We take products from an idea to stock you can legally sell.
Most people who come to us have a clear picture of what they want to make, and no clear picture of how it gets made. That gap between the idea and the shelf is the whole of our work.
Alano Innovations is an international product development and project management consultancy based in Dubai. We work across fragrance, cosmetics, body care, home ambiance and lifestyle, with a manufacturing and supplier network spanning Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We work as an extension of your team, not as a supplier you brief and then wait on.
What we do
Product development and formulation
Turning a description into something a manufacturer can actually make. Writing the brief properly, working with fragrance houses and laboratories, managing sample rounds and evaluation, and getting to a formula you are happy to put your name on.
Sourcing and manufacturing
Finding the right partners from our network across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Comparing quotes on a like-for-like basis, negotiating minimum orders and payment terms, selecting packaging that works with your product rather than against it, and overseeing production and quality control.
Regulatory and compliance
Safety assessments, product information files, allergen documentation and IFRA certificates. EU notification, and UAE registration through Montaji and ECAS. Label and artwork review against the rules of the market you are actually selling into, before you print anything.
Business strategy and commercial planning
Costing your launch honestly, pricing it so that it survives, and planning run sizes and timings so you reach a second production run with money still in the business.
Project management
Someone holding the whole thing together. Suppliers chased, samples scheduled, documents collected, artwork proofed, timelines kept, problems caught early. This is the part founders most often underestimate, and most often need.
Need a compliance answer before you move forward?
Not every brand needs full product development support. Sometimes you simply need to know whether your product or label is ready before you register, print or launch.
UAE Compliance Check
A focused review of your product, documentation, packaging and intended route to market. We identify what is ready, what is missing and what needs to be corrected for the UAE market.
Explore the UAE Compliance Check
Label Compliance Review
Send us your label or packaging artwork before it goes to print. We review the required information, ingredients, warnings, claims, symbols and bilingual labelling, then provide clear correction notes for your designer.
Explore the Label Compliance Review
Who we work with
- Founders launching a first brand, who want someone beside them who has done this before
- Established brands adding a category, reformulating, or moving to a new manufacturer
- Retail, hospitality and private label projects that need one partner to manage the whole build
- Corporate and occasion gifting — companies, hotels and event clients who want scented products made to their own branding, usually in smaller runs and always to a fixed date
How we start
Every project begins with a conversation. You tell us what you are trying to make and how far you have got. We tell you honestly what it will take — what is straightforward, what is difficult, what is likely to cost more than you expect, and whether it is worth doing at all.
There is no charge and no obligation for that first conversation. If we are not the right fit for your project, we will say so and point you somewhere better.
Before you get in touch
If you want a sense of how we think before you speak to us, read what it really costs to launch a fragrance. It is the conversation we have with most new clients, written down — real numbers, including the ones most people in this industry will not give you.