Understanding of how Korean beauty products are made

Have you heard of Kolmar Korea, Cosmax, or Cosmecca Korea? Do you know that the K-beauty brands such as Cosrx, Klair's, or even Missha actually do not produce any cosmetics? 
Assume many people already know this fact but I like to address this manufacturing and sales of Korean cosmetics as this may give us quite different point of views how we select "reliable" Korean beauty products.

# Get to know who's "Seller" and who's "Manufacturer"

In Korea, beauty products are handled under the law of 'COSMETICS ACT' and you can find the definition of manufacturer and manufacturer-seller, on Chapter II - Article 3:

• manufacturer (제조업자, 製造業者) : who intends to manufacture all or part of cosmetics (excluding the process of secondary packaging or labeling only)

• manufacturer-seller (제조판매업자, 製造販賣業者) : who intends to distribute or sell, or supply or award for the purpose of import agency business, the manufactured cosmetics (including manufactured cosmetics by consignment) and imported cosmetics

Long story short, the manufacturer is the one who actually produce beauty products and manufacturer-seller is a (or more) brand retailer who purchases beauty products from the manufacturer and sells it to customers.
According to Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, there were 1,952 manufacturers and 8,192 manufacturer-sellers in 2016.

I always have this perspective that cosmetics manufacturers should get more attention from customers as the manufacturers are the one who actually control producing process and make high-performance beauty items.
Even many of Korean customers are confused by the term 'manufacturer-seller' as it sounds like they actually produce the products, but actually not.

A good thing about Korean Cosmetics Act is that the manufacturer-seller has to inform customers who is actually manufacturer by put its name on the product package. So when you purchase K-beauty products you easily can check who is the actual manufacturers.
Also this information has to be available on Korean e-tailer website as well, so if you like to know who's the manufacturer of what, you can visit the brand's website and check it.

Innisfree No Sebum Powder: Manufacturer is Kolmar Korea 한국콜마(주)

# How Manufacturer & Manufacturer-Seller(brand) Co-work

Some brands initially develop the items and just let manufacturers produce them by following instruction: it is called OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing).

However, most of manufacturers manage new product developments including ingredients, formula, scent, shades, texture, et cetera. In this case, brands just need to label their brands on the products and distribute with massive marketing. We call this manufacturer's business ODM (Original Development Manufacturing).
※ In ODM business, brands also participate in the item development in order to modify shades/texture/etc. to meet brands' own concept and target.

This is pretty much similar to the business collaboration between Seed Beauty and KYLIE Cosmetics: Seed Beauty is in charge of item production and Kylie sells it under the brand name KYLIE Cosmetics. As you may notice, this ODM business model is broadly accepted by western beauty brands as well.

You can find many large-sized cosmetics manufacturers in Korea by simply googling 'Cosmetics ODM in Korea'. It shows Kolmar Korea, Cosmax, and Cosmecca first as they are the top 3 cosmetics manufacturers.

Kolmar Korea Manufacturing site in Korea

Other than those big ODMs, there are quite many good ODMs as well in Korea. I am keen to find them out and check what they are really good at and possibly let them produce my own line someday later.

I will blog ODM company introduction posts later on. Always feel free to let me know if you like to know any manufacturers of your favorite K-beauty products, then I will check it and post the introduction of them.

Hope you enjoy this article, thank you!

*Have any question? Please drop an email to: mealadekorea@gmail.com