Domestic cosmetics contract manufacturing companies
10,000 skincare samples in the first half of the year… Over 1,100 patent applications in 34 years
“Try it yourself to develop a lipstick scent”
Accumulating technology… Also offering sales proposals to brands
At 10 AM on the 16th, at the UV Tech Innovation Lab of the Korea Kolmar General Technology Institute in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, the equipment for testing UV blocking performance was emitting a dazzling light. Researchers were applying sample products to their hands and faces. Hong In-ki, head of the UV Tech Innovation Lab, said, “I wash my face 10 times a day to apply sunscreen when I get to work,” and “About 70% of UV blocking products distributed in Korea are Korea Kolmar products.”
Korea Kolmar is a strong supporter of K-beauty. It is hard to find a cosmetics brand called ‘Korea Kolmar’. Instead, Korea Kolmar is manufacturing products for 3,776 cosmetics brands as of this year. Most small and medium-sized companies with indie brands do not have their own production facilities and outsource manufacturing to cosmetics manufacturers and manufacturers (ODMs) such as Korea Kolmar and Cosmax. In terms of the semiconductor industry, indie brands are semiconductor design (fabless) companies, and Korea Kolmar and Cosmax are contract manufacturing (foundry) companies.
Indie brand cosmetics manufactured by Kolmar Korea are gaining huge popularity in the global market. Joseon Beauty’s ‘Clear Rice Sun Cream’ is a representative example. This product, manufactured by Kolmar Korea, ranked first in sales on Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce platform. The securities industry is predicting that Kolmar Korea will exceed 200 billion won in operating profit for the first time since its establishment this year, thanks to the popularity of K-beauty.
The Korea Kolmar Comprehensive Technology Center, established in August 2019, is a facility that integrates research institutes scattered across the country, including Sejong and Ochang, North Chungcheong Province. While looking around the Comprehensive Technology Center, the prejudice that “since they are a contract manufacturing company, they will make whatever the client asks” was broken. On the contrary, it is said that in many cases, Korea Kolmar develops products with its own technology and first proposes them to brands with strong marketing and distribution capabilities. As of August of this year, the number of patents applied for by Korea Kolmar over the past 34 years is 1,108. Korea Kolmar invests about 7% of its annual sales in research and development (R&D). A Korea Kolmar official said, “7% is the highest level in the ODM cosmetics industry.”
The integrated technology center was like a ‘small factory’ that compressed large-scale production facilities and a ‘science laboratory’. The skin care research center was busy developing products with over 100 pieces of experimental equipment, including equipment for mixing raw materials evenly. Over 1,000 new products are developed here annually. The skin care research center made 10,000 samples in the first half of this year (January to June). Mixing various raw materials and applying them directly is the daily routine of the researchers.
We headed to the Fragrance Research Center. Here, fragrance experts develop new fragrances. They create fragrances for not only cosmetics but also toothpaste, shampoo, and body products. Eunseong Ko, team leader of the Korea Kolmar Fragrance Research Center, said, “Because lipstick can be eaten after application, we try a small amount of lipstick every day to develop a fragrance that is ‘not unpleasant when eaten. ’ I think I eat about one lipstick a year.”
Along with Korea Kolmar, the other two major cosmetics ODMs that serve as the rear support force for K-beauty are Cosmax. Cosmax’s consolidated sales in the first half of the year were 1.783 trillion won, exceeding 1 trillion won for the first time. This is a 22% increase from the same period last year. Like Korea Kolmar, Cosmax is also attracting domestic and foreign customers based on its technological prowess. An official from an indie cosmetics brand said, “If there were no ODM companies with world-class technologies in Korea, it would have been very difficult,” and “Thanks to their technological prowess, we can focus on marketing, distribution, and branding of our products.”
Reporter Lee Min-ah [email protected]
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2024-08-21 13:22:10