FAQ

GENERAL QUESTIONS

The Issey Miyake Parfums policy

Is the Shiseido Group -to which Issey Miyake Parfums belongs- committed in terms of sustainable development?

Issey Miyake Parfums, as a brand of the Shiseido EMEA Group, is completely aligned with the Group’s philosophy "Beauty for a better world" and its strategy. In regards to environment, the Group defined 3 areas of commitment and actions: reducing our environmental footprint, developing more sustainable products and promoting a more sustainable and responsible procurement.
To learn more about Shiseido group sustainability engagements : https://corp.shiseido.com/en/sustainability/

Does the Issey Miyake Perfumes brand have a CSR policy?

Our brand also relies on a CSR team wholly dedicated to the constant improvement of our actions. They ensure that sustainable development is instilled each day in teams all along the value chain: from product design to the supply of our raw materials; in how we manage our waste and distribute our products, and in a wide range of other processes. Our common approach aims at strengthening our environmental and social responsibility.

At Issey Miyake Parfums, we like to say that "we are born from matter”. Our commitments are therefore to select more carefully the materials that we use to create our fragrances, but also to design our products and communication/promotion tools favoring usage of materials with lower environmental impact, bringing a genuinely useful sense of design to our creations.

To achieve these goals, we integrate eco-design into all stages of our creation process: for example, certain bottles are made with up to 20% post-consumer recycled (PCR) glass, and pouches gifted with purchase are made with an important part of recycled cotton (65% for pouches gifted in 2023).

We are also committed to find solutions to extend the lifecycle of our products and promotional tools, and to innovate to improve the functionality of our products.

Finally we have implemented a more sustainable procurement of raw materials from our Eco Vadis certified suppliers, and a well-reasonned production to limit the environmental impact of our French production sites (ISO 14001 certified).
for example, 100% of the paper we use for our packaging is FSC certified and ce.

To learn more, our brand manifest and engagements are available on our website: https://www.isseymiyakeparfums.com/en/sustainability.html

QUESTIONS ON FORMULAS

Manufacturing our fragrances

How does Issey Miyake Parfums manufacture its fragrances?

Our perfumes are made in France and contain approximately 80% alcohol, the remainder of the formula being made up ofcperfume concentrate, water and certain stabilisers for protection. The alcohol in our perfumes comes from France and is of natural origin (white beetroot).

All our perfumes comply with the relevant international and European cosmetic regulations which are the strictest in the world. Our perfumers also follow IFRA recommendations and use ingredients that are in line with the European Union REACH regulation that set reinforced protection from harmful chemical substances for human health and the environment.

Supporting our quest to the essential, our perfumers constantly seek to improve their carbon footprint. The main fragrance composition houses we work with, also use environmental and social impact assessment tools for each perfume concentrate, in order to monitor and ensure compliance with our environmental and ethical requirements.

All our direct and point-of-sale tools suppliers are assessed by EcoVadis, the leading French platform for evaluating CSR performance and responsible purchasing. Our main perfumer was rated platinum by EcoVadis in 2019, the highest level of CSR commitment for a company, with only 1% of companies having achieved this rating. On the opposite, we do not work with suppliers identified as "high risk" with no corrective plan.

Are Issey Miyake fragrances natural?

The vision of Issey Miyake Parfums is to offer unique creations, combining both nature and technology resources and materials. It is through this dual use of nature and synthesis that the perfumer's creative palette is at its widest and gives birth to bold, singular and surprising new fragrances. Technical performances, such as long-lastingness and potency, are also enhanced by certain synthetic molecules. Since it is not always easy to understand what differentiates natural ingredients from those of natural and synthetic origin, we provide below some definitions which should help you to distinguish between the various ingredients:

  • Natural ingredients are directly extracted from nature by processes such as enfleurage or infusion that differ according to the ingredient. Essential oils and absolutes result from these extraction processes, with no transformation. For example, this process is used for the essence of Damascena Rose that we use in L'Eau d'Issey as it does not affect the natural qualities of the plant: roses picked early the same morning are delivered to the distillery without delay in order to guarantee their freshness. The 100% natural cardamom in Fusion d’Issey Extrême fragrance is the result of an upcycling process, where seeds that are not suitable for use in the gastronomy sector are upgraded for use in perfumery.
  • Other ingredients, called natural-origin ingredients, are found in nature but may undergo chemical transformation processes. Following ISO 16128 norm, natural-origin products must contain at least 50% natural ingredients, with the remainder of the composition being chemically transformed. For example, the vanillin used in our a drop d’Issey fragrance is a 100% natural-origin plant ingredient obtained by synthesis.
  • Finally, synthetic ingredients are molecules created by perfumers through chemical processes. Using these techniques, it is possible to reproduce a scent that does exist naturally but is difficult or impossible to extract. Calone molecule, which is used in the fragrance L’Eau d'Issey to recreate this singular scent of water, is an example of a molecule resulting from a synthesis process. Our perfumers are constantly improving manufacturing processes by using new technologies to reduce their carbon footprint.

Since 2022, Issey Miyake fragrances include an increasing part of natural ingredients and natural origin ingredients, with use of 100% natural origin alcohol (from French beetroot) and natural origin raw material in fragrance oil. Our fragrances can reach up to 93% natural origin ingredients, as for example L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Vétiver.

All our perfumers are assessed by EcoVadis, the leading French platform for evaluating CSR performance and responsible purchasing. Our main perfumer was rated platinum by EcoVadis in 2019, the highest level of CSR commitment for a company, with only 1% of companies having achieved this rating.

Do Issey Miyake fragrances contain synthetic ingredients, and if so, are they harmful to health?

As we believe that combining the two sources of ingredients - nature and innovation – brings a wealth of possibilities, we do use synthetic ingredients alongside natural ingredients ans natural origin ingredients, to create our perfumes. The Issey Miyake brand is strongly inspired by nature, and to capture it perfectly in a bottle we use all the innovation and creativity that both nature and technology bring.

Irrespective of whether the ingredient is natural or synthetic, we must protect our customers' health, thus we scrupulously comply with European regulations, which are among the strictest in the world.

Additionally, since both synthetic and natural-origin ingredients can be allergenic and to comply with labelling regulations, we provide precise information on any potentially allergenic substances on all of our products. The 26 allergens identified in the European regulations are listed on our outerpackagings when their concentration is higher than 0.001% for leave-on products and 0.01% for rinse-off products.

Are Issey Miyake fragrances vegan?

Strictly speaking, our range of perfumes is not vegan because some of them contain a minimum quantity of either one or the two following ingredients derived from animal-origin secretions: ambrettolide (transformed secretions), a musk that gives sillage to perfumes, and beeswax (raw secretions).

However some of our fragrance are vegan-certified: L'Eau d'Issey Pivoine, L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme Vétiver and a drop d'Issey Eau Essentielle.

Are Issey Miyake fragrances cruelty-free?

Animal-testing is forbidden by the European cosmetic regulation 1223/2009. In accordance with the law, Issey Miyake Parfums does not carry out any animal-testing.

QUESTIONS ON PACKAGING

Design and Sustainable Development

How does Issey Miyake Parfums conceive and manufacture its packaging (bottles and boxes)?

Issey Miyake Parfums applies eco-design principles to all of its products. We seek to reduce, reuse, recycle materials, or to select the most virtuous ones, and we are committed to apply one or more of these principles at any time and to all product developments. For exemple:

  • The glass in our bottles comes exclusively from European glassmakers. We have started incorporating up to 20% of post-consumer recycled (PCR) glass in some of our bottles. A drop d'Issey bottle was designed to reduce glass weight. We also offer a refillable version of our iconic L’Eau d ́Issey fragrance, with a 75ml refillable Eau de Parfum screw-top bottle.
  • Regarding plastic, we have started to include 65% to 90% recycled plastic in promotional objects such as textile accessories. We want to continue our efforts in this direction by bringing solutions to reduce the use of plastic in our products and giftsets. For example, we have replaced plastic wedges in our giftsets with cardboard ones. New point-of-sale promotion tools created since 2022 are also entirely made from cardboard.
  • Through innovation, we offer precursory designs allowing to reduce products environmental impact. For instance, the last L'Eau d'Issey* perfumes 100% wooden caps are a patented innovation allowing the cap production from a single block of wood, removing the need for plastic. The 100% natural wooden grain being unpredictable, each cap design is unique.
    * Related products: L'Eau d'Issey Pivoine, L'Eau d'Issey Eau & Magnolia, L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Vétiver, L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Eau & Cèdre.
  • 100% of the cardboard used for our fragrance outerpacks and giftsets boxes are made from material from well-managed FSCTM certified forests and other controlled sources.

All our suppliers are assessed by EcoVadis, the leading French platform for evaluating CSR performance and responsible purchasing. We do not work with suppliers identified as "high risk" with no corrective plan.

Finally, we work to garantee a well-reasoned production to limit our environmental impact in our French production sites, in Ormes and Gien, both certified ISO 14001. To acheive this, we settle a measurable action plan such as carbon footprint reduction (-41% in Ormes and -32% in Gien between 2014 and 2022) or energy consumption reduction (between 2014 and 2022, -62% water consumption in Gien and -25% in Ormes). Photovoltaic panels were also implemented since 2021 at Gien factory. The respect of nature being at heart of our concerns, we also ensure a responsible waste processing through landfiull cessation since 2014 in both factories, favoring recycling or upcycling.

Issey Miyake Parfums often refers to "a sense of design" - what does that mean?

Going beyond the eco-design improvement, Issey Miyake Parfums perceives design as the art of creating more useful and functional products. We "only" create fragrances, but we try to find new ways for them to be used that do not involve more materials.
For instance, our IGO product perfectly illustrates how L'Eau d'Issey can travel in a small, light, useful and nomadic format, without necessitating the creation of a whole new packaging, and therefore saving on materials: Cap - IGO, Bottle - ISTAY.

Improving design durability through product reuse is also part of Issey Miyake vision to offer fragrances that can follow you through each step of life. For example, the iconic L'Eau d'Issey Eau de Parfum 75ml has an unscrewable bottle that can be refilled endlessly.

QUESTION ON OUR MARKETING ACTIVITIES

Other items linked to our brand activity

Does Issey Miyake Parfums sustainable development approach extend to communication and promotional items?

For each launch, our brand develops and produces a range of items designed to help you discover and appreciate our fragrances. We apply standard eco-design principles throughout our business and our teams are working to go further in reducing the use of plastics and increasing the use of recycled materials for future launches.

For example, our 2023 collection of textile accessories (toilet pouches and towel) was conceived plastic-free and wihtout any metal: a mono-material approach favoring recycling for product end of life. The 2023 pouches are made of 100% cotton including 65% of recycled cotton (recycled fibers).

Additionally, the main point-of-sale promotion tools developed since 2022 are made of 100% cardboard composed of material fom well-managed FSCTM certified forests and other controlled sources.

QUESTIONS ON SPECIFIC HEALTH QUERIES

Our fragrances and your health

Are Issey Miyake fragrances photo-sensitising?

Fragrances are designed to avoid the risk of phototoxic or allergic reactions. It must be formulated by minimizing recognised phototoxic ingredient and tested to prove its low photosensitising potential.

Our ingredients are carefully selected on the basis of their safety profile. Before we even begin to market our fragrances, we make sure they are rigorously assessed for safety. To respect our safety commitment, we formulate and test our fragrances to minimise the risk of phototoxicity and UV sensitivity. If any doubt subsists, fragrances are reformulated to eliminate the potential risk. In this case, as far as the design of the fragrance allows us to, we aim to select ingredients known to have low photosensitising potential.
For very specific skin conditions and/or pathologies, we advise customers to spray the fragrance on clothing.

Do Issey Miyake fragrances present a risk for pregnant women?

All Issey Miyake fragrances are developed after a strict safety assessment process that covers the whole adult population. However, during pregnancy, many major changes occur particularly to skin structure due to the effects of hormones. Women’s skin may be more sensitive than at other times, and is more prone to rashes and allergic reactions. The intensity of such changes varies from one woman to another and is unpredictable. We would advise women to spray our fragrances on fibres such as clothes, scarves or other textile accessories ; or to test the fragrance in little quantity on a small area such as the arm and check before spraying more generously. Consulting a doctor before using the product to get medical advice is therefore a useful precaution.

Do Issey Miyake fragrances contain ingredients that are allergenic?

To comply with labelling regulations, we provide precise information on any potentially allergenic substances on all of our products. The 26 allergens identified in the European regulations are listed on our outerpackagings when their concentration is higher than 0.001% for leave-on products and 0.01% for rinse-off products.