Since the dawn of humanity, the fight against aging has been a continuous thread throughout human history. For this reason, anti-aging cosmetics have always been a core category supporting the overall cosmetics market. According to CHAILEEDO data, the scale of China’s anti-aging skincare market in 2024 reached 307.574 billion yuan, accounting for a market share as high as 39.71%.
As the “youth pillar” of the skin and a key ingredient in maintaining skin elasticity and firmness, collagen is also experiencing unprecedented technological breakthroughs and market enthusiasm.
On April 15, the “Collagen Freedom — 2025 Innovative Ingredient Trend Seminar” was successfully held in Shanghai, co-hosted by Ashland, a global leading personal care ingredient supplier, and CHAILEEDO. The conference focused on the frontiers of anti-aging, deeply analyzing the development and trends of the anti-aging track through core topics such as the evolution of market demand, the mechanisms of skin aging, innovations in collagen ingredients, and advancements in cosmetic formulation technologies.
(Collage Freedom is a Chinese term about the ability to purchase collagen without a second thought)
Anti-Aging Demand “Upgrades” – Collagen Becomes a Battleground
It is no exaggeration to say that a person’s entire life is a battle against aging, making anti-aging a common issue for all humanity. At the conference, Du Lei, Director of Beauty and Personal Care Insights at Mintel China, introduced four stages in the development of China’s anti-aging skincare market:
The first stage, from 2005 to 2009, was the budding period. At that time, consumer awareness was still in its infancy, the concept of skin anti-aging had not yet been popularized, and the anti-aging market was mainly dominated by international brands. Representative products included OLAY S.I.G.N.A.L Peptides Firming Anti-wrinkle Face Cream”
The second stage, from 2010 to 2015, was the growth period. As consumer acceptance and interest in skin anti-aging increased, the market entered a growth phase. During this period, various anti-aging products began to segment, but international brands still led consumer education. Representative products included Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair and Lancome Genifique Ultimate.
The third stage, from 2016 to 2020, marked the maturity period. With the rise of ingredient-savvy consumers, Chinese consumers began to widely focus on anti-aging ingredients and product efficacy validation. Numerous new anti-aging concepts and star ingredients emerged, driving each other forward. Meanwhile, domestic brands also began to develop rapidly.
The fourth stage, from 2021 to 2025, is the innovation period for China’s anti-aging skincare market. Anti-aging demand now spans all age groups, and there is a growing awareness of preventive anti-aging. The anti-aging market is now showing signs of explosive growth in niche segments and category expansion. As the industry increases investment in R&D innovation, competition in ingredients and technologies is becoming increasingly fierce at the upstream end.
Du Lei pointed out that today’s consumers are shifting from traditional, single-function anti-aging needs—such as basic moisturizing, wrinkle reduction, and firming—toward more diversified demands. They are now seeking the combination of multiple effects, solutions tailored to different skin types, and products that offer both instant and long-term results.
“As the ‘co-evolution of ingredients and concepts’ becomes the main trend in product innovation, consumer understanding and expectations of anti-aging pathways are also moving to a higher level. Among them, collagen and antioxidant-related ingredients enjoy high awareness and conversion rates,” said Du Lei.
It is well known that the essence of skin aging is the loss of collagen. Research shows that collagen is the most abundant and widely distributed protein in the human body, accounting for approximately 25%–33% of total protein. It plays a key role in maintaining the normal physiological functions of cells, tissues, and organs, as well as in damage repair. Therefore, replenishing collagen is fundamental to anti-aging.
Clearly, the current “collagen craze” reflects a deep iteration in consumer demand for anti-aging.
As a global leader in personal care ingredients, Ashland has long recognized this trend and has newly launched its patented collapeptyl™ biofunctional ingredient. Notably, this is also the first new product Ashland has launched globally this year.
This ingredient breaks the traditional limitation of “exogenous supplementation” of collagen, instead centering on stimulating the production and expression of 20 types of endogenous collagen, thereby redefining the technological boundaries of collagen-based anti-aging.
At the seminar, Ling Feng, Business Director of Biofunctional Ingredients for Ashland Personal Care Asia-Pacific, provided a detailed explanation of the technology behind collapeptyl™.
He noted that the inspiration for collapeptyl™ came from Ashland’s deep understanding of the complex collagen network.
Generally speaking, collagen plays a key role in maintaining the skin’s strength, elasticity, and youthful appearance. “But the skin is not composed of a single type of collagen; rather, it is a complex ecosystem consisting of over 20 different, interrelated collagen types that can be divided into eight major categories. These types interact dynamically across various skin layers and life stages. Collapeptyl™ works by activating this network, helping consumers move beyond dependency on single-source collagen supplementation and achieve true skin self-repair.”
Ling Feng further introduced that collapeptyl™ is developed using a proprietary molecular modeling technology called 2HP. The design process generally includes: 3D molecular modeling of target molecules such as hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate, tripeptide-1, and hexapeptide-9, followed by molecular dynamic docking simulations to determine supramolecular formation sites, surface energy, and structural stability. Ultimately, it confirms the formation of supramolecular complexes between hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate and small-molecule oligopeptides of suitable molecular weight, along with the optimal ratio and stability. In addition, using cellulose-based vectorization technology, the active ingredients can be precisely delivered into the skin.
It is understood that collapeptyl™ is Ashland’s first third-generation biomimetic peptide to hit the market, and it is a regenerative collagen peptide with supramolecular structure that can stimulate and regenerate up to 20 types of skin collagen. In terms of efficacy, clinical trials have shown that products containing 5% collapeptyl™ deliver an instant “glass-skin” effect within 4 hours of application. After one month of use, results showed wrinkle reduction by 187%, moisture retention +190%, and firming and lifting +140%.
Notably, collapeptyl™ has a natural origin index of up to 99.7% and is a vegan ingredient. Ling Feng stated, “This ingredient has a complete safety assessment report, and the recommended usage level is 3%–5%. From a formulation perspective, it can be applied in anti-wrinkle and anti-aging cosmetics, effectively promoting the expression of endogenous collagen and hyaluronic acid in the skin, while also being suitable for skin repair and other beauty care applications.”
As Zhao Lianming, General Manager of Ashland Personal Care Asia-Pacific, said in his speech: “Since its founding 100 years ago, Ashland’s core philosophy has been to focus on innovation and delivering solutions for our customers.” From the newly launched collapeptyl™, one can clearly see Ashland’s milestone-level innovation in collagen-based anti-aging solutions.
“Collagen Freedom” Is Both a Technological Breakthrough and a Lifestyle Attitude
In fact, faced with the vast anti-aging market, Ashland is not new to launching collagen-related ingredients. Looking back at Ashland’s development in the collagen peptide field, it has actually spanned 30 years.
Ling Feng shared that as early as 1995, Ashland released a biomimetic synthetic peptide, which was also its first small-molecule peptide. This synthetic peptide was not only easy to use but also stable in formulations, and it still leads the anti-aging sector to this day.
By 2005, Ashland upgraded its collagen peptide to version 2.0, namely biomimetic natural peptides. This ingredient was inspired by natural substances or natural derivatives and was enriched through AI research and genomics-based design. Up until now, the company has launched its supramolecular regenerative collagen peptide collapeptyl™.
In other words, Ashland has undergone three iterations in the field of collagen peptide development. Over a span of 30 years, the company has drawn a clear roadmap toward “collagen freedom”: not through simple ingredient stacking, but by empowering skin from the dimensions of gene expression, cell signaling, and skin structure; not through anxiety-driven anti-aging marketing, but by returning to the essence of skin health, allowing youthfulness to become an “endogenous ability” owned by the skin itself.
As a cosmetic ingredient, how a formula is coordinated also determines the final efficacy of a product. So, which ingredients can collagen synergize with in anti-aging formulations?
On this topic, during a roundtable forum hosted by Li Huihua, founding partner of CHAILEEDO, Huo Gang, a seasoned cosmetic engineer with 37 years of formulation experience and R&D Director at Suzhou Fullight Biotech Co., Ltd., said: “Whether it’s collagen, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, or retinol, these ingredients do not work in isolation. When formulators design products, they consider multiple factors. In general, when designing ingredients to target different pathways and mechanisms, there is often synergy involved—and this synergy needs to be validated through experimentation.”
Another experienced cosmetic R&D expert, Jiang Ligang, Chief Technology Officer at Shanghai Pechoin, added that the surge in new raw materials has significantly driven industry innovation in China. He said, “Since 2021, 223 new cosmetic raw materials have been filed or registered. In the anti-wrinkle segment, promising anti-aging directions include human milk oligosaccharides and natural polysaccharide ingredients like poria polysaccharide and dendrobium polysaccharide.”
Additionally, both engineers emphasized that efficacy and sensory experience are equally important in cosmetics. “Cosmetics are a fusion of science and art. Under the premise of safety and compliance, the user experience should come first, including skin feel, texture, fragrance, and a sense of luxury,” said Jiang Ligang.
Ning Ling, Marketing Director for Ashland Personal Care Asia-Pacific, stated that Ashland also takes both long-term efficacy and formulation usability into account when developing ingredients, supporting a balanced sensory experience in cosmetics. For instance, the newly launched collapeptyl™ achieves synergistic effects by combining active peptides and hyaluronic acid in optimal ratios and stability to form supramolecular complexes. This structure promotes and regenerates the skin’s own collagen, achieving a state of “native beauty,” which represents Ashland’s new approach to collagen science.
In her view, what Ashland focuses on is lifestyle beauty—helping each person use cosmetics to restore the beauty they had in their youth.
Ning Ling believes, “From this perspective, we based collapeptyl™ on cutting-edge research into the collagen map of human skin and its universe-like network of dynamic equilibrium. This ingredient can stimulate the synthesis of 20 types of collagen chains, thus realizing ‘collagen freedom.’ Therefore, ‘collagen freedom’ is not only a technological breakthrough but also a lifestyle attitude—allowing the skin to age healthily and gracefully. It is a new way of thinking and a direction worth striving for.”
It is foreseeable that with the launch of Ashland’s collapeptyl™ biofunctional ingredient and continuous advancements in formulation technology, the anti-aging market will enter a new phase of transformation. As more and more innovative solutions are applied to skincare products, “collagen freedom” will not only become an achievable beauty goal but also represent a shift in people’s traditional perceptions of skincare and anti-aging.
