In recent years, due to tariffs and other issues, many makeup brush brands have begun shifting their orders to Southeast Asian OEM factories, and many makeup brush factories have also moved their production lines to Southeast Asia to reduce costs. However, the reality is often less than ideal.
In fact, established makeup brush OEM factories like Kingyin have lower overall costs than their Southeast Asian counterparts. This is because China's mature supply chain, long-term technological accumulation, and stable and efficient operations offset the apparent difference in labor costs, resulting in cost advantages in materials, yield, delivery time, and management. Southeast Asia suffers from low apparent wages, high hidden costs, weak supporting facilities, a shortage of skilled workers, poor yield, and unstable delivery times; while established OEM factories like Kingyin have a closed-loop supply chain, a large pool of skilled workers, mature technology, high yield, accurate delivery, and long-term stability—therefore, the overall cost is actually 12%–18% lower.
Supply Chain:
Core Materials for Makeup Brushes: Bristles (synthetic/Animal Hair), Ferrule (aluminum/copper), Wooden/Plastic Handles, Glue, Packaging.Kingyin:
1. Bristles: in-house production, stable quality and controllable cost.
2. Ferrules: same-day order, next-day delivery, prices 15%-20% lower than Southeast Asia.
3. Handles: supply within 50km,complete specifications, low minimum order quantity, stable delivery time.
4. Glue/Packaging: Complete supply within 50km, no long-distance logistics, no tariffs, no port congestion.
Southeast Asia (Vietnam/Thailand/Indonesia)
1. 70% of raw materials, high-end aluminum ferrules, and specialized adhesives are imported from China. Sea freight takes 7-14 days, and with tariffs, logistics, and demurrage fees, material costs are directly 8%-12% higher.
2. Incomplete local supply chains, numerous outsourcing projects, unstable quality, and uncontrollable delivery times frequently lead to production stoppages due to material shortages.
Cost difference: 5%-8%
Labor cost:
Makeup brush production is a semi-manual, semi-automated process, with bristle implantation, combing, and trimming highly dependent on skilled workers.Monthly Salary (2025)
Kingyinn: Approximately US$600–700
Vietnam: US$300–450; Thailand: US$400–500
However, Southeast Asia has extremely high hidden labor costs.
1.Lack of Skilled Workers: The Southeast Asian makeup brush industry started late, with less than 20% of workers having 3+ years of experience; Kingyin has more than 60% with 5+ years of experience, and per capita productivity is 1.4–1.6 times that of Southeast Asia.
2. High Turnover Rate: Vietnam's annual turnover rate is 30%–40%, leading to repeated recruitment, training, and production stoppages, with an average annual loss per worker ≈ 2 months' salary.
3. High Training Costs: Bristle implantation/trimming training takes 2–3 months; the yield rate for newcomers in Southeast Asia is only 60%, while Kingyin is 95%+.
4. High management costs: Requires on-site Chinese/Korean technical support; translation, supervision, and cross-cultural management incur high costs.
Overall labor costs (including efficiency, turnover, and management): 3%–5% higher in Southeast Asia than in Kingyin.
Craftsmanship and Yield Rate:
Kingyin15+ years of professional makeup brush manufacturing, ISO9001/BSCI certified, 38 quality inspections, rework rate <2%.
Standardized process for bristle implantation, combing, and trimming + skilled handcrafting, yield rate 92%–95%.
Southeast Asian makeup brush Factories
Most are new factories (less than 3 years ), with immature processes, rework rate 8%–15%, scrap rate 3–5 % higher.
Workers lack understanding of “bristle tip alignment and powder picking ability,” resulting in a yield rate of only 70%–80% for high-end makeup brush orders.
Yield Rate + Scrap + Rework Cost Difference: 2%–4%
Energy, Logistics, and Taxes:
Energy: China's industrial electricity price is stable at 0.7–0.8 RMB/kWh; Vietnam experiences frequent power rationing, and diesel generators are expensive, resulting in 2%–3% higher energy costs.Logistics: The shenzhen/guangzhou ports offer 24-hour direct shipping to Europe and America, with no transshipment or port congestion; Southeast Asian ports are congested, sea freight takes 3–7 days, and express air freight is costly.
Taxes: Southeast Asia's "4-year exemption, 9-year half-tax" policy mainly targets large export projects, offering limited benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises; compliance costs and policy change risks are also high. China's tax system is transparent, stable, and offers strong long-term certainty.
Overall Energy + Logistics + Tax Difference: 2%–3%
Quality and Delivery Penalties:
• Kingyin: On-time delivery rate 98%+, very few expedited air freight orders, very few customer penalties.• Southeast Asia: Delivery delays are common (30% of orders are delayed by 7+ days), frequent rework leads to air freight penalties, fines, and reputational damage, with an average additional cost of 1%–2% per order.
Summary:
Supply chain support (materials + logistics + inventory): 5%–8% Overall labor cost (efficiency + turnover + management): 3%–5%
Yield rate + scrap + rework: 2%–4%
Energy + taxes + delivery penalties: 2%–3%
Total: 12%–18%
