Annick Goutal, the French niche perfumer, was sold as a name — the staff were not kept

Annick Goutal founded her eponymous perfume house in 1981, and it became one of France's best-known niche perfumers, with scents such as L'Eau d'Hadrien, Petite Chérie and Rose Pompon. The brand spent almost fifteen years under the South Korean group AmorePacific, which ran it through its European arm.

On 18 March 2025 the French group Interparfums announced it had bought all the worldwide intellectual-property rights to the house — by then trading as Maison Goutal — from Amorepacific Europe, for an undisclosed sum. The deal was a departure for Interparfums, which usually runs other companies' brands under licence, such as Lacoste, Montblanc and Jimmy Choo, rather than owning them.

What was sold was the name, not the company. Amorepacific Europe kept operating the brand under a temporary licence while Interparfums prepared to take over development from 2026, with Annick Goutal's daughter Camille still advising on the fragrances. But the house's employees were not taken on with the brand. Annual sales, which had reportedly reached $10–12 million in the past, had long since stalled.