The Vegan Beauty Trend Continues

If there’s one trend defining the beauty and personal care market in 2018, it is an influx of vegan offerings.

If we thought 2017 was the year vegan beauty exploded, the boom continued, and then some in 2018. As consumers increasingly turn to plant-based, cruelty-free products for either environmental, ethical or trend-led reasons, manufacturers are answering to the market, and new products are released all the time.

L’Oréal announced the acquisition of Logocos Naturkosmetik, a German vegan and organic beauty brand. According to Alexis Perakis-Valat, L’Oréal’s President of consumer products, the company was picking up on a ‘major beauty ascending trend’ and driving forward into the vegan market. Meanwhile Beauty Bay launched its own brand vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics range named Color Theory.

K Beauty was also making moves in the market with Cosmax announcing to be the first Asian cosmetics manufacturer to gain Expertise Vegan Europe (EVE) certification, and Lee Kyung-soo, Coxmax Chairman and CEO stated, “Demand for eco-friendly products like vegan and halal is increasing in the global cosmetics market. We will continue to work hard to produce vegan and halal certified products to meet various needs of global consumers.”

Miss South Africa Boipelo Mabe caters to growing consumer demand in South Africa with the launch of a new vegan range in partnership with My Skincare, named My African Skincare.

Not just the brands, but retailers were getting involved too. Target launched its vegan fragrance line named Good Chemistry in January. Meanwhile UK retailer Holland & Barrett announced it was to open two vegan stores that will stock a range of beauty products.

However, while there was a definite acceleration in the market, spurred on by consumer demand and growing awareness, the movement still had room to grow as stated by Peter Aldis, Chief Executive of Holland & Barrett. “We don’t want to feel like a place for alternative hippies. We want vegan to become more mainstream and there are lots of very good reasons why it will.”

Helen Duxbury, Senior Account Manager, NPD UK Beauty, backs this theory. She said “Customers not only investigate ingredients and efficacy, but they also want to know about traceability, and how animal friendly they are. Vegan and cruelty-free are two of the big issues for customers in 2018, but still remains a niche segment of the skincare market.”

Indeed, while vegan beauty showcased market activity indicating that this area of the beauty industry was more than just a trend, it remains a relative niche market – with room for growth in 2019. Will big beauty brands such as L’Oréal et all continue to invest in the market by buying out smaller niche companies, and will the crossover with the food market make the two areas of vegan living become more intrinsically linked by their plant-based origins? 2019 will tell.