At Cosmoprof, Beauty Blooms Once Again in Italy

BOLOGNA, Italy — After nearly a decade of balance sheets squeezed by highly unfavorable currency translations, Italy, along with the rest of Europe, is breathing more easily, thanks to the current devaluation of what was once termed “the super euro.” That was evident during a series of interviews with attendees and exhibitors at the Cosmoprof trade show that ran from March 19 to 23 here, as well as with key beauty industry players in Milan and fragrance exhibitors at that city’s Esxence and Unscent fine fragrance shows. Whether in corporate showrooms and offices, on selling floors or in the cavernous pavilions of the Bologna fairground, there was talk of expanding, adding factories, investing in licenses, opening stores and cranking the export machine to a higher pitch. A perceptible sense of confidence was beginning to emerge in late March, which has become beauty time in Italy, thanks to the confluence of industry events. “Europe is back,” declared Dario Ferrari, founder and president of Intercos, speaking at company headquarters in Agrate Brianza, Italy. “We do have an incredible opportunity because of the [strength of the] dollar, [dropping price of] oil, because we are finally doing what we should have been doing for the last five years

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