It might come as a surprise to some of their customers, but the up-market personal care brand Jo Malone is in fact owned by EstÈe Lauder.  Jo Malone sold her business some years ago.

The shop in Chelsea is just one outlet.  It will shortly become a truly global brand with a deal with the Lane Crawford Joyce Group for distribution in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia and Indonesia. They are going to be opening their own shops and also getting concessions in other shops.

I know some Jo Malone consumers and it is interesting that they perceive the Jo Malone stuff as being very natural.  I don’t think that this brand has ever been that natural. When it was still being run by Jo Malone herself it could claim to be independent, but not now Estee Lauder have taken it over.  I don’t think they have ever made any naturual claims for it.   But that is the way with brands -sometimes they get associations in the public mind that don’t really tally with the reality.

I am sure the products are as good as ever but I can’t help thinking that the fact that you can now buy them anywhere in the World takes a little bit of the magic away.