by Paris – Oh Baby!
As the so-called Sephora kids continue to debate age-inappropriate skincare, the race is heating up among luxury brands for the hearts – and wallets – of to win even younger consumers: babies and children.
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It’s a growing niche, including the likes of Dior, Hermès and Petit Bateau, with a growing fan base, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. With price tags that can work well north of 200 euros, such products are being designed for the youngest members of Generation Alpha and, increasingly, their entire families.
“There used to be brands associated with perfumes or baby cosmetics, but there seems to have been a huge boom in this area in the last few years,” said Fflur Roberts, head of luxury goods at Euromonitor International. “It’s definitely a very niche area. That said, it’s likely to grow, as more brands expand into other categories or move further into lifestyle.”
Jump on the bandwagon Baby Dior’s new beauty line, which is starting a globetrot, has recently launched in the United States starting in June exclusively in the Dior store in New York and the city’s JFK airport. The collection includes Bonne Étoile, an eau de senteur with notes of pear, eglantine and musk. Developed by Dior fragrance creative director Francis Kurkdjian, it contains no alcohol and 98 percent of the ingredients come from natural sources. A 100-ml. A bottle sells for 255 euros.
There is also La Mousse Très Fondante Baby Dior cleansing foam for faces, bodies and hair of babies and children, for 85 euros; Le Lait Très Tendre face and body lotion, for 105 euros, and liquid detergent L’Eau Très Frais, for € 85, as well.
Bonpoint was a pioneer in the field of children’s and children’s beauty. Marie-France Cohen launched the fashion brand in 1975, and 10 years later her iconic fragrances Eau de Bonpoint for children and Eau de Senteur for newborns, created by her sister Annick Goutal, came out. A women’s fragrance, Eau Intense, was launched in 2018.
These days, a gift from Bonpoint is generally sprayed with the brand’s fragrance.
“It’s part of our immersive experience,” said Gala Sarmini Kressmann, Bonpoint’s chief marketing and digital officer. “All our customers know it. He’s kind of a madeleine de Proust.”
Bonpoint’s iconic scent note of orange blossom features in the brand’s skincare line, launched in 2010. Today, it has 20 permanently stocked units, including cleansers and moisturizers for the face and body. A baby-friendly sun care range has already been out of stock four times, and a shampoo, with a pump of whipped cream, came out a year ago. Each vegan formula contains a minimum of 94 percent natural ingredients and is made in France.
“All of our skin care is really made for babies and the family,” said Sarmini Kressmann. “The scent is very subtle in skin care.”
The products comply with the strict French regulations for baby and children care and are tested by paediatricians, as well as dermatologists.
Recently, the brand has expanded its reach beyond children. Bonpoint’s Crème Revitalisante, launched in 2023, is for pregnant women or young mothers. [a line for] the mothers and the children,” she said.
The brand is in 14 Special Protection Areas, where it offers specific treatments for mothers and children aged 6 and over. Twenty percent of the Bonpoint beauty line is used by the parents themselves. Its fragrances and skin care are sold in 30 countries through 130 boutiques, as well as wholesalers. “APAC, and China in particular, is where our beauty line is most famous,” said Sarmini Kressmann.
Beauty is a growing business, accounting for 30 percent of Bonpoint’s total sales, which industry sources estimate at around 50 million euros per year. The beauty line has double-digit growth worldwide.
In China, where Bonpoint has three dedicated beauty boutiques, the category generates about 45 percent of sales, making it the brand’s largest beauty market. Bonpoint is also sold there in Hainan, Hong Kong, Seoul and Macao duty free.
Europe is also a big market. For the first time, this summer Bonpoint will have a dedicated pop-up in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. The brand is also growing in the US
“Whether it’s skin care or perfume, we’re really going to deploy the range,” said Sarmini Kressmann.
Dr. Barbara Sturm’s Baby & Children’s Collection, with five high-quality skin care products, also performs well in the APAC region, where gifts have a strong impact. Its other top markets include the US, the UK and France, in luxury retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Holt Renfrew, Harrods and Le Bon Marché, according to Barbara Sturm, founder of Dr. Barbara Sturm Molecular Cosmetics.
“The baby and baby care sets work best in the collection, as they offer a nice selection of products and provide everything babies need for their sensitive skin, as well as making a lovely gift,” she said.
Sturm launched baby products in 2018 with bath milk, hair and body shampoo, face cream and baby bump cream; prices range from 20 pounds to 40 pounds.
“I created it for my daughter Pepper, because I had such a hard time finding skin-friendly products on the market for her,” said Sturm. “There are so many products full of harmful ingredients that irritate our children’s skin.
“Children’s skin is much more sensitive than adult skin and is prone to perioral dermatitis, eczema, allergies and other skin dysfunctions if we don’t take care of it properly,” she continued. “In fact, putting the wrong ingredients or using the wrong approach on children’s skin can trigger or exacerbate these skin dysfunctions.”
With this in mind, she developed the products without fragrance, mineral oils or essential oils. Those, she said, “can damage the natural barrier function of anyone’s skin, but especially the delicate skin of babies and children.”
“Perfumes can trigger inflammation and skin dysfunctions,” Sturm said. “My passion is to continue to educate about the unique needs of young and teenage skin, and also to learn about ingredients often found in skin care that cause inflammation and many of the skin conditions that clients want to treat them.”
Tous, the Spanish jewelry and accessories brand, started with a premium fragrance for children in 2007 with Baby Tous. Fast forward to today, and Korea is the brand’s second largest fragrance market after Europe. Latin America, which includes Mexico, Colombia and Chile, is in third place.
In Spain at the launch, there was no taboo about using alcohol-based perfumes, especially on children’s clothes or hair. But that was not the case elsewhere in Europe where Tous launched a more alcohol-free product, said Sonia Graffin, creative and strategic marketing director for fragrance and fashion at the brand’s parent company PyD.
“[Baby Tous] still in five of the brand’s best-selling fragrances worldwide,” she said, adding that Tous has about 20 scents.
Tous Kids followed, first with a product for boys (in blue packaging) and girls (in pink packaging). In 2024, Tous Kids will be relaunched with new spray caps, ditching gender-specific forms and replacing them with teddy bears. A yellow addition is also being added.
“We’ve continued to build loyalty among our consumers,” Graffin said, explaining that that includes mothers and that there isn’t a big marketing investment.
However, Tous sells between 300,000 and 350,000 units of fragrance per year. A 100-ml. An eau de cologne generally costs between 65 and 75 euros, generating around 15 million euros per year.
“In the last few years, we’re talking about 20 percent, 25 percent growth,” Graffin said.
In the luxury segment, the Dior baby fragrance and beauty collection was also created by Cordélia de Castellane, artistic director for the Baby Dior Collection, and launched for the first time in Europe in November 2023. She dreamed of a new baby perfume for the house, which was i 1970 introduced an eau de cologne of the same name. It was a lighter iteration of Edmond Roudnitska’s Eau Fraîche, and it came in a set with shampoo, oil and two talcum powders.
Today, the proliferation of luxury beauty products – especially fragrances – for babies and children has raised some eyebrows and ridicule.
“Obviously, price is a big thing,” said Euromonitor’s Roberts, adding that’s true, too, of anything that’s put on babies or children’s skin. “It’s such a sensitive area, from the politics behind it, but also from the science point of view and people’s opinions on whether we should be doing this or not. A lot of brands might not want to go into that area because it might be challenging from a consumer perspective.”
When Dior unveiled its Bonne Étoile line for the first time in November 2023, for example, questions were asked online.
“Should we be perfume babies?” wrote Nanshy on X, at the time.
“It’s interesting to see high-end brands entering the baby skin care market,” wrote The Private Empire on X. “While the idea of Baby Dior may be luxurious, it raises questions about the need and affordability of such products for the small ones. . It seems more appropriate to prioritize simplicity and safety for childcare.”
Despite such concerns, the luxury and prestige beauty products specific to babies and children are poised to maintain growth. There is no data worldwide for the category. But overall, with all price segments combined, the segment should continue to expand at a good clip. Euromonitor estimates show that its sales are expected to increase by 7.7 percent between 2023 and 2024, and between 2024 and 2025, by 7.3 percent.
This trend for luxury – and prestige – baby and children’s products reflects what is happening in the entire beauty industry, according to Michael Nolte, senior vice president creative director at BeautyStreams, a business-to-business market insight platform specialized in cosmetics . sectoral. He noted many trends, including inclusiveness, sustainability and sensitive skin issues, all of which were driving sales. But perhaps the main driver is today’s trend towards self-indulgence.
“Luxury child care is self-indulgence for adults, in a way, because you’re saying to everyone: ‘I can give my child a luxury,'” Nolte said, noting that, with global birth rates falling, many may want to destroy. their children less even more.
Launch Gallery: Luxury Products Fueling Today’s Beauty Baby Boom
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