The Quality Makers: Carina Chaz of DedCool

DedCool intermingles fragrance across mediums into mundane products, from laundry detergent to car fresheners, so that scent is practically applied in your everyday life. Read more on Carina’s mission to inspire individuality and reshape the way fragrance is defined and experienced below.

Can you introduce DedCool? I'd love to hear about the name as well.

We’re a functional fragrance brand that empowers people to feel and smell good through scent. We believe that everyone should have a signature scent that extends beyond a glass bottle. The joke is that DedCool is very much this ‘hobby turned business.’ It started as a very small, low lift, passion project of mine that ultimately resulted in starting a business. It was really just my love of scent and the rejection of the fragrance industry. I was trying to speak to a different kind of consumer. Fragrance for so long has been rooted in luxury and there was really only one way to experience your favorite scents. For me, it was about changing that conversation, creating education, working closely with our community, and figuring out what it means to be a full functioning fragrance brand. The name is  an obscure way to symbolize that we take the category seriously but not ourselves.

We started with two personal fragrances, and our next big launch was our laundry detergent in 2020, which ultimately created a new category for us in the world of home. We had to really figure out the grassroots way of brand building and getting our story out there. We celebrated the little wins and in the end, my vision and passion for changing the way people experience fragrance was met. The goal is to really be a household brand and experiment with where it makes sense for our consumer to use our products. Maybe they don’t want to use fine fragrance but they’d like to experience it in their car. There's so much opportunity for us to speak to many different kinds of people, and I think that's the beauty of what we do. 

What do you mean by feeling rejected by the fragrance industry?

I could never truly find a scent that was representative of myself. When I started playing within the world of scent, what was offered was very much department store, luxury, novelty brands and products. It wasn't until all my friends started to wear Pink Sugar, that I thought: I love that this scent speaks to them but it's not something that speaks to me. I wanted to essentially create something I felt proud of and excited about. 

What role did scent or fragrance play in your life before you turned your hobby into a business?

I've always loved scent. As a young person who was trying to figure out my identity within the world, it was never hair, it was never makeup, it was always scent. I used it as a vehicle for self expression. I started playing with little essential oil blends, ultimately creating a more sophisticated palette and becoming very loosely trained in the world of scent creation. I create all of the DedCool scents myself, which I’ve learned is more unusual than we might think. All of the scents are a reflection of my coming of age story; they’re made for me but also made to share with my friends and with the wonderful community around me.

I really admire your commitment to sustainability/ethical manufacturing. Tell me more about that.

When the cultivation of the brand came to be, our sustainability pillar very much stemmed from my own personal way of life. I come from a bit of a hippie-dippie background where, growing up in California, there was always the notion of using less water, reduce, reuse, recycle. Regardless of how sustainable we are, we are still a consumer product, we make goods, so waste is ultimately being created. But we do, in the best way possible, utilize safe and clean manufacturing processes. We’re also certified with 1% for the planet. We are carbon neutral. Our packaging is recyclable – our boxes are made from sugar cane and our products are packaged in glass. We eliminate plastic in any way we can. Our ingredients and our raw materials are locally sourced. So any way in which we can ensure that we're doing less harm to our planet, we move forward with.

What is your creation process like? Where does your inspiration come from?

When it comes to fragrance, the creation really starts from a moment in time. A lot of my inspiration comes from turning off, putting my phone away, walking in nature and having the sun hit my back. It really starts from slowing down, seeing where I'm at in life and listening to what’s calling to me, whether it be a scent profile, or something I smell on someone else or something I find in nature. I always joke that I’m a CEO in training, because I started just creating fragrances and now I’m running a company. A core part of my passion and hobby will always be creating the scents but I’m now just as excited about brand building and marketing strategies.

What differentiates you from other brands in the industry?

How the brand shows up, how it speaks and whether it can stand alone in such a competitive category is the ultimate test. We really prioritize connecting with our community and utilizing social media to speak directly to the consumer, which I believe is really valuable. We like to say that we're different from the usual bunch and that can be seen in our innovation and in our product offering. We have products that touch your everyday life. I'm your typical millennial – my dog is my child. And her wearing essentially the same scent as me, is just really fun. 

What do you hope people will take away from your brand?

It's still very surreal that people use DedCool in their daily life. The fact that we get to touch people with our product is so amazing. We hope people walk away feeling confident, and feeling that the brand gave them the opportunity to have a personalized experience within the world of scent, maybe even a new experience. We live in a crazy world at this point in time, and we want to remind people that beauty and fragrance doesn't always have to be so serious. We really want to evoke positive moods, uplift people and allow them to be their most individualistic selves.

Find your favorite scent that extends beyond the personal at DedCool.