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

Korean skincare or “K-beauty” products are very popular around the world.But as exports from South Koreahit $10.3bn (£7.7bn) last year,cosmetics companies in other countries have introduced their own K-beauty ranges that are not Korean-made.Does this blurring of the definition matter?K-beauty products first came to international attention in the 2010s, part of a wave of other Korean exports, such as K-pop and K-drama.The K-beauty skincare regime can be very elaborate, involving as many as 10 different steps, each requiring a separate product. This caught the imagination of people around the world, and sales rose sharply.Annual exports from South Korea increased from $650m in 2011 to $4bn in 2017, according to official figures, a sixfold rise in just six years.

Recognising this huge jump in demand, cosmetics brand Seoul Ceuticals was launched in 2017, named after the South Korean capital.”We started to see this increase in growth in interest in K-beauty, and began developing a skincare brand to meet that demand… when we really saw it emerging in the US,” says Seoul Ceuticals’ director of retail relationship Ann Majeski.”It has been extremely successful. We expect to do over $14m in sales in 2025. We’ve seen a global acceptance and demand for the K-beauty products. We’ve started selling in India, Latin America, Europe and Australia.”But Seoul Ceuticals is not a Korean company.

It is based in the US, where it also manufacturers all its products.The business doesn’t claim to be Korean, but it does say that it makes”real, authentic Korean skincare”.That may sound like a contradiction, but the company says it isn’t because its ingredients are sourced from South Korea.”I think we were a little more sensitive about it when we were first starting, because we wanted to be very transparent that the products are made in the US,” says Ms Majeski.”[But] we source our ingredients in Korea… we wanted to be able to legitimately say we are a K-beauty brand.”But not everyone would agree with this.

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