eScent

Transformative Technology

Circular Perfumery Solution

A Wearable Platform provides Bio-synchronised fragrances as a personalized "Scent Bubble" to the user - creates powerful olfactory

experiences to boost happiness and productivity - for the Fashion, Wellness and Healthcare industries

As Fashion and Technology collide, exciting new opportunities arise for Wellness, Clean Beauty and Luxury, enabling the connected consumer to reduce their carbon footprint and engage further with the human senses.

eScent is a Transformative Technology start-up introducing circular models for a public that is increasingly attentive to self-care, wellness, the environment and a desire for alcohol-free fragrances.

We are creating wearable products that provide the consumer with unique sensory moments within a low-alcohol fragrance environment.

Originating from a transdisciplinary project from Central Saint Martins, and PhD from the Royal College of Art, our team has developed and patented a method for precisely metered "personalised fragrance" delivery and release which could replace the relatively crude, unmetered perfume bottle of the 20th century.

By 're-inventing' our sensory faculties through advances in technology and AI machines (that listen, see, understand contextual data, adapt and detect underlying health issues), eScent integrates the natural, health and social sciences in a humanities fashion context, transcending their traditional boundaries. We are breaking down barriers and creating NEW ways to regain our animalistic appreciation of the sense of smell while consciously caring for the planet.

The limitations of the traditional unmetered perfume bottle

The perfume consumer currently has no intelligent way of enjoying a fragrance that is purposeful, fully personalised and long-lasting throughout the day. The traditional method of manually spritzing a fragrance from a bottle (on to pulse points) means that it is mostly lost in the environment and fades after a few hours. Very few fragrances last all day (odour from a standard dispenser is 80% less powerful after a few minutes) - once the scent has evaporated, the aroma has gone…until you manually spritz again.

A standard perfume is typically 70-97% ethanol which dries the skin and causes irritation for individuals with contact dermatitis. In some cases, the spray can be [a] invasive to others or [b] too “overpowering” for the wearer. This kills the joy of perfumery if the consumer is worried about how everyone else around them is feeling about their own perfume usage.

Perfume can also have a strong chemical smell. The alcohol can disturb the delicate top notes of a fragrance when first applied to the skin. In addition, there are limited delivery solutions for consumers to blend fragrances together to create their own personalised and experiential scent environment. Furthermore, traditional delivery methods lack “connectivity” attributes for the digitally native fragrance consumer.

Glass bottles are also heavy, breakable and with the added risk of spilling alcohol on electronic goods, not to mention fragrance ingredients from retail atomisers can stain delicate couture fabrics, especially darker coloured perfume oils.

Our Solution

eScent is addressing these issues with our eco-conscious approach and contextually aware patented "Scent Bubble" tech, offering personal connection, adaptability, durability and flexibility on-the-move.

By enabling innovative business models through data-driven devices that personalize every interaction, eScent facilitates convenient, flexible and personalized fragrance experiences, better, faster and more affordably than the typical perfume bottle. Using garments and jewellery as the site for dispensing fragrances and cartridge refills as the carrier, we aim to create less wastage by leveraging the circular economy and contributing to the longevity of fashion items.

eScent has designed a wearable technology platform consisting of a sensor-triggered, subscription-based fragrance service that learns and adapts with the consumer. Protected by five patents, we have devised an AI-powered liquid delivery device small enough to be integrated into “connected” jewellery and removable garment buttons for “on-demand” personalization.

Furthermore, future models will include wearable devices that can be integrated into smart textiles and garments to deliver numerous other liquids under software control, opening new markets in CBD, “active” personal care, pharmaceuticals, hormones, insect repellent and psychedelic medicine.

PRODUCT VISION

KEY BENEFITS

Mobile and wearable perfume on-the-go.

Transformative and meaningful sustainable fragrance solution with social and environmental impact.

Senses context and dispense scent accordingly, whilst extracting content experiences via mobile or IoT.

Non-invasive “adaptive scents” pulsed intermittently and targeted towards the nose.

Tailored towards users’ needs to suit different mood states, occasions, seasons, etc, offering emotional engagement and enabling "smart" garments to be worn more often.

Establishes and maintains a localised sphere of detectable levels of fragrance dependent upon user context/environment or another analysis-based sensor trigger such as health status, music (genre), location, calendar, weather, etc - employs machine learning techniques for personalization.

Offers a way to correlate fragrances and contextual data with a wearable biofeedback intervention.

Complements meditation practice to help remain in the moment and raise human consciousness.

Supports long-life service strategies as a low carbon, reusable (refillable) and economical solution.

Provides consumers with a “fragrance wardrobe as a service to subscribe to different mood states”.

Addresses consumers concerns for lower alcohol content with fewer solvents (kinder to human skin).

Requires fewer materials and ingredients, which is safer to the environment because it reduces the negative impact that some ingredients/VOC's have on the atmosphere.

Innovative solution to store fragrance ingredients with high odour value and which can be used at low dosage levels to give a powerful fragrance contribution.

Avoids olfactory adaptation with a pre-programmable fully customised and localised “scent bubble”.

Dispenses top notes at set intervals so consumers experience the mystery of a fragrance (unlike waiting for solvents to evaporate by which time there's a risk of missing the top notes altogether).

Mixes signature fragrances as a symphony to create a bespoke effect for individuality.

Supports global data collection of fragrance usage; the data of which will be used to analyse worldwide deployment and enable customer-specific marketing.

At eScent, we believe future generations will look back to the early years of the 21st Century and wonder why people sprayed toxic alcoholic solutions of fragrance ingredients onto their skin. We believe it is only a matter of time before Smart “Emotional” Fashion will be the channel to deliver fragrances to the consumer. We intend to pioneer this field by raising active awareness of emerging issues in Wellbeing and Sustainable Fragrances so FashionTech garments promote longevity and are repeatedly used.

We have developed a wearable liquid delivery system (first published by IET 'MEMS sensors and actuators' in 2006) that emits picolitre metered droplets of low-alcohol mood-enhancing fragrance (or other liquids, i.e. pharma, insect repellent, pheromones, hormones, etc) in response to a biometric and/or sound stimulus, timer, smartphone app or another sensor trigger that can be measured. Embedded discreetly in wearable items, eScent pulses personalized and sustainable fragrances by maintaining a detectable low solvent "scent bubble" around the wearer that is beneficial to the mind, soul, skin and planet. It offers a reality-augmenting proposition in a wearable and invisible format for the Fashiontech, Beautytech and Wellness industries to transform people into consciousness.

The technology is protected by patents awarded in the UK, USA and China with two pending patents; one in the USA and a PCT for liquid dispensing system creating and maintaining a personalised bubble with a defined radius and concentration (i.e. the physics of the wearable "scent bubble" concept). Our core patent details wide-ranging applications and contexts in which this wearable technology can be used; includes interventions for mental health, sleep disorders, pain-relief, curbing appetite, sexual health, recalling memories, masking malodour (tobacco, etc), novel pest control to new techniques for learning, and more.