Boy Smells
Sensuous, accessible and bright, Boy Smells products elevate your intimate world. Packaged in pink and conceived beyond the gender binary, our full bodied fragrances and intimate apparel make loving your identity a daily ritual.
#ISMELLBS
In late 2015, Boy Smells began as an experiment in candle-making in the Los Angeles kitchen of co-founders and partners Matthew Herman and David Kien. Herman and Kien – both fashion veterans who worked in design (Herman) and product development (Kien) – began by making the things they’d want to use on a daily basis, products that were fluid, essential, but also affordable.
Founder-invented scents like Cinderose, a union of rose and smoke, and Gardener, a compilation of tomato vine and honeysuckle, wrap traditionally masculine scents in a prettier bouquet. Burn up expectations, release clear intentions. Boy Smells candles are all developed and designed in Los Angeles with fragrance and natural oils, and proprietary all-natural coconut wax and beeswax blend. The candles are hand-poured in a reusable glass vessel and hand-labeled in Los Angeles, California.
At the end of 2017, Boy Smells launched Boy Smells, Unmentionables their first collection of intimate apparel, a new direction in the brand’s study of closeness. Made for all genders and all sizes (XS thru XXL), Boy Smells' light jersey underwear are made in Peru from luxurious Pima cotton and dyed with a palette of neo-natural colors that are skin-tone adjacent and inclusive.
Currently carried in over 750 retail locations (300 in the US alone), across 35 countries on 6 continents, with over 25 original scents in various formats and aesthetics, plus 5 Unmentionables styles.
From routines to rituals, Boy Smells renews the personal care routine by creating rituals from the otherwise mundane experience. These are moments that can be experienced by all.
GENDERFUL™ Above Genderless
“We wanted to have products that were embracing masculine and feminine simultaneously in a simple and straight-forward way that wasn’t overtly targeted to one gender,” says co-founder, Matthew Herman. “It’s a permission to harness your power from wherever you want it.”
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HOW IT STARTED (and how it's going)
TIMELINE TIME — There's so much to tell, but maybe that's a tell-all/memoir for down the line. Here, discover some milestones that shaped and transformed Boy Smells to become the brand and business it is today.
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JULY 2015SIDE JOB HUSTLE
MATTHEW AND DAVID STARTED EXPERIMENTING WITH CANDLES IN THE KITCHEN. MORE MISSES THAN HITS, BUT THE PRODUCT AND THE BRAND EVENTUALLY COME TOGETHER, CARVING OUT A NEW GENDERFUL UNIVERSE.
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JANUARY 2016INTO THE WORLD
BOYSMELLS.COM GOES LIVE AND LAUNCHES WITH SIX CANDLES TO START WITH — KUSH, ASH, CEDAR STACK, GARDENER, PRUNUS AND NOW RETIRED, MSSR. BLANCHY. FRIENDS AND FAMILY MAKE UP THE BULK OF ONLINE SALES, AND IT’S SO APPRECIATED.
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MAY 2016SUPER STORES
INFLUENTIAL RETAILERS LIKE FORTYFIVE TEN IN DALLAS (PICTURED), TENOVERSIX IN WEST HOLLYWOOD, AND BYGEORGE IN AUSTIN PICK UP THE COLLECTION. THE BRAND GAINS FANS AND RECOGNITION ACROSS THE US.
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JULY 201715 MINUTES EXTENDED
THE HOUSE TURNED OFFICE/WAREHOUSE APPEARS ON HOMESPACE/LIFESTYLE BRAND, THE COVETEUR, OUR FIRST MAJOR PRESS PIECE. NYLON, ELLE, VOGUE, COOL HUNTING AND GQ TO FOLLOW.
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NOVEMBER 2017
GETS INTIMATE
UNMENTIONABLES, OUR COLLECTION OF GENDERFUL INTIMATE WEAR, DEBUTS AND CONTINUES TO CONSTITUTE 15% OF ONLINE BUSINESS. SOFT COTTON JERSEY UNDERWEAR THAT SPANS FROM XS THROUGH XXL.
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OCTOBER 2018
A REAL COMPANY
BOY SMELLS FINALLY SCALED OUT OF THE KITCHEN AND INTO A 3,000 SQUARE FOOT OFFICE/WAREHOUSE SITUATION IN THE HEART OF THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD, PICO UNION.
FUN FACT — THIS IS WHERE THE “BSPU” ON EACH CANDLE'S PACKAGING ORIGINATES FROM.BS = BOY SMELLS, PU = PICO UNION
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NOVEMBER 2019HELLO HINOKI
HINOKI FANTÔME DEBUTS AND BECOMES AN IMMEDIATE HIT. THIS REMAINS A BEST SELLING SCENT TO DATE.
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FEBRUARY 2020BURN IN A HURRY
SLOW BURN, THE COLLABORATION WITH KACEY MUSGRAVES DEBUTS TO MAJOR FANFARE, BECOMES A BEST SELLER AND ARGUABLY, THE UNOFFICIAL CANDLE OF THE “WFH” YEAR OF 2020.
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MARCH 2021WRIST SPRITZ
COLOGNE DE PARFUM, THE GENDERFUL FINE FRAGRANCE COLLECTION, FINALLY DEBUTS WITH 5 ALL-NEW SCENTS, AFTER YEARS AND YEARS OF TESTING AND EXPLORING FRAGRANCES FROM ALL OVER.
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APRIL 2021BIG ROLL OUT
A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF BOY SMELLS CANDLES ROLLS OUT TO ALL 100 NORDSTROM DOORS, COMPLETED BY THE END OF 2021. COLOGNE DE PARFUM WILL BE A BEAUTY FLOOR FIXTURE AT 30 HIGH TRAFFIC NORDSTROM LOCATIONS.
