A Leicestershire entrepreneur who built a British luxury grooming brand past £1m in sales is relaunching the business with a new focus on fragrance-led gifting.
Zohaib Ahmad, who grew up in the Leicester area, founded ZOUSZ in 2018, building the brand around oud, one of the world’s most expensive natural ingredients.
The company’s fragrances and grooming products are made in small batches in England, with oud sourced from South East Asia.
Since launch, ZOUSZ has been named a “Best Buy” by British GQ, featured in best-of round-ups by AskMen for its perfume, beard oil and shampoo, and has passed £1m in sales.
The business was also shortlisted at both the The Beauty Awards and the London Packaging Awards this year.
Now, after seven years, Ahmad is repositioning the company from a men’s grooming label into a luxury gifting brand centred on fragrance, with ambitions to compete alongside Le Labo and Byredo.
The relaunch will see ZOUSZ move to a limited “drop” model, releasing small batches in short runs rather than keeping products permanently in stock, with the first launch planned for October.
Ahmad said: “We hit a wall a couple of years in, supply chain problems, and a creeping sense the brand had drifted toward generic.
“So I went back and did the work: who was actually buying, and why. The answer changed my vision.
“People weren’t buying grooming products, they were buying something to give, and something to feel.
“So we’re rebuilding ZOUSZ as a luxury gifting house built on oud, fewer products, made in small batches, treated like pieces of art.
“I want us mentioned in the same breath as Le Labo and Byredo. British, built on oud, made for men.”
