Aramis is one of the oldest of the Estee Lauder Company’s more than twenty-five recognized brands, which also include Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Donna Karan. Estee Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer on January 7, 1907 in Corona, Queens. She founded the Estee Lauder cosmetics company in 1946 in New York City with her husband, Joseph Lauder. The company launched the Aramis brand in 1964 as the first line of cosmetics products designed specifically for men. The line included shaving gels, skin care products and especially scents. In the following decades, Estee Lauder has grown into a multi-billion dollar cosmetics empire and Aramis has become one of its most powerful child companies. Despite its initial position as a forerunner of men’s cosmetics, the brand has spent much of its existence working to come up with creative strategies for combating its ever-increasing competition from names like Calvin Klein and L’Oreal.