From Dupes to Brand Identity
Dossier
This shift weakens the basic logic of the dupe model, because the shopper can now trade up from a substitute to a real brand world without jumping to prestige prices. Dossier built its entry funnel on consumers searching for a cheaper version of a known scent, but younger fragrance buyers increasingly discover products through TikTok, Sephora, and creator culture, where Phlur and similar brands sell mood, packaging, and social identity as much as smell.
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Phlur sits in the middle of the market, not at the bottom. Its Sephora distribution, including launches in Mexico and more than 300 Sephora doors across 15 European countries in 2026, gives shoppers a branded step up from low cost dupes without paying prestige house prices.
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That matters because Dossier still acquires many customers through known scent references. Its own strategy is to graduate those buyers into Originals, and Originals already overindex on TikTok Shop, reaching 26% of platform sales in May 2025, which shows the company recognizes that owned identity matters more in social discovery channels.
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The pressure also comes from below and from the side. Lattafa, Armaf, and Alrehab give consumers original branded scents with strong projection and viral blind buy appeal, and Lattafa generated over $63M in TikTok Shop sales from August 2024 through July 2025, proving shoppers do not need a prestige reference to convert.
The next phase of fragrance will be won less by whoever copies best, and more by whoever gives mass buyers an identity they want to join. That pushes Dossier to keep using Impressions as acquisition, while building Originals, retail presence, and creator led launches into a true fragrance house that can hold attention without leaning on someone else's scent map.