the future looks bright

It is now 2023 and the team and I are ready to get stuck in! The last year has been full of change – all of it both exciting and challenging but has been Abel’s best year yet. I feel like this year especially is the start of a beautiful new chapter in the Abel story and I am excited to share more about what we have in store.

2022 has been an incredible year for the team and I at Abel. We’ve launched our first New Zealand-made, innovative new scent line (Parfum Extrait), a taboo-breaking perfume (Pause), and expanded our presence in the USA. All to reach out more to you, our customers. On a personal note, I’ve watched the global consumer and industry awaken to the need to re-centre around sustainability and transparency – a momentum I have been waiting for since starting the Abel journey over a decade ago.

Our team of smart, savvy and global women continues to grow with several incredible new hires. We’ve inadvertently become 100% female, and by early in the new year, we will be more than half mothers. Strong woman leadership is something I feel very deeply about, and watching these incredible women grow and lead within our team (often while growing and nurturing their families outside Abel) is something I’m truly proud of.

After our ocean backyard, beautiful New Zealand nature, and the local Poneke Wellington community sustaining me for over two years, it was a joy to jump back into travel with all its excitement and cultural diversity. Being back in Amsterdam after nearly three years away reminded me how pivotal that incredible city is to Abel as a brand and me as a person. Travelling to other markets, spending time with our global team and meeting new partners and customers around the world reminded me of the universal nature of what we are doing. The importance of connection, for us and the planet, we all need to work as one large community.

Our community response throughout the year has been overwhelmingly positive in regards to standing up for what we think is right. When we closed our shop again for Black Friday, the team and I relished the supportive emails and messages we received from you, our intentional global community. We also saw support from international opinion leaders, with Abel featured in the NY Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Beauty Independent and a host of other industry-leading publications. They’re all pointing in the same direction – conscious consumerism has hit the perfume world, and we’re ready to lead the charge.

Next year promises to be even more special. We’ve got two significant launches in the pipeline, one of which will see our one-in-one-out policy put to the test again. First, I’ve just signed off on the new scent, which completely deserves a place in the new collection. I can’t wait to share it with the world. Then, later in the year will see an innovative and sustainability-driven launch of a new product for us – something we’ve been working on for several years and again, I’m really excited about sharing with the world.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for all your support.

Frances
x