Cosmetics overcomes crises with innovation

Commercial (and other) wars, geopolitical and social crises are not stopping the advance of cosmetics, which continues to grow against the trend of many other sectors. According to Euromonitor International, forecasts for 2025 indicate a turnover of more than EUR 612.8 billion, with an average annual growth from 2023 of around 8%.

Italy is not to be outdone: last year, cosmetics achieved a turnover of more than 16.5 billion euro, consolidating its position as one of the main drivers of the national economy, with a growth of 9.1% compared to 2023 and a further increase of 6.9% estimated for 2025, which will bring turnover to 17.7 billion euro.

Exports confirm important dynamics with a value of just over EUR 7.9 billion and a growth of 12.0%: Italy is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of cosmetic export value after France, the United States and South Korea.

Having said that, one has to ask oneself why such success is possible, even in times of crisis. And to answer this question, one only has to think that Italian cosmetics companies are recognised globally as excelling in the creation, formulation and production of make-up, but also of perfumes and skincare, so much so that they produce for most of the world's big names (65% of make-up in Europe and 55% of make-up worldwide is made in Italy).

Commitment to research and development is high: companies in the cosmetics sector often invest more than twice as much in R&D than the Italian manufacturing average and no entrepreneur, even with Trump's threat of tariffs, has shown any willingness to slow down.