Cosmetics run and celebrate from 17 to 21 September with Milan Beauty Week

Lombardy concentrates 70% of the cosmetics industry's turnover and 48% of the companies in a sector that nationally closed 2024 with a total turnover of over 16.5 billion euros, up 9.1% compared to 2023. Estimates for 2025 are also positive, with turnover exceeding €17.7 billion (+6.9% over 2024). Exports account for 48% of the sector's turnover, twice as much as 20 years ago. In 2024, exports exceeded EUR 7.9 billion, quadrupling their value in the 20-year comparison. With +12% compared to 2023, it is the sector whose exports grew the most in 2024 only after jewellery.

In this context, the fourth edition of Milano Beauty Week 2025, an initiative by Cosmetica Italia, in collaboration with Cosmoprof and Esxence, will be held from 17 to 21 September. A week dedicated to wellness and beauty in all its forms, enhancing a strategic sector for innovation, employment and sustainable development. Since its first edition, Milano Beauty Week has been welcomed and recognised by the Municipality of Milan, the Lombardy Region, and Assolombarda, which have given their patronage to the project.

"2024 was an extraordinary year, the figures for 2025 are just as positive with solid growth," comments Benedetto Lavino, president of Cosmetica Italia. "Italy is the second European exporter of cosmetics and the fourth in the world, a true engine of our made in Italy. If we consider the entire economic system of cosmetics, from the companies that produce cosmetics, to the production and packaging machinery, packaging, raw materials, distribution, logistics and retail, the turnover generated is 40 billion euro".

Kindness will be the theme of this year's event, the heart of which will be located in Palazzo Giureconsulti with beauty corners and a rich programme of events and projects, Palazzo Castiglioni with the charity initiatives "Beauty gives back" and "Love is in the hair", and for the first time Palazzo Bovara with spaces dedicated to talks and masterclasses, as well as the exhibition "Iris, at the root of Beauty" by Accademia del Profumo, in collaboration with the Italian Iris Society and participating perfume houses. The narration of beauty and wellness will also spread to other areas of the city with the Beauty Cube, the Beauty Tram, the Beauty Saturday Night and through olfactory tours and walks.

The projection of the unpublished short film 'Via Bellezza 11', created by OffiCine-IED in collaboration with Cosmetica Italia, is worth mentioning. The final evening of the event will be celebrated on the prestigious stage of the Teatro alla Scala: here, for the first time, the winners of the Accademia del Profumo 2025 Prize will be revealed and, at the end of the award ceremony, the students of the Scuola di Ballo dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala will perform in the show 'Gesti di bellezza'.