If you have ever walked into a SoulCycle studio, you know the scent before you know the playlist. That warm, uplifting grapefruit fragrance that greets you in the lobby, burns on the instructor's podium during class, and lingers in your memory long after the cool-down — it is not a detail. It is arguably the most recognizable sensory element of the SoulCycle brand, as iconic as the yellow wheel or the candlelit darkness. Co-founder Julie Rice has said that "there were no sensory details left unturned" when designing the studio experience. The grapefruit scent is where that philosophy became tangible.
What most riders do not know is that the scent did not come from a fragrance catalog. SoulCycle's team came to Brandmerch with a concept and a reference — and Brandmerch reverse-engineered it, refined it over months of sampling and testing, and produced over ten thousand candles and diffusers that now define the sensory experience of every SoulCycle class across more than ninety studios nationwide. This is the story of how that happened.
The Brief
SoulCycle's brand experience team reached out to Brandmerch with a clear vision and a specific reference point. They had a scent direction they loved — bright, energizing grapefruit with warm undertones — and they wanted Brandmerch to reverse-engineer it, then refine and perfect it into something entirely their own. Not a licensed fragrance. Not a white-label product. A custom scent that would belong exclusively to SoulCycle and become a core element of their brand identity.
The scope went beyond the studio. If the scent worked, it would need to translate into two product formats: candles that would burn during every class on the instructor's podium and be sold at retail through SoulCycle's studio shops and online store, and diffusers that would scent the lobby and common areas with the same fragrance profile. Both products needed custom packaging that matched SoulCycle's premium aesthetic — this was not a commodity candle with a logo sticker. It was a branded product that would sit alongside SoulCycle's apparel and lifestyle merchandise.
And critically, Brandmerch would be the ongoing supplier. This was not a one-time production run. It was an ongoing manufacturing partnership that would need to deliver consistent quality at volume, quarter after quarter, as SoulCycle burned through thousands of candles and diffuser refills across their studio network.
Reverse-Engineering the Scent
Creating a custom fragrance is not like selecting a Pantone color. Scent is subjective, layered, and deeply personal. What smells uplifting to one person can smell cloying to another. And replicating a reference scent — then improving on it — requires a level of olfactory precision that goes far beyond mixing essential oils in a workshop.
Brandmerch worked with fragrance specialists to deconstruct the reference scent SoulCycle provided, identifying the core notes and the supporting structure that gave it character. The top notes were bright grapefruit and pink pomelo — the immediate hit of citrus energy that defines the first impression. The heart layered in peach nectar and aquatic florals, adding depth without heaviness. The base used green apple and crisp rhubarb leaves to create a clean finish that avoided the soapy or synthetic quality that plagues many citrus fragrances.
But identifying the notes was only the starting point. The goal was not to copy — it was to perfect. Over the course of several months, Brandmerch produced multiple rounds of samples, each tweaking the balance between brightness and warmth, adjusting concentration levels for different burn formats, and testing how the scent performed in the specific conditions of a SoulCycle class: high humidity, elevated body heat, forty-five minutes of continuous burn time, and a dark room where scent becomes even more prominent because visual stimuli are reduced.
Each sample round went back to the SoulCycle team for evaluation. Some were too sweet. Some lost their grapefruit punch after twenty minutes of burn. Some smelled perfect in a cold room but shifted character in a heated studio. The iterative process eventually converged on a formulation that hit every mark — bright enough to energize, warm enough to feel intimate, and stable enough to deliver the same experience from the first minute of class to the last.
From Candle to Diffuser
A candle and a diffuser deliver scent through fundamentally different mechanisms. A candle uses heat to vaporize fragrance oil from a wax pool — the scent profile changes as the wax melts, with top notes releasing first and base notes emerging over time. A diffuser uses cold air or reed capillary action to disperse fragrance continuously at a steady rate. The same fragrance oil formulation will smell noticeably different in each format.
This meant the grapefruit scent needed to be reformulated for the diffuser application — not a different fragrance, but a recalibrated version optimized for cold diffusion. Brandmerch adjusted the concentration ratios so the diffuser version maintained the same perceived scent profile as the burning candle, ensuring that riders experienced a seamless fragrance transition from the lobby (diffuser) to the studio (candle) without registering a disconnect.
The diffuser format also had to account for the enormous variability across SoulCycle's studio network. Lobby sizes ranged from compact Manhattan storefronts to expansive suburban locations. HVAC systems varied by building. Regional climates affected humidity levels, which influence how scent disperses. Brandmerch developed deployment guidelines calibrated to studio size, with recommended diffuser placement and refill schedules tailored to each environment.
Production at Scale
With the scent locked and both formats validated, Brandmerch moved into production. The initial run exceeded ten thousand units across candles and diffusers — a volume that required dedicated production capacity, strict quality controls, and a supply chain built for ongoing replenishment rather than a one-time order.
Every production batch was verified against a sealed master reference sample maintained at both the manufacturing facility and Brandmerch's fulfillment center. Fragrance consistency is non-negotiable at this scale — a single batch that drifts from the established profile would create an inconsistent experience for riders who have come to associate a very specific scent with their SoulCycle ritual. Over multiple production cycles, zero batches have been rejected for scent variance.
The candles were produced with custom metallic packaging that elevated them from functional studio items to premium retail products. The metallic finish, SoulCycle branding, and product design were developed to hold their own alongside the apparel and lifestyle merchandise in SoulCycle's studio shops and online store. The diffusers received the same packaging treatment, with a retail-ready presentation that made them viable as both studio operational supplies and consumer products priced at forty-two to forty-eight dollars.
The Ritual
Understanding why this project matters requires understanding the role candles play in a SoulCycle class. They are not decoration. They are ceremony.
Four large candles burn on the instructor's podium throughout every class. The studio is dark — candlelight and bike console screens are the only illumination. The grapefruit scent fills the room as riders push through the workout, becoming deeply associated with the physical and emotional experience of the class. Before the final stretch, an honored rider is invited to the podium to blow out the candles, initiating the "soulful moment" where the room goes completely dark and the instructor delivers a reflective message while riders pedal slowly in the silence.
That ritual — candles burning, grapefruit scent, darkness, community — is what makes SoulCycle fundamentally different from other cycling studios. The scent is not an add-on. It is structural. And it only works because the fragrance is consistent class after class, studio after studio, month after month. A rider in West Hollywood has the same olfactory experience as a rider in the West Village. That consistency is what transforms a nice smell into a brand signature.
From Studio to Living Room
The candle did not stay in the studio. SoulCycle launched the grapefruit candle and diffuser as retail products, available for purchase in every studio and through their online shop. The products became some of the most popular lifestyle items in SoulCycle's merchandise catalog — riders wanted to bring the studio experience home.
The cultural impact went further than sales. The SoulCycle grapefruit scent became a genuine phenomenon. Fitness publications covered it. Social media posts from riders consistently mentioned it as a defining element of the experience. And fans began trying to replicate the scent at home with DIY recipes — a signal that the fragrance had crossed from product into cultural artifact. When people are reverse-engineering your candle in their kitchen, you have created something that transcends merchandise.
Yale's Material and Visual Cultures of Religion project even documented the SoulCycle candle as a case study in how physical objects create ritualistic meaning in secular spaces — academic validation that a grapefruit candle, produced by Brandmerch and burned on a cycling instructor's podium, had become a genuine cultural object.
The Ongoing Partnership
Brandmerch remains SoulCycle's ongoing supplier for the grapefruit candle and diffuser program. This is not a project with a delivery date and a handoff — it is a continuous manufacturing partnership with quarterly production runs, quality verification against the master reference, and fulfillment logistics that keep every studio stocked without excess inventory sitting in back rooms.
The supply chain reliability matters as much as the initial creative work. A studio that runs out of candles cannot run the class the way it is designed to be experienced. A diffuser refill that arrives late means a lobby that does not smell like SoulCycle. The operational infrastructure behind the scent program — production scheduling, inventory management, quality controls, and fulfillment coordination — is what makes it possible for ninety-plus studios to deliver the same sensory experience every single day.
This is the same operational philosophy that drives every Brandmerch program, whether it is a custom branded merchandise program, a corporate gifting operation, or a product that needs to show up consistently across dozens of locations. The creative vision gets the attention. The supply chain makes it real.
What This Means for Your Brand
The SoulCycle project is exceptional in its specifics — not every brand needs a custom fragrance. But the underlying principle applies to any organization investing in physical brand experiences: the products you put in people's hands (or in their environment) shape how they feel about your brand more powerfully than any digital touchpoint.
A custom scent, a thoughtfully designed candle, a retail product that fans try to replicate at home — these are not marketing expenses. They are brand equity compounding with every class, every purchase, every Instagram post. The SoulCycle grapefruit candle started as a brief and a reference sample. It became one of the most recognizable sensory signatures in boutique fitness.
If your brand is exploring experiential merchandise, custom product development, or any physical brand extension that needs to work consistently at scale, the starting point is a conversation about what experience you want to create and how to build the operational infrastructure to deliver it. Explore the Brandmerch platform or connect with the team directly to start that conversation.
