Beauty dupes are no longer obscure. Young people discovered that a cheaper copy of a cult product is not a shame to feel, but rather an issue they are proud of; thus, we are in a new dupe era where every product is fair game. The change was underlined by the rapid expansion of Australian beauty dupe brand MCoBeauty in the US over the past couple of months—it is now available on Target's website and in 1,200 of its stores.
Companies are responding to the proliferation of dupes in different ways: some, like Charlotte Tilbury, are fighting dupe brands with guerilla marketing tactics. Many are also shifting the angle towards educating consumers about the integrity of original products and how the discounts are not as bad as they may seem as one way to justify and keep their high price tags. Even such brand names have realized that they need to be a step ahead of competitors who are now producing very clever dupes using the same technology that they once excelled in. What is the best strategy for a brand to protect itself in the future?
Nevertheless, litigation is a very expensive alternative and does not always end up as a success. Benefit Cosmetics, in December, were unsuccessful in their attempt to sue Elf Cosmetics over the dupe of their Roller Lash mascara. According to Bloomberg, the presiding judge declared that Elf's use of a different component and packaging was enough to tell it apart from the real product, summing up by saying that "an intent to copy is not inherently an intent to deceive.".
Chaya remarks that the components of fragrance formulations can be seen, and if somebody makes the same, it is not legally punishable, so brands cannot bring anyone to court over this. "If we wanted to take the dupes to court, we could only do it under the parasitism clause, which would afford us the right to ask for everything except the fragrance," he said.
Chaya is advocating for more severe legal protections so that the law can cover people who work in the fragrance industry, as well as communicating the immoral side of duping to students. "I started advocating against dupes a couple of years ago, and I didn't get an easy ride," he added. "It is truly a symbiotic community: the very first thing is IP protection, the next step is generating an honor-based environment in the trade, and the last is providing the clients with a true glance into the fragrance industry in order for them to make better-informed choices." Glow Recipe is only one example of many brands that show openness and learning in the face of constant duplication.
"We dealt with this by discussing our heritage as Koreans and our skincare knowledge, and they liked it. The speech was the statement of Lee regarding the expansiveness of the brand's masterclasses." In particular, the last few years have been marked by a real surge of new and increasingly young clients. We thought that they should fully know which products our brand makes and for what reason we introduced them, and also, they should know the source of the inspiration, which we are to tell them along with our brand story."
With the current status of the market, duplicated products are a never-ending experience that causes different brands to produce more new groundbreaking ideas. "We are interested in finding products that will give our customers a thrill for every launch we are going to make," says Glow Recipe's Chan.