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Vegan cosmetic products (Courtesy: Getty Images) South Korean cosmetic brands are increasingly earning vegan certifications as more consumers are seeking eco-friendly products. However, the certificate institutes require different standards for vegan labeling, and there are no authorities to supervise such institutes in Korea. It means the vegan labels may not always guarantee the 100% eco-friendly factors of the vegan beauty products.Korea Agency of Vegan Certification and Services, the first vegan certifier founded in Korea, has certified around 2,500 vegan products from 2018 to end-2021. Of the products, nearly 1,000 were cosmetic items.Another local certifier Vegan Standard Certification Institution has certified around 100 vegan cosmetic products since the second half of 2020. The number of vegan certifications in Korea last year doubled to tripled that of 2020, according to the vegan industry sources.Consumer goods firm LG Household & Health Care Co. launched vegan cosmetic brand Freshian in early June. The brand is using botanical extracts for its beauty products, and the packing boxes and makeup puff are made with sugar cane-derived bio polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and cornstarch, respectively. Freshian is LG’s first beauty brand with vegan certifications on all the products, an LG official said.Korean cosmetic giant Amorepacific Co. unveiled vegan brand Longtake in April, following its previous vegan cosmetics Enough Project in June 2020. Longtake uses botanical ingredients such as cypress leave and black beans as well as upcycles oakwood sawdust from woodworking shops and reprocesses them. Olive Young, Korea’s largest beauty store chain, set up a vegan beauty category in February that contains 10 vegan brands such as Clio Veganware, Dear Dahlia and Amuse. Vegan beauty product sales in the beauty store chain jumped by 22% for 10 days from June 10, compared with the same period of 2021. LG's new vegan cosmetic brand Freshian (Courtesy of LG Household & Health Care) NO SUPERVISORY AUTHORITIES FOR LOCAL CERTIFIERS YETAccording to global market research firm Grand View Research, the world’s vegan cosmetics market is expected to reach $20.8 billion in 2025 from $15.2 billion in 2021.Korean beauty brands acquire vegan certification from some local institutes and global certifiers like the UK-based The Vegan Society and France-based Expertise Végane Europe. In Korea, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has allowed Korea Agency of Vegan Certification and Services to certify vegan cosmetics. However, all the domestic and overseas vegan certifiers have different standards and processes for approving vegan products. “A few institutes from overseas visit the local manufacturing facilities for due diligence, and the others require only documents for the certification process. You can’t be sure if all the development and manufacturing procedures of the vegan-labeled products are environment-friendly,” a cosmetics industry source said. "As the certification is costly and needs renewal regularly, these fees raise the vegan product prices," the source added.Also, there are no authorities to supervise the local vegan certifiers’ work in Korea. Even MFDS doesn't have the right to supervise the local certifiers, and it is the cosmetic companies' responsibility to demonstrate that their vegan products have been properly made following eco-friendly procedures, an MFDS official said. By Soo-Jung Haagatha77@hankyung.comJihyun Kim edited this article.
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