K-Beauty Now Embraces the 'Good Cosmetics Trend'... "Increase Veganism Products"

Cosmetics Also Caught in the 'Vegan Craze'... Expected to Reach $20.8 Billion by 2025
Popular Surge of Brands Like Reduce, Unleashia, ATE, and Hourglass

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] 'Vegan' is emerging as a new consumer trend in the beauty industry. As interest in animal ethics and environmental protection grows, a 'veganism' craze is sweeping the applied beauty sector. Accordingly, companies are accelerating their moves to seize opportunities with vegan products.

According to the industry on the 7th, Hourglass, a U.S. makeup brand launched in the domestic market by Shinsegae International, aims to make all its products vegan by the end of this year, becoming a perfect 'vegan brand.' Hourglass is a vegan-oriented beauty brand that strives to use vegan ingredients that do not contain animal-derived raw materials or ingredients derived from animals. It is especially a cruelty-free brand that does not conduct animal testing and has received official certification from the international animal protection organization PETA. Currently, more than 80% of its products are vegan. The brand is in the process of replacing all its products with vegan ones by removing animal-derived ingredients and developing alternative ingredients.

Before becoming known in Korea, Hourglass had already gained recognition through overseas direct purchases due to its excellent quality and luxurious packaging, but it has received even greater response since being recognized as a vegan-oriented cosmetic brand. In particular, it has established itself as a must-buy brand at duty-free shops for Chinese visitors to Korea, leading to increasing sales in domestic duty-free stores. From May to December 2019, its duty-free sales growth rate recorded an astonishing 90% increase compared to the same period the previous year. In China, imported cosmetics that do not conduct animal testing cannot obtain hygiene permits, making official import sales of Hourglass difficult, so consumers purchase it at Korean duty-free shops.

LF's first cosmetics brand, Atte, also pursues vegan beauty. Launched in October 2019, Atte has secured Swiss functional plant ingredients through joint research and development with the renowned Swiss cosmetics raw material laboratory Mibelle and offers numerous products certified as vegan cosmetics that do not conduct any animal testing.

Atte's representative popular item, Authentic Lip Balm, is Korea's first vegan-certified lipstick that does not use animal-derived ingredients and has received vegan certification from the global vegan certification body in France, IVE. In addition, Atte has introduced Korea's first vegan-certified eyeshadow and sunscreen products, such as Authentic Fallin Eyes and the Vegan Relief Suncare line, establishing innovative product competitiveness.

An LF official said, "Atte plans to expand its various vegan-certified lineups in line with the increasing demand for vegan beauty in the domestic beauty market. At the same time, based on achievements in offline distribution channels such as Hyundai Department Store Pangyo branch and online distribution channels including LF Mall, Galleria Mall, and AK Mall, we plan to further expand premium online and offline distribution channels within this year to increase brand volume."

Reduce, which has received green grade certification from the U.S. environmental civic group EWG, is also gaining popularity through word of mouth. Among its main lines, the 'Refreshing Time Line,' the most talked-about product is the 'Refreshing Time Cleansing Water,' which won the year-end award in the H&B store Lalavla category and ranked first in the cleansing water category on the mobile cosmetics information platform Hwahae for 13 consecutive weeks. Recently, it entered Olive Young, where sales in the second month tripled compared to the first month, showing strong consumer response.

A representative of the Reduce brand said, "We plan to expand into various channels to increase consumer contact points, and as overseas interest is rising recently, we plan to promote Reduce not only domestically but also to consumers in various countries."

Unlisia, Korea's first vegan-certified glitter specialty brand, received official vegan and cruelty-free certification from the international animal protection organization PETA upon its launch and is gaining attention in the color cosmetics market. As a pioneer that launched Korea's first and largest particle glitter products, it offers dazzling visuals and lively, distinctive makeup products.

An Unlisia brand representative explained, "As a brand practicing veganism, we plan to conduct various vegan campaigns in collaboration with animal protection organizations. Our goal is to develop a biodegradable glitter line within this year. In the first half of the year, we plan various collaborations with emerging artists, and we are striving to become a differentiated beauty brand by actively managing our TikTok account, the most used channel among Generation Z, in an entertaining way."

Currently, Unlisia products can be found on its official mall, Naver Smart Store, W Concept, Brandy, Style Share, and Seoul Store, with plans to enter AP Mall within this month.

The industry expects that companies foreseeing the future of K-beauty in vegan products will become even more active. According to Grand View Research, a U.S. market research firm, the global vegan cosmetics market size is expected to grow at an annual rate of over 6%, reaching $20.8 billion by 2025.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.