What is 'niche' men's perfume?

You might have heard about boutique scents, small batch fragrance, handmade cologne and so on. But what is niche perfume, and why should you care?

What is niche men's perfume?

First off, we should declare more than a small interest in the world of niche men's scent: after all Thomas Clipper creates some of Britain's best respected handmade scents for men. Niche men's fragrance means a lot to us.

So what does 'niche' mean in relation to men's cologne? It doesn't mean 'unusual', or 'weird'. It absolutely doesn't mean 'only to be enjoyed by a few connoisseurs or collectors'.

Instead, niche men's fragrance simply means scents that are created in small quantities. That's it. Sort of. Actually there's more, here it is...

So why should you care?

As with craft beer, or handmade bicycles there are certain implications that come with small batch production.

1/ Boutique Smells Better

People like us spend our lives immersed in creating meaningful scents for your enjoyment. We're not interested in hitting the 'lowest common denominator', trying to craft a scent that's as inoffensive as possible to the largest number of people. We want to evoke emotion and at the end of the day that comes through in a set of scents that are a cut above.

Don't believe us? Ask British GQ, Monocle, Wallpaper, The Guardian, The Telegraph and so on - just because we're small doesn't mean we're not making waves. Sort of like a tug boat, or somebody learning butterfly in a small pool, or a wave machine but a small one. Look, we said we were good at cologne, not aquatic analogies.

2/ Express Your Individuality

Small batch fragrances are just that: made in smaller numbers. So if you're sporting an artisan British cologne you're not likely to bump into anyone wearing your scent. You can express your individuality in your aftershave.

Even better, if you're shopping for a niche fragrance you're more than likely to find a signature scent that you can make your own. Something that you can be remembered for, that's utterly unique to you and that's going to turn heads. After all, you're more likely to get a compliment for a scent that's new to somebody than a commercial cologne they smell half a dozen times a day on every other chap that walks by.

Plus if being small batch manufactured isn't enough, the Thomas Clipper Unite range of City, Coast and Country are specifically made to be blended together giving you another layer (perfume pun intended...) of personality.

3/ Supporting Better Business

Handmade men's colognes are rare these days. By buying a real niche men's scent you're supporting authentic small British businesses. In our case, that's not just us (although, obviously, it is - thanks). It's also our box makers who make our packaging out of FSC certified card. It's our bottling partners who carefully pour each scent. It's our network of independent retailers who stock our products. And so on... each bottle is giving a leg up to a dozen small businesses.

On top of that, we make in small numbers and sell online only, which means there's less waste. We're not in the business of making two million units only to throw half of them away because the celebrity on the box is no longer fashionable.

We hope that's been useful, except the tug boat analogy which patently wasn't. If you want to learn more about the fantastic world of small batch men's aftershave we'd encourage you to have a sniff around our blog (yes, intended), or jump right in and try our Discovery Set to see what all the fuss is about.