"Saving Discarded Colostrum by Making Cosmetics" Interview with Kwak Tae-il, CEO of Palm Skin
Overcoming 'Colostrum' Limitations with Technology to Challenge Cosmetic Manufacturing... Achievements in the US, Europe, and Abroad
Gwak Tae-il, CEO of Farm Skin, who has been familiar with cows since childhood thanks to his parents working in the livestock industry, is focusing on colostrum (the milk produced immediately after birth) that is discarded and unused in Korea, and is challenging the global market with cosmetics made from it.
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] “I didn’t originally plan to start a cosmetics business. I first developed technology using colostrum, and after considering which field to apply it to, I focused on cosmetics.”
On the 19th, Kwak Taeil, CEO (30) of PalmSkin, whom we met at his office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, smiled as he said he never expected to start a cosmetics company. Having grown up with parents in the livestock industry, Kwak was familiar with cows from a young age. He paid attention to the fact that colostrum (초유, the milk produced immediately after birth) produced by domestic farms is discarded after feeding calves. After entering Konkuk University’s Department of Animal Science, Kwak and four seniors and juniors succeeded in developing technology that extends the storage period of colostrum, which lasts only three days, to three years. Using his tuition as startup capital, he founded PalmSkin in 2017 in a cold storage facility.
Why colostrum? Kwak explained, “Unlike humans, dairy cows do not receive immune components through the umbilical cord, so they get them through colostrum. Colostrum contains a large amount of beneficial components, but it was always regrettable that it was not utilized as a resource in Korea.” In 2015, when he was a junior in college, he visited a farm in Germany and saw a local farmer making hand cream using colostrum, discovering the potential for colostrum in cosmetics. Kwak said, “While the concept of colostrum was unfamiliar in Korea, various products using colostrum existed in Europe and other countries, forming a good market. Initially, I planned to target India, where cows are revered and the value of colostrum is highly recognized, but by chance, I went on a business trip to the U.S. first, so our first market entry was in the U.S.”
Exporting to 50 countries worldwide, export ratio 95% of sales... “We even changed all our business cards to English”
All of Kwak’s business cards are printed in English. Recalling his first business trip to the U.S., he said, “When I tried to sell the products I brought, the company logo and product descriptions were all in Korean, so it was difficult to explain. At that moment, I resolved to change everything to English for overseas expansion. Now, all PalmSkin products’ logos, designs, and even my business cards are in English.” Perhaps because of these efforts, PalmSkin succeeded in supplying to Walmart, a major U.S. retailer, expanding its distribution channels and overseas recognition.
Following the U.S., PalmSkin expanded its sales areas to Europe, including the UK and Germany, as well as the Middle East, including Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Kwak explained that sales have steadily increased based on the good perception of Korean cosmetics. He added, “Currently, PalmSkin’s export ratio is 95% of sales, with over 80% of exports going to the U.S. and Europe.”
The mask pack from Palm Skin, which won the 2019 IDEA Design Award. The mask pack is cleverly placed in a salad container. Photo by Palm Skin
Mask packs in salad containers win 2019 IDEA Design Award... Buyers enthusiastic about fruit and vegetable packaging
PalmSkin’s competitiveness that captivated overseas markets came from its unique story and distinctive design. When Kwak visited a beauty expo in Las Vegas in 2018, he said, “We were assigned a corner seat in the cafeteria area, and I felt a sense of crisis that if we couldn’t attract people going to eat, all our promotions would be in vain. I needed a groundbreaking item to catch people’s attention, and the idea of packaging cosmetics like food came to me, so I immediately started selling mask packs in salad containers.”
The result was a huge success. Seeing visitors lining up to buy products until just before closing, Kwak later designed PalmSkin’s product packaging to resemble fruit or vegetable packaging. For example, Mangosteen Skin is packaged in a fruit net, and Avocado Cream is wrapped in a leaf image pack. PalmSkin’s mask packs in salad containers won the main prize at the 2019 IDEA Design Awards, a global design competition. The challenge of developing cosmetics using colostrum storage technology also became a compelling story. Kwak explained, “When meeting foreign buyers, they paid more attention to the story than the brand, and they highly valued the technology we possess behind it.” PalmSkin’s sales grew nearly 100 times from 30 million KRW at the time of its first product launch in 2018 to 3 billion KRW last year.
When product exports faced difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kwak personally conveyed the challenges of export SMEs to Park Youngsun, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, whom he met at an event. This appeal led to the launch of a maritime transport support project involving the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the national shipping company HMM. Kwak said, “Even while pleading with the minister, I was driven by a desperate desire to protect the trust of customers who believed in our brand and placed orders. As a startup that constantly solves problems to survive, I will continue to devote myself to product development for customers and resolving issues like COVID-19.”
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