South Korea's First Gender Neutral Beauty Brand

The reality is that perceptions of gender in Asia’s cosmetics hub are still conservative, perpetuated by one of the nation’s largest exports: beauty. Laka, an indie native makeup label, is on a mission to blur the lines

- Chelsea Tang

A quick Google search will reveal just how much of a behemoth the South Korean cosmetics industry is: US$10.2 billion in 2019 (approx. S$13.7 billion), according to a recent survey released by Allied Market Research in February 2021. In entering yet another decade where beauty is intrinsically tied to social media, and ever more so in the beauty hub that is South Korea, would it be safe to say that the world has pretty much seen the end of K-beauty innovations? The case for a resounding yes is present. After all, K-beauty launched itself into a league of its own, what with cushion foundations of every finish, enduring lip trends loved (and replicated) to death… A seemingly exhaustive list is in sight, though indisputably helped along by the Jennie-s and the Song Hye Kyo-s of a booming South Korean entertainment scene.

The right answer to take, however, has to be an anticipative no. To be fair though, being first of anything beauty-related in South Korea is no mean feat — and it’s easy for a brand to simply slip down the classic “been there, done that” slope, amid a backdrop of powerful conglomerates and thousands of sprightly indie labels. Creating a completely new brand in the saturated South Korean beauty market takes a lot more than simply wanting to; breakthrough comes from a powerful flexing of the imagination, and reading in between the binaries to be able to plumb that magical blue ocean area.