Niche means a house for a little dog, meaning a house that’s so small it cannot grow. And in that word ‘niche’, which comes from marketing people who aren’t the most inventive by essence, there was a little bit of contempt. It was like, ‘Oh, that’s niche; it’s not going to become so big.’ And the same people who criticised us have joined, as one joins victory, and now the word has stuck. And it’s become a whole perfume category, which today has become completely overcrowded.

— Frédéric Malle, quoted in Legendary Perfumer Frédéric Malle On Expanding his Footprint in Asia at Prestige.