Pure Beauty

Can Shikō Beauty reignite America’s love of J-beauty?

By Julia Wray | Published: 9-Aug-2022

Mitsui & Co’s new D2C platform is hoping to ride the pre-pandemic wave for ‘made in Japan’ cosmetics

Japanese company Mitsui & Co is betting on US consumers’ appetite for J-beauty brands with the launch of a new D2C platform.

Described as part of an initiative to accelerate Japan-inspired beauty in the US, Mitsui’s New York-based Beauty Personal Care Group is presenting a curation of J-beauty brands via its new Shikō Beauty Collective.

According to the company, pre-pandemic, ‘made in Japan’ brands enjoyed a 25% increase in US launches over the five-year period to 2020.

Shikō Beauty offers brands including Lala Vie (pictured), Dr. MEDION, RÉgLE, warew, Dassai Beauty, Ishii Clinic Beauty Labo, INMASK SALON, THE FINGGY and Seiso JBeauty on the shikobeauty.com website.

It also intends to onboard new brands via its Shikō incubator pipeline.

“The traditions that guide Japanese beauty are incredibly analogous to the desires and expectations the American beauty consumer is expressing at this moment in time,” said Jim Berkrot, Vice President, Marketing at Mitsui & Co’s US Beauty Personal Care Group.

“There is an incredibly popular #romanticizeyourlife TikTok trend that encourages people to find pleasure in mundane daily tasks. This is a new name for something that has been part of Japanese culture for literally thousands of years.

“Americans, and especially younger Americans are profoundly craving simpler pleasures, thoughtful self care routines, reduced waste, slow beauty and a ‘less is more’ approach to skin care that achieves their desired results.”

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