Corkman imports one of the world’s rarest oils as perfume business makes perfect scents 

An engineer who has worked in the Middle East for 20 years has returned home to launch a luxury fragrance and perfume business in Cork centred on one of the world’s rarest oils: oud.

Alan Coakley’s new company Republic of Oud is based in Winthrop Arcade in Cork city, selling scents containing sustainably sourced oud, an oil prized as the basis for the world’s finest perfumes. Republic of Oud sells some of the most luxurious brands in the world, importing oud which can be also be made available to producers in Ireland. 

The little bottles of luxury for sale in Ireland with perfumes containing oud start at under €50 but can cost as high as €550 for just 53mls. “The most expensive bottle we sell is €555. I don’t even display it – it’s for collectors,” said Alan.

The journey to opening Republic of Oud runs over hundreds of thousands of kilometres, across the Middle East. Originally from Turner’s Cross but living in Glanmire, Alan worked on engineering products for two decades in countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Norway, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, and Iraq. Over the course of his work and travels, the Corkman developed a passion for the fragrances and scents of the region, and realised the importance of fragrance in the culture. “Perfumery in the Middle East is a way to stand out because so many of the men wear white, and so many of the women wear black. So how do you stand out? With your perfume,” he said.

Alan Coakley at Republic of Oud at The Winthrop Arcade, Cork City. Picture; Larry Cummins

“All fragrances are unisex, at the end of the day. There was a time in Ireland when it might have been Chanel No. 5 for women and Brut for men! But over time, and travel, there’s more accessibility and people want to see and try different things. That has led to men wearing more traditionally feminist perfumes, and vice versa.”

Alan had worked in Pfizer in Ringaskiddy before going to Qatar in 2005 working on an oil and gas project. “I was returning to Qatar from a GAA games in Bahrain, and was coming through duty free and I picked up a bottle of perfume with oud in it. I’ve been addicted to it every since – to the smell, how it lasts on the skin, how it projects, and how there is nothing like it back home.” 

It started an obsession with the scents, and Alan began delving deeper into the source. Oud is one of the world’s rarest natural oils, which can trade for up to €50,000 per kilo. The agar tree produces a resin as a protection response, and when this hardens on the tree, it will become the basis for oud. “You need 1000kgs of wood to get 1kg of oil, and oud only occurs naturally in 2% of agar trees,” said Alan.

On his trips back to Cork, people were starting to notice the scents Alan was wearing. “I was getting requests from friends and families for it. I always knew there was a business in it, but I was comfortable with what I was doing, seeing the world and getting paid for it.” 

Alan had spent eight years working in Kazakhstan, where he met his wife Ardak. While he continued to travel around the Middle East for work, they had set up home in Glanmire. In recent years, with Ardak and their two children back home in Glanmire, he decided the time was coming to settle, and to make his passion for oud into his career. 

Storage tanks stand at an oil processing facility in the Rub’ Al-Khali (Empty Quarter) desert in Shaybah, Saudi Arabia. Picture: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

“I lived in Baku, lived in ‘the empty quarter’ (the Rub Al Khali desert) in Oman, in a container – four or five hours from the nearest city and sand dunes 60m high all around. Last year, I was in my third year in Iraq, working in Basra on the border of Kuwait. It meant putting on a bulletproof vest every day, with a bodyguard, and going out to work in the oil fields, in 50C. I did a lot of those summers but with two kids, one 12, and one 9, getting into teenage years, it becomes more difficult. The decision in my head was to get home and to start the business.”

In recent years he had built up contacts in the business in the Middle East, which is the centre of oud trade, despite the fact the agar tree which produces the substance is in Asia. Given its rarity, and value, oud is highly prized by poachers and agar tree or Aquilaria sinensis, is a protected species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES.

“Because of poaching and because of the value of the oil itself, the tree was on the way to extinction, basically,” said Alan. “Governments and local authorities national authorities came together and it comes under CIRES. CITES covers coral from Australia, dangerous snakes, spiders – and agar wood falls under the same thing.” 

Quotas are placed on producing countries, and on importing, to ensure the survival of the tree to try and protect and maintain the trees, and to encourage sustainable growth. “If it only occurs in 2% naturally, you have to replicate this,” said Alan.

Alan says his new business Republic of Oud is built on traceability, sustainability, and ethical sourcing. He contacted Dr Noeleen Smyth at Ireland’s National Parks and Wildlife Service to secure full CITES permits, completing a test import just 12ml from Malaysia. It involved documented sourcing from plantation-grown trees, liaising with the Malaysian Timber Board, and full regulatory transparency.

Alan Coakley consulted with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to sustainably import oud. Picture: Larry Cummins

With full licensing, Republic of Oud is now up and running, importing oud as well as stocking high-end brands like Ajmal, Electimus, Monreale, and Kajal. “We have fragrances and hair mists from €49.99. But we also have perfumes in the shop that are €430. A discovery set of 10 or 12 perfumes from a particular brand sells from €80 to €112.

“The perfumes that are quite expensive typically tend to have real oud, real sandalwood, jasmine, Bulgarian rose. They’re all of limited quantity. Collectors might not even open the bottle. Some would see an after sale of value, and keep it for a few years and then sell it on, or others decant, buying 50mls and then selling it for multiples.”

Republic of Oud’s original perfume is also for sale, a feminine scent containing orange blossom and created with Italian specialist fragrance house Atelier Fragranze Milano (AFM) in Milan. “The perfumer who created it with us is a man called Sebastian Cresp – the son of Oliver Cresp. The Cresp family are master performers; Oliver created ‘Angel’ for Mugler. These days, the perfumers are now becoming stars in their own right.”

Republic of Oud has been accepted into the Fragrance Foundation, the industry body made up of over 200 member companies, whose membership includes everyone from Harrods to The Burren Perfumery in Co Clare. 

Mr Coakley has invested more than €100,000 into Republic of Oud already. “I’d hope to break even within 18 months. Christmas will obviously be massive but we think we have something that can appeal to all buyers, and we will take deposits so people don’t have to pay at once.”

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