There is an expression that, until a few years ago, belonged to the vocabulary of enthusiasts but now describes the behavior of the majority: an “olfactory wardrobe.” It is no longer a single fragrance—chosen once and worn for years as a signature scent—but a collection of perfumes to choose from each morning, just as one selects a coat or a pair of shoes.
This shift is recent and measurable. Before 2020, the average European consumer owned two and a half bottles; by 2026, they own between six and ten. In less than six years, the unique signature scent has gone from being the norm to the exception.
The distance between what one owns and what one wears
The European average stands at around eight bottles, with four or five in active rotation. The others remain at home, almost never chosen.
Added to this is a fact that shifts the perspective on everything else: in the course of a year, one finishes little more than a single bottle. The collection grows at a pace that consumption cannot match, and the gap between the two speeds does not close. It accumulates.
This is how the “stalled” bottle comes about: not from a bad purchase, but from a purchase that didn’t have enough time to be consumed before another one arrived.
Why the wardrobe is expanding
The reasons for this accumulation are clearly stated and consistent. Rotation follows three criteria—season, occasion, and mood—and each of these, when combined with the others, calls for more than one fragrance.
Layering has become a widespread practice: 22% of European women wear two perfumes simultaneously to create a signature scent not available on the market.
The classification landscape is also shifting. Unisex fragrances account for 48.9% of observed transactions—surpassing men’s (28.9%) and women’s (22.1%) fragrances combined—with the market share expected to exceed 50% by 2027. It is also the category with the highest average unit price: €16.15, compared to €12.58 and €13.30. Gender-neutral perfume is not merely a commercial shortcut; it is the segment where value is concentrated.
Meanwhile, the discovery process has moved elsewhere. While 66% of Gen Z identify TikTok as their primary channel for discovering new fragrances, only 2% of sales actually close within social apps. Discovery has become a social activity, whereas the transaction itself remains where it always was.
And precisely because discovery happens faster than testing, trying out a scent has become the norm: 68% of consumers say they want to wear a fragrance for at least two weeks before committing to a full-sized bottle.
What is the value of what remains closed?
67% of European households own at least one perfume they no longer use, with an average of 4.3 unused bottles. The total value of these unused fragrances across Europe is estimated at €780 million—roughly €340 per household over a three-year period.
These figures reveal a form of silent waste, as it generates no visible trash and requires no disposal. A forgotten perfume neither rots nor creates clutter; it simply takes up ten centimeters of shelf space and ceases to exist in its owner’s mind. Precisely for this reason, it is all the more likely to stay right where it is.
Each country in its own way
The Europe of perfume is not homogeneous, and the differences speak of habits rather than markets.
Belgium consumes more than any other country in the European Union: 1,486 kilograms of perfumes and eau de toilette per thousand inhabitants—roughly one and a half liters per person annually—which is six times the European average. It is also the country where rotating between multiple bottles is more common than elsewhere.
In Germany, the fragrance wardrobe has taken shape within the span of a single generation: a twenty-five-year-old who owned just one fragrance in 2018 now owns between three and five. Yet, in the same country, one in five adults uses no perfume at all—a sign that the wardrobe is not expanding everywhere, but rather growing where it already existed.
France remains the market with the highest premium share in the EU, with 55% of sales in the luxury segment, but the format is shifting: *eau de toilette* sales are down 12%, while high-concentration extracts are growing by 18%. Consumers are buying less product, but in higher concentrations.
Italy has one of the lowest per capita spending levels in Europe yet, at the same time, one of the highest growth rates: in 2025, alcohol-based fragrances were the fastest-growing category within the entire Italian cosmetics sector (+5.2%), while perfumeries were the best-performing traditional retail channel (+5.8%).
In Spain, fragrance sales grew by 11.3%, exceeding €2.2 billion—accounting for about one-fifth of the entire national cosmetics sector—in a country that is the world’s second-largest perfume exporter and where consumption is cautious.
Put back into circulation
Four unused bottles per household represent more than just a space issue; they represent tied-up capital—340 euros per family, or 780 million euros across Europe—sitting on a shelf instead of circulating back into the market.
Reselling, after all, has become commonplace: 65% of Italians have bought or sold a used item in the past year, and a practice that was a niche activity in 2015 is now a mainstream, steadily growing behavior. What is missing isn’t the habit itself, but the right platform for perfumes—a place where sellers can accurately describe a fragrance (concentration, size, remaining volume, vintage) and buyers can trust that description. Sceido could be the solution.
After all, a bottle that no longer suits its original owner might be exactly the fragrance someone else is looking for. The secondary market for perfume simultaneously solves two issues left unaddressed by the primary market: it restores value to a purchase that didn’t work out, and it offers those who want to “try before they commit” a way to do so without starting from scratch.
An olfactory wardrobe works just like any other wardrobe, really: it fills up, it gets pared down, and items no longer worn by one person can still be worn by another.
Sources: Scento, European Fragrance Wardrobe Report 2026 (8,939 shoppers, 19 European markets) · Cosmetica Italia, 2025 outlook · Stanpa, 2024 data · Circana, 2025 · Second Hand Economy Observatory for Subito, 2025 · Worldmetrics 2026.