Cosmed: From Twelve Members to Over a Thousand in 25 Years!

With over a thousand members, Cosmed has become the largest professional cosmetics organization in France—and indeed in Europe—over the past twenty-five years. The total revenue of its members now stands at 5.5 billion euros. If this were effectively a single company in the beauty sector, it would rank 10th globally, practically on par with the Puig Group. This association was founded in 2001 by a small group of twelve SMEs. “These companies, explains its President, Jean-Marc Giroux, felt at the time that their interests were not being adequately defended by the trade union to which they belonged. Our first ten years were marked by numerous challenges, yet four hundred companies did not hesitate to join us during that first decade.” The government’s recognition of Cosmed’s representativeness on October 30, 2025, triggered a significant wave of institutional and professional contacts. Numerous regional, national, and international projects have poured in. Several Sector Agreements with the Regions have already been signed.
This year and through the end of 2027, the Association is focusing on incorporating Artificial Intelligence into its activities. 2026 will also be the year of the “Tour de France of Biodiversity,” co-hosted by Cosmed and the OFB, to coordinate collective projects on biodiversity (water, packaging, co-products). An update with Jean-Marc Giroux.

One can’t help but admire your journey. What have been the main milestones, and how would you explain this success?

Jean-Marc Giroux: Mastery of regulations has been and remains the cornerstone of Cosmed’s activity, as we maintain constant dialogue with French authorities (ANSM, DGCCRF, DGE…) and European bodies (Commission, Working Groups…). Discussions with Cosmetic Europe have, for the most part, helped harmonize the French position. In 2010, the Directorate General for Enterprises (DGE, Ministry of the Economy) authorized us to officially issue Certificates of Free Sale, a key requirement for exporting to 65 countries. Since then, Cosmed’s growth has seen significant expansion. In addition to regulatory expertise, several business support services have been established: Qualiopi training, with 600 professionals trained annually. Regulatory, scientific, and technical conferences… each year, a total of 1,000 participants from over twenty countries. Today, Cosmed is a valuable resource for companies of all sizes in the sector. Not to mention our purchasing group. Because in the current climate, profit margins are essential to a company’s long-term viability. Price pressures, inflation uncertainties, and the slow but steady erosion of consumer purchasing power require ever-greater cost control.
This purchasing group specifically enables companies to better control their margins, particularly for all Category C purchases, which are often numerous, scattered, and difficult to optimize individually. Thanks to the pooling of volumes and the strength of the network, members benefit from better purchasing terms and greater visibility into their costs. But beyond the economic gains, the purchasing group provides concrete tools to better manage procurement, particularly through the monthly publication of price indices for some twenty strategic raw materials. These indices tangibly help companies anticipate market trends, optimize their negotiations, and make more confident decisions. We have also developed the Ecodestock platform, which is part of a circular economy approach. It allows network members to buy or resell unused supplies, thereby reducing losses, storage costs, and waste, while creating new opportunities to monetize dormant inventory.
Today, this collaborative approach and these management tools have become true drivers of competitiveness for companies in the cosmetics sector.

As for explaining our success, one need only listen to the members. They speak of unwavering determination to defend their interests, resilience, high-level technical and regulatory expertise, pragmatism, attention to their problems, and a long-term vision, impervious to attacks and various delaying tactics. They speak of a stable and committed team, of a national and regional political network… Cosmed is inclusive; we listen equally to all, regardless of size. Some regret that we do not communicate enough about this reputation. They are right, but we will always be careful not to make superficial announcements that lack follow-through, as is so common in the media landscape.

The regulations in place are certainly becoming increasingly burdensome, but they provide clear protection for the European market that benefits businesses, particularly SMEs. It is Cosmed’s role at the European Commission to advocate for making regulations relevant and understandable to all businesses. The concept of extended deadlines, promoted notably by Omnibus VI, has been unfairly criticized in the media and by certain political figures. This reflects a lack of understanding of the regulatory process and its effectiveness. None of the industry’s critics address the difference between “danger” and “risk,” which is fundamental to a proper understanding of the actual level of protection. We will never tire of asserting that cosmetic products, which comply with European regulations and best practices, are safe.

Geopolitical tensions, rising raw material and energy prices, “plastic bashing”… There is no shortage of topics!

Jean-Marc Giroux: Objectively speaking, these geopolitical tensions and price hikes are bound to have a negative impact on the industry, but so far it remains limited. At the request of the DGE, we submit our weekly industry economic barometer, in which some fifty companies participate.

The increase in transportation and raw material costs will inevitably lead to price increases for finished products in the long run. We expect this to happen in the first quarter of 2027. Until then, inventory levels should cushion the blow. The main materials affected are the polymers and composites used in plastic packaging (PET, PE), whose production depends directly on oil. Aluminum packaging is also heavily impacted due to the region’s strategic role in global production and its dependence on maritime traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In 2026, regional production fell by approximately 44%, representing 3 million metric tons removed from the global market. Cosmetic raw materials are also affected, particularly oils that face indirect impacts linked to logistics costs, especially for tropical oils that had already experienced sharp price increases in previous years (coconut, palm).

As for “Plastic Bashing,” we must face the fact that the cosmetics industry cannot, at present, do without various types of plastics. Plastic remains the dominant material in cosmetic packaging, accounting for 53% of the total weight of packaging used, followed by glass at 26%. However, overall, plastic packaging from the cosmetics sector constitutes only 5% of all household plastic packaging, across all uses (food and non-food). Significant efforts have been made to use recycled plastics, reduce overpackaging, review the thickness of container walls, and promote bulk sales… yet all these solutions have their limitations. Cosmed is in contact with the major plastics industry associations and is monitoring the development of the technological solutions everyone is hoping for.