The 'Value of Beauty' and trade marks (2025)

The British Beauty Council has published its 2025 “Value of Beauty” report, looking at the economic impact of the UK personal care industry in 2024 and 2025. See my comments on last year's report here.

It highlights that the sector's direct contribution increased by 9% in 2024, or 5% after adjusting for inflation. By comparison, this is larger than that of the sports, amusement, and recreation sector, and is four times faster than that of the overall economy (1.1%)!

The personal care industry had a direct GDP contribution of £15.9 billion, reaching a total of £30.4 billion with supply chain and employee spending.

Looking at trade mark applications in Class 3 (which broadly covers cosmetics and perfumery): there were 12,342 UK applications (nationals and IR designations) covering Class 3 in 2024 (v. 10,992 in 2023). This represents a 12.3% increase (v. 3.3% in 2022-2023).

Note this is not the full picture because (1) Class 3 covers some goods which are not strictly speaking beauty goods such as laundry or cleaning products; and (2) the beauty sector encompasses goods/services falling within other classes such as 44 for beauty services or 8 for beauty care tools. 

The top 2024 UK Applicants are as follows:

1. L'Oréal with 248 filings;
2. Shiseido with 32 filings;
3. Bubble Beauty (Beauty Bay) with 30 filings;
4. Shenzhen Huasheng Hengda Industrial with 30 filings;
5. Procter & Gamble with 26 filings.

The top 2024 UK parties in contentious cases are as follows:

1. Cosmetic Warriors (Lush) with 6 cases;
2. Staraxe Services with 5 cases; 
3. Stefano Ricci with 5 cases.

It is interesting to see that the “beauty” trade mark growth is currently stronger than that of the industry. A prediction for new brands in the coming years…?

Looking forward, it is predicted that the personal care industry will support a total GDP contribution of £31.5bn in 2025, up 3%. This more conservative growth is driven by an expected slowdown in growth of household spending on personal care products and services.

britishbeautycouncil.com/...