Mugler

A French couture designer launched a perfume in 1992 that came in a refillable star-shaped blue bottle. The refill system has been generating recurring revenue for more than 30 years. Terry Mugler was a fashion designer known for sculptural couture shows in Paris through the 1980s and 1990s. His fragrance, Angel, launched in 1992 with a star-shaped deep blue glass bottle and a gormund patchouli caramel composition that was unusually heavy for its time. The commercial innovation was the refill. From launch, Mugler ran permanent fragrance fountains inside department stores globally where customers could bring their empty angel bottles back for refilling. The refill fountain was a retention mechanism engineered into the packaging itself. A customer who had bought Angel once was emotionally invested in the star-shaped bottle as a decorative object and was unlikely to throw it away when empty.