istyle

History

1999

July
  • Established istyle LLC (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, capital of 30M JPY) as an entity creating databases of cosmetics consumer information and supporting corporate marketing
December
  • Opened @cosme, an Internet-based cosmetics information portal site

2000

April
  • Renamed organization to istyle Inc. (with capital of 23.8M JPY)
June
  • Launched marketing support services in earnest for cosmetics manufacturers
December
  • Relocated headquarters to Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
  • Opened i-mode @cosme as the official site on NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service

2002

November
  • Opened cosme.com (now @cosme shopping), an online shopping site for cosmetics, launching our Online Retail ( E-commerce) business

2003

May
  • Released @cosme review rankings MOOK (and annually thereafter)
June
  • Opened mobile version of cosme.com (now @cosme shopping)

2005

April
  • Relocated headquarters to Minato-ku, Tokyo
July
  • Established and spun off istyle Marketing Solutions Inc. to act as a dedicated subsidiary handling research and consulting services (absorption-type merger into istyle in 2008)
  • Established Fraudia Communications, Inc. through a merger with CyberAgent, Inc. to act as an advertising agency for women's websites (sold in 2012)

2006

April
  • Established i-MEDIA DRIVE Inc. for media planning and development (sold in 2009)

2007

March
  • Opened first @cosme store at Lumine EST Shinjuku, a venture through cosme next Co. Ltd., backed by TASHIRO Co., Ltd., in a store support agreement
July
  • @cosme exceeds 5 million total posts

2008

January
  • Opened @cosme Career, a site dedicated to job recruitment and career changes
February
  • Established Cosme.com Inc. as entity dedicated to Online Retail (E-commerce)
  • Equity participation in cosme next Co. Ltd., operator of @cosme store, and conversion to a consolidated subsidiary, thus launching retail division
March
  • @cosme members exceed 1 million

2009

May
  • Celebrated the 10th anniversary of @cosme and hosted the @cosme Thanks Fest, a fusion of digital and real-world e vents

2010

January
  • Updated @cosme desktop site from a cosmetics information portal site to a more comprehensive beauty portal site for women
September
  • Spun off cosme next Co. Ltd. as a wholly-owned subsidiary
October
  • Opened new mobile version of @cosme and implemented better search and posting functionality
December
  • Launched @cosme premium member services

2012

March
  • Listed on the Mothers section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
May
  • Established istyle Global (Hong Kong) Co., Limited (now istyle International Trading (Hong Kong) Co., Limited) in Hong Kong
  • Converted Cyberstar Co., Ltd. (now istyle Beauty Solutions, Inc.), operator of ispot, into a consolidated subsidiary (in 2017, absorption-type merger into istyle)
August
  • Established istyle Global (Singapore) Pte. Limited in Singapore
  • @cosme exceeds 10M cumulative posts
October
  • Established istyle China Co., Limited in China
  • Released official @cosme app and review posting app
November
  • Established PT. Creative Visions Indonesia in Indonesia (sold in 2015)
  • Relisted to first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange
December
  • Hosted the Beauty Style Collection by @cosme 2012, Asia's largest beauty and entertainment event

2013

April
  • Integrated all member IDs for user services under the @cosme ID and merged points systems
August
  • Updated corporate logo

2014

July
  • Acquired all shares of Beauty Trend Japan Co., Ltd., operator of GLOSSYBOX. (absorption-type merger into istyle in 2015)
October
  • Received the 14th Porter Prize
  • @cosme received the Good Design Award for FY 2014
November
  • Established istyle capital inc.
December
  • Established istyle trading inc.

2015

February
  • Entered cross-border e-commerce in Chinese market
July
  • Established istyle career Inc.
September
  • Acquired controlling stake in MEDIA GLOBE CO., LTD., a beauty PR firm, and made it into a subsidiary
October
  • Relaunched cosme.com, an online retail site in the beauty field, as @cosme shopping

2016

March
  • Established ISPartners Inc. to create, manage, and edit digital content specializing in beauty
June
  • Established istyle makers Co., Ltd. to plan and develop beauty brand and lifestyle brands.(absorption-type merger into istyle trading Inc. in April, 2020 after renaming organization to imakers Inc. in 2017)
August
  • Exceeded consolidated sales of \10billion
September
  • Acquired controlling stake in Eat Smart, Inc., a food media operator, and made it into a subsidiary(sold in 2022)
October
  • Established istyle Retail (Hong Kong) Co., Limited in Hong Kong

2017

January
  • Opened the istyle Retail (Hong Kong) Co., Limited Taiwan Branch in Taiwan
March
  • Acquired controlling stake in Hermo Creative(M)Sdn.Bhd., operator of Hermo, Malaysia and Singapore's largest cosmetics e-commerce site, and made it into a subsidiary(sold in 2020)
  • Released @cosme nippon, a brand centered around Japanese nature, cuisine, and traditional culture
May
  • Acquired controlling stake in i-TRUE Communications Inc., operator of UrCosme (now UrCosme (@cosme TAIWAN)), Taiwan's largest cosmetics review site, and made it into a subsidiary
  • Opened first @cosme store in Taiwan
July
  • Acquired controlling stake in MUA Inc., operator of MakeupAlley, North America's largest cosmetics review site, and made it into a subsidiary
December
  • Won awards in two categories simultaneously for the Forbes Japan Women Award 2017
    • istyle took 2nd place in corporate category (between 300 and 1,000 personnel)
    • Meyumi Yamada took Grand Prize in individual category

2018

February
  • Fully overhauled the @cosme app for users
  • Released @cosme PRO, an app intended for beauty professionals
March
  • Launched BeautyTech.jp, a media site dedicated to innovative trends in the beauty industry
April
  • Established istyle Retail (Thailand) Co., Limited in Thailand
  • Released Brand Official service for CX(customer experience) optimization of brands.
June
  • @cosme produced and hosted the Hello! @cosme Summer Live 2018, a cosmetics event with stage performances
  • Opened first @cosme store in Hong Kong
  • Opened @cosme J Beauty Park at The Shilla Duty Free Shop in South Korea
  • Launched @cosme touch, a brand dedicated to personal and intimate care treatment
October
  • Kotler Award Japan 2018 Award of Excellence
November
  • Opened first @cosme store in Thailand
December
  • Held the 1st @cosme Beauty Day, a one-day online shopping event

2019

July
  • 20th anniversary of istyle Inc.
December
  • 20th anniversary of @cosme
  • Updated @cosme's brand logo

2020

January
  • Established Dot & Space Inc.
  • Opened the first flagship store「a next-generation flagship store: @cosme TOKYO」in Harajuku, Tokyo
September
  • Established Over The Border Inc.
December
  • Established istyle me Inc.

2021

July
  • Established istyle retail Inc., which connects the Internet and the real world more seamlessly, through the merger of cosme.com Inc., which operates the official @cosme online shopping site "@cosme", and cosme next Co Ltd., which operates the cosmetics select shop "@cosme STORE".
July
  • Acquired controlling stake in Glowdayz, Inc., operator of 「GLOWPICK」, South Korea's largest cosmetics review site, and made it into a subsidiary.