Should K-beauty products have to come from South Korea?

David CannBusiness reporterPureSeoulKorean Okay-beauty merchandise have caught the creativeness of skincare patrons across the worldKorean skincare or “Okay-beauty” merchandise are highly regarded all over the world.However as exports from South Korea hit $10.3bn (£7.7bn) final yr, cosmetics firms in different nations have launched their very own Okay-beauty ranges that aren’t Korean-made.Does this blurring of the definition matter?Okay-beauty merchandise first got here to worldwide consideration within the 2010s, a part of a wave of different Korean exports, akin to Okay-pop and Okay-drama.The Okay-beauty skincare regime might be very elaborate, involving as many as 10 completely different steps, every requiring a separate product. This caught the creativeness of individuals all over the world, and gross sales rose sharply.Annual exports from South Korea elevated from $650m in 2011 to $4bn in 2017, in accordance with official figures, a sixfold rise in simply six years.Recognising this large leap in demand, cosmetics model Seoul Ceuticals was launched in 2017, named after the South Korean capital.”We began to see this enhance in progress in curiosity in Okay-beauty, and commenced growing a skincare model to satisfy that demand… once we actually noticed it rising within the US,” says Seoul Ceuticals’ director of retail relationship Ann Majeski.”It has been extraordinarily profitable. We count on to do over $14m in gross sales in 2025. We have seen a worldwide acceptance and demand for the Okay-beauty merchandise. We have began promoting in India, Latin America, Europe and Australia.”However Seoul Ceuticals will not be a Korean firm. It’s primarily based within the US, the place it additionally producers all its merchandise.The enterprise does not declare to be Korean, but it surely does say that it makes “actual, genuine Korean skincare”.Which will sound like a contradiction, however the firm says it is not as a result of its elements are sourced from South Korea.”I feel we have been a bit of extra delicate about it once we have been first beginning, as a result of we needed to be very clear that the merchandise are made within the US,” says Ms Majeski.”[But] we supply our elements in Korea… we needed to have the ability to legitimately say we’re a Okay-beauty model.”However not everybody would agree with this.PureSeoulExports of Okay-beauty merchandise from South Korea have been greater than $10bn final yr”The merchandise ought to be manufactured by a Korean producer,” says Seung Gu Kim, co-founder of Okay-beauty cosmetics agency Hwarangpoom.He runs the enterprise together with his spouse Elisa Ahonpää-Ki. Whereas they’re primarily based in Finland, all of their staff besides Elisa are Korean, and all their merchandise are made in South Korea.”An important factor that we each completely agree is that the model ought to develop its idea, and concepts, and merchandise with a Korean perspective,” says Mr Gu Kim.”That may come by way of within the elements, the design. Or cultural components, mainly something that clearly connects to the manufacturers to Korea, or a minimum of displays a Korean affect.”Nonetheless, the couple do admit that the definition of Okay-beauty stays complicated.”I suppose it is a very imprecise idea, as a result of available on the market you’ll discover a whole lot of manufacturers which are made by Koreans who dwell overseas,” says Ms Ahonpää-Okay.”After which manufacturers like Lancôme and Clinique manufacture their merchandise in Korea and Japan, however then it does not make these manufacturers Japanese and Korean.”There’s at present no official definition of Okay-beauty. And there’s no protected designation of origin to defend it, like within the case of Champagne or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.And there’s no plan to set one up, in accordance with the Okay-beauty Trade Affiliation, the one Okay-beauty commerce physique formally accepted by the South Korean authorities.”We’re at present extra centered in selling and increasing Okay-beauty,” says the organisation’s chairman Chang Nam Jang.”Whereas the pattern is kind of established in Asia, it’s only simply beginning in Europe and the US, and we do not wish to throttle the expansion by imposing any sanctions on them.”Nonetheless, the affiliation does have guidelines for its members – they have to be firms which are registered in South Korea, and their merchandise have to be formally examined and accepted by Korea Meals & Drug Administration. That approval is required with a view to promote inside South Korea.”If a product is developed in a approach that fits the local weather and surroundings of Korea, and is acknowledged as a viable product within the Korean market, then we might acknowledge it as Okay-beauty,” says Mr Nam Jang.Hwarangpoom agrees with this definition, and has acquired approval from KFDA. And Seoul Ceuticals has additionally began the method to realize KFDA approval, to carry their merchandise to Korean customers.With Okay-beauty exports from South Korea in 2024 20% larger than in 2023, there may be some huge cash to be made within the sector whether or not the companies are homegrown or not. In actual fact, South Korea is now the most important exporter of beauty merchandise after France and the US.Nonetheless, this success has spawned counterfeiters.Mark Lee is the CEO of MarqVision, a US-based enterprise helps companies spot fakes and get them faraway from sale.”For a serious Korean magnificence model, which I can not disclose, we just lately performed 29 check purchases throughout main US marketplaces,” he says. “Twenty six of them have been faux. In order that’s a 90% counterfeit charge.”And in 2024 as an entire, Marqvision recognized $280m value of faux Okay-beauty merchandise within the US market alone.The excessive variety of counterfeits drastically annoyed Okay-beauty fan Gracie Tulio. “Buying on-line for Okay-beauty was a extremely scary expertise,” she says.PureSeoulGracie Tulio, founding father of PureSeoul, says many individuals are shopping for fakes on-line This led to London-based Ms Tulio launching PureSeoul in 2019, a Okay-beauty retail enterprise that sells genuine merchandise sourced instantly from Korean producers.She says she will get prospects who go to the store with suspected faux merchandise to examine if they’re actual.”Even our prospects might be generally tempted by the lower cost [of online fakes]. It is so tempting for them simply to offer it a go and see, and 9 occasions out of 10, it isn’t actual,” she says.Learn extra international enterprise tales