On Monday, luxury grooming company Eredi Zucca released its first line of eight fragrances, priced at $325 for a 100ml. The fragrances have been created by a series of renowned perfumers including Blaise Mautin and Luca Maffei, and are inspired by Eredi Zucca’s barbershop in Milan, as well as the city itself. The line will be available through its e-commerce store, the furniture store Artemest in New York, and will launch in Bergdorf Goodman in November.
Eredi Zucca was founded in 2023 with a barbershop in the Milanese Quadrilatero della Moda shopping district. The brand takes its name from the historic Zucca barbering family, which is believed to have opened its first barbershop in 1652. Its products, which include a $108 aftershave lotion and a $265 beard wax, can be found in department stores in Europe, as well as its owned channels, and will soon be available in Ounass and Bloomingdale’s in the Middle East.
The brand also plans to add new barbershop locations globally. Eredi Zucca is expected to generate around $2.3 million in revenue next year.
D Capital, the investment firm controlled by the entrepreneur and New Guards Group founder Davide De Giglio, has a majority stake in the company. D Capital was an investor in Rhode, which sold to E.l.f. Beauty at a $1 billion valuation in August, and also has a minority investment in the equally historic fragrance and body care maker Santa Maria Novella, which De Giglio said was a key inspiration for this line.
“We don’t really need a new fragrance, but I fell in love with the [Santa Maria Novella] experience and learning about it,” said De Giglio. “These fragrances have a lot of history, and a lot of research,” he said. Narciso, which has notes of oud and myrrh is inspired by the Milanese-born painter Caravaggio, while patchouli-and-rose-laced Ultima Cena is a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting, housed in the Santa Maria delle Grazie church.
Fragrance is enduringly popular in beauty, with its growth outpacing other categories as customers splurge both on pricey niche and designer scents as well as affordable sprays. While its growth has normalised somewhat in 2025, many customers are willing to pay upwards of $200 for trendy scents, and consider it standard to own multiple perfumes. Fashion house names like Rabanne and Bottega Veneta releasing have recently debuted ultra-premium lines.
A New Classic
De Giglio said he expects Eredi Zucca’s old-school roots to be a hit with shoppers. It’s a sound theory: scents with notes like musk that had fallen out of favour with younger customers are beginning to recapture their senses. The star of Balenciaga’s just-released fragrance collection is Le Dix, which is a recreation of a 1940s musk-heavy perfume.
Still, it enters a competitive marketplace for men’s fragrances. While boys as young as 11 are becoming voracious consumers of the category, standing out against established peers like Creed and Dior as well as niche names like D.S. & Durga will take retail muscle. Robert Sorce, a consultant specialising in fragrance business and former US president for niche brand Byredo, said in America, meaningful wholesale presence is needed to scale; owned stores usually account for around 15 to 20 percent of overall sales.
While stores can be used as a marketing vehicle, De Giglio said the brand is eschewing out-of-home or influencer marketing campaigns. Instead, the launch will rely on word of mouth, in-store staff and some social media advertising.
Growth is key for the line, but De Giglio sees Eredi Zucca as remaining “fully dedicated” to men, noting the best way for customers to encounter the brand is by trying one of its treatments.
“When you get a hot towel on your face [in the barbershop], the fragrance is like that experience,” he said.
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