Innisfree (brand)

Innisfree is a South Korean cosmetics brand owned and founded by Amore Pacific in 2000. The brand name derives from Irish poet W. B. Yeats' poem, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree'. Innisfree has stores in South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Innisfree is popular for its affordability and brand concept, which emphasizes healthy and reasonably priced beauty products with ingredients responsibly sourced from Jeju Island, South Korea.[1] Innisfree was the first K-beauty brand to launch two inclusive cushion foundation lines with 14 shades.[2]

History

Innisfree was launched by the largest skincare and cosmetics company in South Korea, Amore Pacific, in 2000 and was marketed as the manufacturer's first eco-friendly brand.[3] The brand name originates from W. B. Yeats' poem, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree'.

Sales

In 2011, the brand reported 140.5 billion won ($123.1 million) in sales from its 434 locations in South Korea.[18]

In 2019, Innisfree's sales revenue was 552 billion won (~$490.6 million), down from 600 billion (~$533.3 million) in 2018.[19]

In 2020, Innisfree's reported its lowest net profit since 2013: approximately 10.22 billion won (~$9.06 million), down from about 48.87 billion won (~$43.3 million) in 2019.[20]

In 2023, Innisfree reported a net profit of approximately 10.3 billion won, marking a 68.2% decrease compared to the previous year. In India, the brand experienced a 25% year-on-year growth, contributing to Amorepacific Group's overall 50% growth in the country.[21]

Concept

Innisfree uses the slogan "Clean Island, where clean nature and healthy beauty coexist happily". The brand concept emphasises nature and eco-friendly practices.[22]

Products

Innisfree is South Korea's first all-natural brand, and many of the products' ingredients are sourced from Jeju Island. The company's products range from makeup to skincare products for women and men.

Spokespersons and models

Innisfree has been endorsed by numerous celebrities since its launch in 2010. The brand's first model was Han Chae-young. Actresses Kim Tae-hee and Nam Sang-mi have also endorsed the brand.[23]

Since 2006, its notable spokespersons include actress Song Hye-kyo, actress Moon Geun-young, Girls' Generation member Yoona, actor Lee Min-ho, Twice, Loona, Wanna One, Shin Ye-eun and Ahn Hyo-seop .[23][24]

In 2021, singer-songwriter Stella Jang became an Innisfree cosmetics model.[25] Recently, Innisfree unveiled its brand model Shin Ye-eun through a promotional video of its own brand's large-scale sale event "Inni-Super-Big-Sale", which takes place once a year.[26] Ive (former Iz*One) member Jang Won-young is the brand's global ambassador.[27]

In February 2023, Innisfree welcomed Mingyu of Seventeen as its next global model.[28]

Social responsibility activities

• The empty bottle collection campaign: The empty bottle collection campaign is Innisfree's flagship Green Life campaign, which began in 2003.[29] Customers can receive 300 Beauty Points for each empty bottle by returning the container of Innisfree products to the store. The number of empty bottles collected by 2020 is about 30,000, and in 2017, Innisfree opened an empty bottle space in an upcycling store that uses interior finishing materials using collected empty bottles.[30]
• Upcycling Beauty: 'Upcycling Beauty' is a project that gives new value to discarded resources and recreates products with sincerity. In August 2018, we developed a body product using coffee foil, which was thrown away as the first project product, in collaboration with Anthracite, and in 2019, we developed a hairline with Jeju Beer. Recently, it secured Jeju Gujwa carrots, which cannot be sold from I'M Jeju, and launched an ugly carrot hand line made from carrot water and carrot oil extracted from carrots.[31]

Paper bottle controversy

In 2020, Innisfree released a repackaged version of the Green Tea Seed Serum that said, "HELLO, I'M PAPER BOTTLE". In April 2021, a customer of the product accused Innisfree of "greenwashing" and posted photographs and comments on Facebook revealing that the product was in a plastic bottle. The post went viral and led to consumer backlash that circulated in local media. Innisfree issued a public apology acknowledging that the labeling may be misleading and clarified that the packaging is recyclable and that "paper bottle explain[s] the role of the paper label surrounding the bottle."[32][33][34]

See also

• Shopping in Seoul
• List of South Korean retail companies
• Cosmetics in Korea

External links