Lattafa Perfumes

Sheikh Shahid Ahmad arrived in Dubai from Pakistan in the late 1970s and spent thirteen years working at his uncle's perfume shop in the city's traditional bazaars. During that decade he watched the UAE market closely and noticed something everyone else seemed to miss: Western fragrance was overwhelming the region, even though local taste leaned hard toward the rich, long-lasting Arabian compositions of frankincense, oud, amber and rose. He saw the gap, partnered with Shoaib Iqbal in 1980, and started building a brand that would eventually run the gap in reverse — sending Arabian perfumery out to a Western audience that didn't yet know it wanted it. Three generations of the Sheikh family now run the company.

The name Lattafa is drawn from the Arabic words Latif (gentle) and Lateefa (pleasant) — qualities the founders wanted to anchor the brand identity in. The company spent its first decade serving the UAE market directly, then expanded across the GCC through the 1990s and 2000s. The global pivot came in 2012 with a deliberate push beyond the Middle East. The TikTok inflection point hit around 2022-2023 — Khamrah, marketed as a Kilian Angels' Share interpretation at a fraction of the price, went viral and pulled the rest of the catalogue into the global spotlight. Lattafa now owns sub-brands including Maison Alhambra, Asdaaf, Rave, and Vurv, each targeting a slightly different audience segment.