Are you on board with gender-inclusivity in the beauty industry?

February went by so quickly; the opposite of January where at some point we all saw the clock actually go backward. In the beauty industry not much has changed since January, but an important conversation did take place on the internet. This month everyone seemed to be talking about gender-inclusive beauty. More importantly the lack of interest in actually advocating for a gender-inclusive beauty industry.

Every day more and more beauty brands get on board on the gender-inclusive issue. Take for example the brands: Fluide, NOTO, Hi Wildflower, Youth to the People, Panacea, Jecca Blac, Cover Girl, Chanel, and Clavin Klein. All these brands have adapted their brand to include gender-inclusive products. They either brand their products as genderqueer and non-conforming or they tend to gravitate towards gender-neutral branding.

Brands see that the younger generation, especially gen z, fight for the respect of the liberty of expressing who they truly are. As more and more people buy from brands that go alongside their values, it’s no wonder that the gender-inclusive market has started to grow.

Recently many young consumers have noticed that many gender-inclusive brands have the concept and branding right but they haven’t done the actual research. Many of these brands don’t even get the pronouns right. Sam Escobar the digital editorial director of Allure tweeted “It’s wild how everyone in beauty wants to launch a genderless brand but nobody can get my pronouns right.” We can’t stop to think, are brands hopping on the train of gender-inclusive to increase their profit margin? Or because they actually think that it’s an important issue that they need to address?

Our conclusion is that many brands who have been touched by the issues caused by problems concerning gender actually do it to fight for the cause. Many others want to attract new consumers and grow their income. Whatever the reason, at least there is a conversation happening about the importance of gender-inclusion. Now it is up to us to support those brands who actually care about the cause.

What are your thoughts on gender-inclusivity? Do you support it? Understand the importance of it? Leave your comments below. To read more go to BOF's article "The Rise of Gender Inclusive Beauty."