Shoppers line up to buy Missha products overseas. [Able C&C]
Shoppers line up to buy Missha products overseas. [Able C&C]

K-beauty's original first-generation road-shop brands are staging a comeback overseas. While their domestic presence has all but faded, they are growing rapidly on the back of the global K-beauty wave.

Able C&C, which operates the Missha brand, is on track to post operating profit approaching 10 billion won ($6.82 million) in the second quarter, according to industry sources Wednesday. The growth engine is overseas markets, including the United States and Europe.

In the first quarter, Able C&C recorded consolidated sales of 61.37 billion won, up about 10 percent from a year earlier. Of the cosmetics division's 46.78 billion won in sales, 31.3 billion won — or 66.98 percent — came from overseas. The export share climbed from 50.34 percent in 2024 to 53.59 percent in 2025. US sales surged 230 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, accounting for 24 percent of total overseas revenue, followed by Europe at 19 percent, Japan at 11 percent, China at 3 percent and other regions at 12 percent. Latin America stood out, growing 12-fold year-on-year after the brand entered Brazil and other markets in the quarter.

The export share is expected to exceed 70 percent in the second quarter. The brand's flagship M Perfect Cover BB Cream and other key products broke into the top tier of Amazon's Beauty Top 100 in the US in June. In Europe, Missha recently secured a listing at Boots, Britain's largest drugstore chain.

Missha was a driving force behind the road-shop boom in South Korea in the 2000s, winning over teens and young adults with affordable prices at a time when the domestic cosmetics market was dominated by door-to-door sales and multi-brand specialty stores. Its fortunes soured in the 2010s as the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) dispute with China, the rise of online retail and the expansion of health-and-beauty chains led by CJ Olive Young eroded its business. With overseas markets emerging as a lifeline, Able C&C has cut its domestic directly operated and franchise store share to the low double digits as a percentage of first-quarter sales.

Innisfree, operated by Amorepacific, has also turned its focus abroad, posting 20 percent sales growth in North America in the first quarter year-on-year. With a strengthened sun-care lineup, the brand is expected to sustain that momentum into the second quarter. Sales in Europe and the Middle East also rose 10 percent from a year earlier.

LG Household's The Face Shop is building its profile overseas, with products such as its global bestseller Migamsoo gaining traction, and the brand recently secured a spot on Walmart shelves in the US. Tonymoly also entered Walmart and Ulta Beauty in the US this year and is now setting its sights on Latin American markets, including Mexico.

"It is the result not only of global interest in K-beauty, but also of decades of R&D capabilities and timely product and quality renewals that have earned the trust of overseas consumers," an industry official said.

The Face Shop's bestselling Migamsoo toner, which has surpassed cumulative sales of 49 million units at home and abroad. [LG Household]
The Face Shop's bestselling Migamsoo toner, which has surpassed cumulative sales of 49 million units at home and abroad. [LG Household]

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