009 under the Sprecher Berrier Group of Companies. Where Parfums de Marly draws on 18th-century French court imagery, Initio was built around a different premise: fragrances framed as having a physiological or emotional 'function,' organized into thematic collections such as 'The Power of Science' and 'The Power of Music' rather than one unifying story. Its best-known releases, built around concentrated musks and oud, lean into a deliberately intense, maximalist style associated with the broader wave of 'power scent' niche perfumery. The brand's Paris flagship, a boutique called Le 320, is located at 320 Rue Saint-Honoré, with its corporate office nearby on Rue de la Paix. In June 2023 the private equity firm Advent International acquired a majority stake in the group behind both Parfums de Marly and Initio, with Sprecher remaining a minority shareholder and part of the management team overseeing continued global expansion of both brands.