‘Buy Canadian' boosts local beauty industry. Will tariffs end up reversing that?
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For Indigenous-owned Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics Inc., the impact of the Buy Canadian movement has been unmistakable.
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Jenn Harper, founder of the St. Catharines, Ont.-based cosmetics brand, said the company saw a 52 per cent increase in business in the period between January and April, compared with the same period last year — with a 190 per cent surge in March specifically.
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Harper said her company has seen significant growth during politically driven events before, such as in 2020 with the Black Lives Matter movement. But they have always been temporary boosts to the business. She is more optimistic about the current growth Cheekbone Beauty is experiencing due to the number of customers who have become repeat buyers. Cheekbone Beauty's sales revenues are in the seven-figure range, with e-commerce sales for 2025 anticipated to grow 40 per cent from 2023, the company said.
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'(We want) to really become a Canadian makeup brand that all Canadians know about,' Harper said. 'We are here to build a brand that's going to last generations, just like our Indigenous roots.'
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Cheekbone isn't the only Canadian cosmetics company that has seen heightened interest and loyalty from Canadian beauty buyers in response to the trade war launched by the Trump administration in January: Industry players both small and large told the Financial Post they are seeing sales surge, and are optimistic the change will last.
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'We have seen a groundswell of activity and ultimately maybe a permanent shift in consumer behaviour to support Canadian business,' said Charles Wachsberg, the co-founder of Apollo Healthcare Corp., a major Canadian health and beauty private label manufacturer headquartered in Toronto. Wachsberg said the company has produced more than 64,000 products, including lotions, shampoos, baby products and pet products. The company was taken private for $327 million in 2021 and has nine-figure sales, the company said.
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