Fragrance house

Ann Summers

Ann Summers traces its origin to the opening of its first shop at Marble Arch in London on 10 December 1971, under a name chosen by founder Kim Caborn Waterfield after his secretary Annice Goodwin, who adopted the surname Summers. After the business entered voluntary liquidation in 1972, David and Ralph Gold bought the brand, two shops, and its outstanding debt, and the Gold family repositioned it from a conventional sex shop toward a lingerie-boutique and high-street format aimed more directly at women. The party model created a social, women-centred sales channel beyond the shops; by 2003, the Guardian reported 4,000 UK parties each week. Ann Summers launched its website in 1999 and added the Knickerbox lingerie brand in 2000. The Rampant Rabbit, introduced in 1991, became a durable part of the brand’s public identity and was associated with the wider normalization of vibrators in mainstream retail culture. It is a multi-channel retailer focused on lingerie, sex toys, and sexual wellbeing, with a mission centred on women’s needs and challenging taboos around female sexuality. In fragrance, Aphrodisiac is the brand’s No.1 fragrance, a floral-woody scent with vanilla.