On the scent: ST Micro collaborates with Paco Rabanne

24th September 2021

Joe Bush

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STMicroelectronics has announced its collaboration with Paco Rabanne on the European fashion house’s new Phantom fragrance for men. Phantom is packaged in a unique connected bottle that uses an embedded NFC (Near-Field Communication) tag IC (integrated circuit) using a popular contactless technology supported by most smartphones to connect to its online 'Phantom Universe'.

Access to Paco Rabanne’s Phantom Universe is enabled by ST’s chip, the ST25TV, which is encapsulated into the innovative Phantom-bottle cap. The novel cap meeting the technical and aesthetic needs of Paco Rabanne’s Phantom fragrance was developed through close collaboration among ST, Paco Rabanne, tag inlay-specialist Paragon ID, and VPI (FaiveleyPlastBeauty), an expert in injection moulding, decoration, and assembly.

Together, the partners worked out how to embed a general-purpose, NFC-certified Type 5 tag IC for maximum operating volume and range along with a custom small antenna into a space-constrained perfume bottle cap where the parasitic effects of the shiny chrome-metal finishing can wreak havoc on connectivity. Using NFC eliminates the need for a battery in the cap, as the tag gets powered by the contactless fields between the tag IC and the connecting device - typically a smartphone, or tablet.

“Paco Rabanne challenged us to help them develop a pioneering use case: a connected, user-friendly, sustainable luxury bottle for a new fragrance. With our partners, we built a novel solution built on a standard product and a proven design methodology, now available for consumer and luxury brands globally. Phantom’s bottle brings together cutting-edge contemporary design, sustainability with a refill system, and user-friendly connected services enabled by the integration of our ST25TV NFC tag IC in a challenging environment,” said Yvon Gourdou, EMEA Application and Marketing Director, Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group, STMicroelectronics.

“Innovative in the approach and futuristic in the fragrance and bottle appearance, Phantom brings a new dimension to users and a pathway to the digital universe, allowing them to meet their new Wingman,” said Fabien Leclercq, Packaging Development Manager from Paco Rabanne. “Our own luxury craftmanship, combined with high-tech knowhow and expertise from STMicroelectronics brought our vision to reality.”

ST experts will be present at the upcoming Luxe Pack trade show in the VPI (FaiveleyPlastBeauty) booth DC09 on 27th-29th September in Monaco.